The first question which comes to ones mind when he has(finally!) decided to buy a car is - new or used?! Since this category itself is about buying second hand cars I guess the first step(to a 1000 mile journey?!:D) has been anyway taken! So I’ll limit my thoughts about how to go about buying a second hand vehicle.
First Things First
The 2 most important issues to be considered while going in for a vehicle have funnily nothing to do with the vehicle itself! They are:-
a What is your need?: What kind of a vehicle do you need? If you have a small family of maybe three or four and most of your utilisation is going to be running to the office, dropping the kids and the odd dining outs then a rough and tough 10 seater is probably not what you need. Similarly if the need is a lot of driving around the town picking and dropping products etc. a snazzy 2 seater wont do either!
:)
So the need out of the way, we come to the second important part:
b Why is the owner selling the vehicle?
Has he had an accident and is any case pending on the vehicle? What was his main utilisation of the vehicle?(a city taxy maybe?!) Or is he selling just to upgrade to the latest new thing in town? Are the papers of vehicle in consideration clear? If the vehicle is registered in a different state, is an NOC available?the tax paid and insurance done?(never go in for only 3rd party insurance. This might be cheaper in the short run but if you have an unfortunate accident can put you in a tight spot and also burn a huge hole in your pockets!)
The Details
These important points out of the way, you can have a look at the vehicle and go for a test drive. Take a mechanic or atleast a person who has some experience of used vehicles with you as you cant really take everything the seller tells you on the face value.For eg. its not too difficult to reset the odometer to a very convenient’miles done’. Also there are many tell tale signs a mechanic can pick up about if the vehicle has had an accident etc. which might not be so visible to the untrained eye.
The Final Take
After you have had a look at all these things, the most important thing to decide is to see if the vehicle is worth the price the seller is asking! If it is, congrats! Now you are a proud owner of a vehicle which meets your requirements!
Have fun and drive safely!
:)