A Great Method to Shop for a Used Car

If you're shopping for a used car, then be prepared when you visit used car dealerships or private sellers.

As people need to get to work every day and need to travel great distances to get from place to place, buying cars is an essential part of life and it is stressful. I have found a way to cut out a lot of that stress. When you are talking to a used car dealer, you need to have control of the conversation. The way to do that is to have as much of the information about the car in your hand at that moment. It seems that the dealers prey on people who come into their dealership with no idea what they are looking for, how much it should cost, or the simple mechanics it would take for a consumer to be aware that there is something wrong with a car that they are considering for purchase. It is better for you, the consumer, to have the upper hand during the whole ordeal.

This is a method that has worked for me a couple of times. It is not the only way to go about it, and if something goes wrong I do not take any responsibility for how it goes for you. Just think of this as one way to go about doing something that you were going to do anyway.

Start Looking for the Used Car that You Want

You want to be very clear about what car you want. Don't go into a dealership without an exact idea of what you want to see. If you don't have an idea, then they will show you exactly what they want you to see. So do a little research and use special websites such as myAutoloan to search for the cars you like. Make sure to print out the listings of those cars so that you can bring them to the dealership. That way, you'll have a picture as a reference for yourself and a price to reference once you're in front of the seller.

Once you have a stack of printouts, prioritize them based on what features you like, the price of the car (or how much you're willing to spend), or whatever is important to you. Put the printouts in a pile with the one you want the most on top, then the one you want second, and so forth.

Use Services to Print Out Car History Reports

Knowledge is power. Once you know which cars are in your area that you like, use a service to do a VIN check and to check out the cars' histories. These services will tell you if the car was in any accidents, the car's service record, how many owners it has had, if it was ever a rental car, if there is any indication that the odometer has been rolled back, and much much more. In general, such services uses information from the DMV and from service stations to list when the car has had a title change, when it has been serviced, and various other identifying points of contact. The service is not cheap, but very worth it.

Visit Car Dealerships or Private Car Sellers

The next step is to take your stack of printouts and reports to the car dealerships or private sellers and look at the cars. With all of this information in your hands, you will have the power to purchase the car that you want at the price that you're willing to pay. First visit the seller of the car that is on the top of your list, if that doesn't work out then go to the second, and so on. When I used this method once, the dealer of the car tried to sell it to me for hundreds more than the advertisement stated. I was able to hand him the printout and pay the price that was listed. It was an amazing power, and he was a bit upset.

Make sure to test drive the cars and use as much of your knowledge of mechanics as you can to listen to odd sounds or to look for problems that may occur later in the vehicle's life. There is always some danger of something going wrong when you buy a used car. This is not a fool-proof method. It is just one that I have used a few times and it has worked wonders. The bottom line is that if you have as much information as you can about a used car that you want to buy, you will be able to make a very informed decision and have the power to get what you want.

Nicholas H. Parker is an essay writer at essaywriterfree.net. He used to manage the content team at the company he worked for. Nicholas writes articles to share his knowledge with others and obtain new skills. Besides it, he is highly interested in the web design sphere.