Secret Tips for Buying a Car

Buying a car can have several pitfalls for the unsuspecting buyer. Used cars may have hidden faults and unscrupulous sellers have a variety of tricks to make a bad car look good. Learning how to identify if a car has been involved in an accident, has incorrect mileage or is stolen can help you avoid expensive repair bills for your new purchase or losing your cash to a crooked seller.

Clocking

If the car is advertised as having a low mileage there a several checks you can make to ensure the displayed mileage is correct. Excessive wearing of the driver's seat, shiny steering wheel or worn peddle rubbers could indicate the car has a high mileage. Check the front of the vehicle for stone chips, one or two chips is excusable, but if the car has several it probably means that most of its life has been spent driving long distances on roadways. Contact the previous owner shown on the vehicle documents and examine the service history for missing pages or inconsistent mileage readings. If you feel the mileage has been altered, keep your money in your pocket and walk away.

Clone

Stolen cars can be given the identity of a legitimate vehicle of the same model. This practice is known as "cloning" and you can lose your car with no compensation. Check to make sure the vehicle identification number (VIN) matches the vehicle's registration document. The VIN is usually found stamped on a special plate within the engine compartment. Check with a reputable dealer where the VIN is located on the model you want to purchase. The VIN should not have been tampered with in any way. Do not even think about buying the car if there are any discrepancies with the VIN or if the vehicles registration document is missing.

Bodywork

The bodywork should be in a condition that matches the age and mileage of the vehicle. Check for mismatching paintwork on body panels that could indicate collision damage. A good way to spot mismatching paintwork is to take the car on a test drive at night. Stop in a service station and inspect it under the artificial light. Mismatched panels will stand out against the original bodywork. If a car has had a recent full body spray, it may be to hide rusting bodywork. Take a small magnet and test to see if there are areas where it is not attracted to the body work. The magnet will fall away from areas that have been filled with body filler. If the seller has been honest about repairs to bodywork, decide if you are happy to purchase an accident damaged car and try to get a discount.

Manual Shift

If the car you want to buy has a manual shift gearbox, you can test to see if the clutch is in good condition with this simple test. Start the engine, select second gear and leave the handbrake on. Carefully try to pull away, if the car judders and the engine stalls then the clutch is good, if the engine revs rise and the car does not move then it is a sign that the clutch is slipping. If you like the car, find out how much a new clutch will cost and, negotiate a deal with the seller based on this information.