Tips on Checking the Parts of the Used Car
When buying a used car, the usual thing on everyone’s mind is …. Is it really a good decision to buy this car….. What if it has repair problems? If you want to be sure that the used car you are considering is worth buying you need to look into the car’s Vehicle History Report. The Vehicle History report will provide all details on the car such as the number of times it was serviced, accidents (if any) and will go as far as to tell you if the car’s odometer reading had been tampered with earlier.
Before you check up this report, you can do some investigation on your own to find out if the car is really what the dealer or seller is making it out to be.
If you know more about car parts, you will have no problem in finding out if the car has a problem, by looking at some of its parts. Visible signs of a problem will tell you to pass over the car for a better deal. Even if you are not fully aware of all car parts there are different things you can note on the various car parts to find out indications of a problem situation.
What are the areas you need to check up on when you see a car? Here are some tips on how to check up on various parts of a used car to find out if it is in good working condition:
- Take a flash light with you before to go to the seller or the dealers. Why? Because you need to use it to examine the car’s engine! A peek inside the engine with the flash light will tell stories. If you see a burned look inside the engine, move on to a better dealer, because a car in good condition will have a clean engine, not one that’s burned.
- If you find the engine hot, the car was just used before it was shown to you. You can’t be sure what it was used for and so pass over the car. If the engine is not hot, check the engine coolant. If you see a green color, then the engine’s fine. If you see something rusty inside, once again pass over the car. This is actually a very simple test to finding out about the car’s condition and if the car does not pass this one, you need to pass over the car!
- Proper functioning brakes are very important in a car otherwise you could land up in a major accident. Check the container which holds the brake fluid. If it is too low, take this as an indication that either the container is leaking or you need to replace the break pads. One mistake car owners make is not filling up the brake fluid and you don’t need to buy a car from such an owner.
- It’s pretty easy to find out if the engine has been replaced just by looking at it. You will see some parts looking cleaner than the engine or the other way round. You need to find out under what condition this happened before you get into purchasing it.
- Take some magnets with you when you go to the seller’s. It may seem an odd suggestion, but it is useful to find out if the used car you are looking at, was actually something of a junk earlier and then repaired. Bodo is a material that is used to replace rusted or damaged areas in the car and it’s not metal and this will show when the magnet does not stick to the surface as expected.
- Check the tires - do they have a worn out look? Are some of the tires more worn out that the rest because this indicates a problem with either the suspension or the front-end. Tires can be expensive to replace and you don’t want a car with the tires that are going to cost you something like $250 to replace.
- Have a look underneath the car to find out if there are any waves in the frame, which suggest the car had been bent and then straightened out. Such cars will cost you a lot to maintain.
- Check for signs of wear in the brakes. If the brakes are worn out it means the cars was handled roughly earlier. Such cars usually give you a lot of repair problems.
- Some times cars leak from underneath. The leak can be the transmission fluid, which is red or brown in color or the coolant which shows as a yellow-green color liquid. When oil leaks you can see either a black color or a golden brown color liquid. Any of these fluids indicate the car is not in good condition. On the other hand if you notice that water is leaking, it is okay. Water leaks from the air-conditioner when the A/C has been on for some time.
- Lots of cars have become damaged due to floods or hurricanes and such cars can cost you a lot in terms of repairs. There are some simple ways in which you can find out if a car has been flooded by just looking at some of its parts. For example, if you look underneath the springs of the driver’s seat, and you see rusted springs, it shows that the car had been earlier flooded with water. Lift the trunk mats to see if it is smooth below it. Anything else shows that the car had either been wrecked or flooded.
- See if the car is having new upholstery. This is one sign that the car has been spruced up for some reason. Just lift up the carpet on the car floor and look for signs like a damp musty smell. This is one indication that water had flooded the car earlier.
- Door hinges are places that give away signs of problems. If you see some over sprayed paint on them or if each of the hinges looks different from the other, it is a sign that the car might have been damaged earlier and the hinges were replaced.
- If you buy a car which has a transmission problem, you will have to spend lots on fixing this problem. Check the transmission fluid’s level in the car. Is it red in color? If it is red in color, there is no problem with the car. If it is brown in color, and there is a burnt smell coming, it means there is a problem.
- Suspension problems are shown when you hear a clunking noise when you push and pull at the top of the each car.
- Worn out belts or hoses in the car are signs of rough usage.
You don’t have to be car mechanic to find out if the car you are looking at has problems. You just have to be a keen observer to find out a car’s condition. Though the Vehicle’s History Report will give you all details about a car’s previous history, your own observation can help you a lot in finding the right used car to buy.
October 12th, 2007, 06:38 PM
Tips on Checking the Parts of the Used Car
