5 Important Questions to Ask When Buying a Used Car in 2024

Owning a vehicle these days is considered to be a necessity, and without one, you can often find yourself to be one step behind in many things during your day. Getting to work or taking your kids to school is something that you’ll have to do daily, and driving your car to those destinations is a lot easier than taking the bus.

Although lately everyone is very concerned with pollution, and cars indeed play a huge role in it, when it comes to efficiency and speed, they are still the best method of transportation. Bikes are cool, motorcycles are amazing, but when winter comes and the temperatures drop, you can’t take your kids anywhere without a roof over your head.

In general, a family needs to have at least one vehicle, but since buying a car is not an investment you make every day, it’s pretty important to spend some time looking for the best model on the market. A new car is always the better option when it comes to reliability, but sometimes you’re on a budget, so you cannot afford a car that’s fresh out of the saloon. This is where used vehicles come into play, and today we’re here to help you choose the best one.

Let’s take a look at these five important questions that you need to ask when purchasing a used vehicle, shall we?

1. The Mileage

This is one of those things that everyone should ask, but unfortunately, people who are not into cars at all will most likely skip, or they don’t exactly know the meaning of this question. The mileage of a car can speak for many different things. A car that’s driven for fifty thousand miles and a car that’s driven for two hundred thousand miles are not the same, not even nearly.

When a vehicle has higher mileage, the price usually drops accordingly. So, don’t let someone trick you into buying something worth much less than what they’ve priced it.

Although this is very important, it’s not always the main factor that’s going to determine whether the vehicle is in good shape or not.

Some people are extremely good drivers, and they take care of their cars more than anyone else. So, when you are purchasing from someone like this, it doesn’t matter how much mileage it has. Still, it’s very important to ask and check the number, and try to get some proof that there aren’t any shenanigans done such as reducing the mileage manually, etc…

2. How often was maintenance done?

Every vehicle needs to be maintained for it to run as it should, and when you get it from a saloon, you also receive a user manual that contains the correct dates for every little service that you have to perform on it. Changing oil, filters, brakes, tires and all of that is very important, and it always has to be done on time to prevent the risk of anything breaking down prematurely.

Now, although it’s pretty simple to follow these steps, some owners want to save money by delaying the deadlines and skipping some of the required services. This is a lot more common than you think, so when you are purchasing a used vehicle, it’s always important to seek some proof about the services. Make sure that these things have been done regularly, and if not, consider other options.

If you want to find the origin of the vehicle, make sure to visit VinFreeCheck for a License Plate Lookup.

3. Compare prices

Of course, before making the transaction, you’ll be already familiar with the price of the vehicle, but you’ll most likely want to confirm that this price is fair compared to the other same models available on the market.

In the world of used rides, people often tend to overprice because they value theirs more than the others on the market. This is usually because they think they’ve taken much better care of it, and although sometimes this can be the case, in most situations it’s just a lie and an attempt to score more money from the customer.

Either ask for proof that the ride has been kept in perfect shape, or don’t fall for something like this. A good way to compare prices is to look up the same models on the market, either through websites, phone applications or by visiting another dealership.

4. Engine Condition

We all know that the engine is what keeps the vehicle moving, and it’s undoubtedly the most important part. A very common trick that dealers do is mask everything from the outside, but leave the vehicle in a very bad condition, and unfortunately, people fall for it.

When you look at a car, aesthetics do matter quite a lot, but they are not the most important thing. What good do you have from a vehicle that looks shiny but will leave you in the middle of no-where?

It is important to ask for the condition of the engine before closing up the transaction because if this part ends up breaking down, you’ll have to cover the largest cost to fix it.

5. The first owner or not?

If you are not an enthusiast, you probably don’t understand why this matters, but we’ll explain everything about it. Knowing if the person selling you the vehicle is the first owner of it or not is very important, simply because if they happen to be the first one, they’ll know about any anomalies or possible issues that you might experience with it in the future.

Being warned about something like this is very important because you’ll know what to expect and you will be prepared for it as well.

Also, multiple owners mean higher chances for mistreatment of the clutch, the engine and some of the other parts in the vehicle which are highly impacted by the way the person drives. Also, if they claim to be the first owner, seek proof and don’t just blindly believe in it.