Posted on 9/26/2011
If you have an older car that needs a lot of work to keep it running, you may be thinking about buying a new one. When that is not financially possible for you, a good alternative is to buy a newer, used vehicle. There is always a risk, however, that a used car may end up needing just as much work (or even more) than your current car. To reduce that risk, when you find a used car you want to buy, take it to a trusted repair shop and have it checked out. But before spending money on multiple vehicle inspections, you can do some inspecting on your own. Here are my recommendations: 1. It is usually better to buy a vehicle from a private party than from a car lot. Especially if the car is being sold by the original owner and they have records of the vehicle services that have been done. Vehicles that are sitting on used car lots generally were purchased at auction and will not have their service history with them. 2. Buying the vehicle from the owner also allows you to see/observe ho ... read more