If you go through the process of buying a car several times, then you will naturally become more experienced with it. Just like virtually anything else, the more times you do it, the more comfortable it will probably become. Even if you do not know a great deal about cars, that can certainly be to your benefit the next time you want to buy one or trade one in.
You can look into buying used cars, Utah residents, whether this is your first time doing so or you consider yourself to be a seasoned car buyer. Either way, though, you should watch out for some red flags that indicate this might not be the best vehicle for you.
We will talk about four of the most obvious ones in the following article.
An Unusual Smell
There is an old episode of Seinfeld where a pervasive odor sticks with a car that Jerry is never able to get rid of. The culprit turns out to be body odor. While this is obviously intended for comedic effect, you definitely need to watch out for odd or unusual smells when you are shopping for cars.
If you get a brand-new one, it will probably come with what is commonly referred to as “new car smell.” Most people don’t consider that to be a particularly objectionable odor, and it will often go away if you drive the vehicle for a while. However, used cars can pick up other smells, and you should have your nose open for them when you take the vehicle for a test drive.
There are all kinds of objectionable smells that a car can pick up. These smells can stick to the upholstery and practically embed themselves in it in the most extreme of cases.
You might get in a used car that you are thinking about buying and notice that it smells like old French fries, patchouli oil, cologne, or something else. None of that is particularly pleasant, but you may be able to get rid of it by having the car detailed.
Really, though, that is something the used car dealership should have already taken care of. It follows that if there’s a smell in a used car strong enough that you can detect it when you take the vehicle for a test drive, that’s not the best sign.
While the horrid smell in the Seinfeld episode is probably an exaggeration, getting an unpleasant odor out of a car can be costly. You may want to avoid buying a vehicle that has such a lingering odor.
The other thing you might do is demand that the dealership get the vehicle detailed before you buy it. If they’re amenable to doing it, and that gets rid of the smell, then maybe you will be more willing to make this your next car.
Mismatched Colors
If a vehicle gets in an accident, there is no way to tell how badly it was damaged. If you buy a used car, then there is a better-than-average chance that it was in a wreck at some point. Maybe it was only a fender bender, but perhaps it was significantly more serious than that.
A vehicle report is easy enough to get these days from an entity like Carfax. There are plenty of competing entities that will also give you one of these convenient reports.
They can tell you a lot about a vehicle if you are thinking about buying it. However, sometimes, a vehicle report will be missing crucial information that a previous owner tried to hide about that car.
A sure giveaway that a car was involved in at least one previous accident is if any of the panels or other parts of it are not the same colors as the rest of the vehicle. A door that is a different color than the rest makes it almost a certainty that this car was in at least one accident in the past, even if you don’t see that mentioned in the vehicle report that you get.
This does not necessarily mean that you shouldn’t buy the car, but it should at least give you pause. It’s probably best that you get a qualified mechanic to look over the vehicle before you even think about purchasing it.
Multiple Instances of Car Wrecks on the Vehicle Report
Maybe you get the Carfax report, or a report from a competing agency, and you see that this car has been in multiple wrecks. Again, this should not automatically disqualify it from consideration, but you’ll definitely want to proceed with caution.
While one car wreck might damage a vehicle, depending on how severe it was, two or three car wrecks make it almost a certainty that the vehicle suffered significant damage. Even if the car wasn’t totaled, it’s highly likely that several key components had to be replaced.
Again, the solution will be to take the vehicle to a mechanic who you trust so that they can look it over. While getting a used car scrutinized by a mechanic is always a smart thing to do, it is an absolute necessity with a vehicle that you know has been in more than one accident.
Several Previous Owners
A car report of any great detail should also tell you how many previous owners a car had. These days, it is difficult if not impossible to hide aspects of a car’s history. If you’re buying used, then it’s often best if you get a car that only had one previous owner.
If a car had at least two previous owners, then that makes it more likely at least one of them did not treat it very well. There is never any guarantee of that, but the more previous owners a vehicle had, the more probable that one of them was not as respectful of it as they could have been.
If you see any of these possible red flags, consider very carefully before you move forward with the purchase.
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