How to Buy a Car

Road Record offer you the full advice on buying a Used Car, our extensive experience in the used car industry places us at the forefront of the motor selling industry. In today’s current climate buyers can be faced with potential issues when buying a user car, in particular buying the car from trustworthy sources. Road Record will assist you in the buying process and offer you the following guidelines on making that vital purchase.

Research your Used Car

As part of any purchase you should research what you are buying, Road Record used car adverts are ideal place to buy your used car.

In researching you should include factors such as valuation, it is important to understand the value attached to any used car you will potentially buy. When planning your purchase you need to consider the budget you are willing to spend and consider running costs of the vehicle including additional costs for insurance, road tax and daily costs such as petrol or diesel considerations.

Following our online reviews can also assist you in buying a used car this information can then be used whilst browsing our online car adverts.

Contact the Seller

As part of buying a used car; you should prepare a comprehensive list of questions that will enable you to identify any potential issues with the vehicle. The more information you can obtain about the used car the more you will learn about its background.

Some potential questions, could include, ownership of car, recent MOT, condition of car, reasons for selling, any accidents, this list should be include everything you want to know about the car.

When contacting the seller, it’s important to get as much information about the seller as possible, including address, email address, home and mobile number. The more information the seller is willing to provide the more trustworthy that seller will be.

Meeting the seller is a critical stage of the process, so again it is important that you meet at a definite property, either the property listed against the vehicle or a commercial building related to the vehicle. Meeting the seller at these venues will allow you to assess paperwork attached to the vehicle more thoroughly.

Assessing a Used Car

Combined with your initial research on the used car, assessing the car at point of contact is vital; here you can identify everything you need to know about the car. If possible taking an expert along would be ideal; however this is not always possible so learn as much as you can from the vehicle.

Sellers won’t always identify if there are faults or damages on the used car, so checking the vehicle in good light for dents, scratches, rust or anything that can affect valuation is essential.

When checking the used car, be focussed on the car and don’t allow for any distractions. On arrival the car should be switched off to allow you to hear any potential start up issues.

There are several signs that identify if the car has been in an accident, such things as wheels being out of alignment, gaps between body panels and welding marks. It is important that you check the used car thoroughly for any of these issues.

Other critical issues that must be identified are oil leaks or misuse of the car, such things as low oil levels is a representative of poor day to day keeping of the car. Tyres is also a major issue with used cars, and tread depths should be assessed. Once you have checked the car, the next stage is the Test Drive.

At the point of test drive you should identify insurance liability. Never Test Drive a vehicle that you are not insured for, this could lead to legal implications in the even of an accident.

The test drive is your chance to identify and potential issues within the car. You should utilise the test drive and used everything you can within the car. Listen out for any noises that could be potential damage to the car – if you hear anything you should immediately identify with the seller what this noise is.

Driving on all road surfaces will again raise any potential issues that car might have, testing the break, steering wheel, handbrake, gears and clutch will allow you test for yourself if anything has an issue. If at any time you feel something is not right with the vehicle you should clarify with the seller and obtain as much information as possible.

Agreeing a Price

When agreeing the price, you should take into consideration your initial research, your findings from the vehicle search and the outcome from the test drive. The three combined will give you a true valuation of the car. The used car market can be a negotiable market place.

Put the onus back on the seller and identify their valuation on the vehicle, if you disagree, with the offer lower and used your findings to back up your valuation. If the seller wont budge on price, don’t automatically agree his fee, give him your valuation, this way you have a negotiating point. Eventually you will come to an agreement based on all the evidence you gather on the used car.

Closing the Deal

completing the sale is the most important part of the process, not only will you need to have the car in full working order, but the paper trail with the car is vital. The paperwork that should accompany every legal sale of a vehicle includes; the logbook, Full Service History, MOT Details, The registration number and identification number and Valid Tax Disc.

All vehicles should be original and have correct details; if anything about any of the documents looks it has been illegally amended then you SHOULD not buy the car. Any work that has been done to the car will be recorded in the log book.

If everything is present and you are happy to proceed to payment stage, you should be very careful when exchanging payment. If you are dealing with cash, then you need to have a receipt both for you and the seller with the sellers address and contact details on. This is required in the event of any issues later with the car. The safest way is to complete transaction via BACS payment through banking system.

Feeling ready to buy that used car, then follow our online adverts where you will find used car adverts that will meet your motoring needs.