I’m going out with my daughter to look at a car for her. She’s an adult, she’s buying it, I’m just along mostly for moral support. Doing the dad thing. However, it’s out of my wheelhouse, and I want to make sure we don’t miss anything.
What sort of things to you look for or check when shopping for a used car?
Do you have any suggestions?
Corrosion.
How rusty is the under side? Splotches can mean nothing… Flaking is bad or otw to it.
Is there corrosion or water damage in the cabin or under the hood? Run. Pull the inside fuse box cover off or look behind the glove box.
Beyond that… Definitely drive it. Listen to it cold start… Once up to temp drive it (safely) hard.
Pop the hood, trunk, open all the things… Anything look or smell weird?
Carfax/report can shed some light but isn’t perfect. Came from Florida right after a bad hurricane… Pass. No oil changes until 30-40k and llc.owned? Prob rental… Possibly abused. Sporadic oil changes? Toss up… Doing your own work obviously won’t generate a point… Some shops don’t bother… Etc.