Buying a used car

Check the general market price of an used car at https://www.kbb.com. Based on the condition of the car, you can assess if a car is priced right or too high.

You can check the reliability rating of a car at https://www.edmunds.com.

You can check how many recalls (aka service bulletins) there are for a car at https://www.recalls.gov/nhtsa.html

Things to check when buying a used car

• Check for moisture out of the exhaust pipe while the car is running
  • You can put a tissue paper on the exhaust pipe to check for moisture
• Check for the cleanness of exhaust [engine cold]
  • scrape inside the pipe with a finger and if your finger stains with black soot then engine is not in a good condition; it should be clean
• The parking brake should click up about six times; more than that means the pad has been worn down
  • factor in the cost for the replacement of the brake padding if worn
• When opening the hood, check for the sign of unscrewing of the bolt (marks, dents, and rescrewing, etc.)
  • if it was unscrewed before, then it had a significant repair job done
• put a paper cup full of water on top of the engine and when engine is running it should be relatively steady and not be shaking violently
• oil cap should be clean; more dreg means worse condition
  • smell (more savory means worse condition)