YACT: When Buying a Used Car......

[phreakah]

Hey, I'm trying to help my girlfriend get a used car from a private party... thought i'd ask what some of things we should be doing before we buy it are.


So far i know we have to ask for:
carfax, maint. records, accidents, etc..


one of the main questions i had was that i wanted to get the car inspected either by the dealer or a mechanic... like one of those 100 point inspection things... Who should pay for that? Should we pay for half and they pay for half? or if we decide to buy it they take it out of the selling price? what if we dont want to buy it after it gets a bad inspection?

 

[woowoo]

You pay for inspections....

 

[robphelan]

if you want the car inspected, i believe it should be up to you to pay for it. that's a bit of insurance for your own well-being.

you could 'try' to get them to take that out of the selling price.. but if I were selling, I probably wouldn't go for that.

Depending on what kind/year of car, there are varying questions and things to look for.. rust? does it drive straight when you let go of the wheel? owner's manual? past maintenance records?

good luck.. buying a car is never really fun.

 

[Passions]

If it's fairly new, the owner is still probably financing it. If so, you won't be able to get the pink slip until AFTER you fork over ur money.

This is a tricky situation.

 

[phreakah]

she owns it and has the pink slip... and my gf has the money to buy it... so we're okay there

oh and one reason i thought that they would possibly split the inspection costs was because even if we didnt want the car, they'd still have the inspection record to back the car up for another potential buyer.....


thanks for the input so far guys

 

[waggy]

when getting it "checked out" that is your responsibility. I doubt very much the seller will take it off the amount owed, Unless you ask before haggling the price down then he might. I would highly recommend taking it to be checked out. it can save you from making a expensive mistake.