For owning a car yourself, you may not want to buy a brand new one but a pre-owned one to fit your budget and taking in note of other valid requirements and reasons.
Though a pre-owned vehicle can have complete (apart from some aspects like any upgradation in features in the newer version of the same model) similarity in features and performance as of a new one but unlike a new vehicle, the pre-owned vehicles do have accident histories and/or mechanical issues.
Many o the sellers take up some crooked path in order to get their vehicles sold. They tamper with the vehicle to cover-up some of the faulty issues.
As the buyer, it is you who is responsible for avoiding the potential risks in order to get a car with true history.
What you need to do is learn the potential risks you may face while grabbing a deal and save yourself from those frauds.
Here are a few tips suggested by “Allstates” which you can take in note for the same :-
Check for washed title –
Whenever a car gets specifically damaged, it is issued a special title like salvage, junk etc, for the buyers to know the exact history of vehicles they are upto buying .
Many of the fraudulent sellers try to change the title by registering the vehicle from different or new state where a titling clerk may not understand a specific symbol from a different state.
To keep in check the same, ask for the vehicle history report from the seller to check if there is any recent title transfer and also inspect a physical copy of the title to check if the title appears to be altered any way .
Check for the Vehicle Identification Number –
Every vehicle by default contains a particular, unique identification number when it is built so that it can be identified throughout its lifetime.
But ,many a times , when a thief steals a car ,he changes the VIN to some other similar legally registered VIN so that the vehicle cannot be determined to be stolen .
Thus, it becomes a legally documented vehicle and hence can be easily flowed in the market for sale.
According to Edmunds ,a vehicle’s Identification Number is typically printed on the windshield and also sometimes stamped on /near the engine’s firewall.
So, apart from looking at the vehicle history reports to ensure that the VIN has not been changed, also take a look at the above mentioned locations to see if the VIN is true to the full.
Check for Odometer Frauds –
Odometer Fraud is an illegal practice and can be found to be performed by most of the Pre-owned fraudulent car sellers.
The seller performs this by tampering the odometer and makes it appear as if it has traveled less miles than it actually has. This in turn makes the vehicle more appealing as it would cause less trouble to the buyer .
What you should do the give a check to that is ask for the vehicle history report and compare the mileage on the document against the data shown in the odometer and if they do not match then you should consider not buying that vehicle.
Check the maintenance reports and check for the oil change history and mileage history in the document which will give you an idea of how much the vehicle have run previously and in turn if the data matches with the odometer data.
Check for the exterior parts like tires, brake pedals and gas .If the car has travelled less than 20,000 miles then it would genuinely have original tires. Extremely worn out tires would indicate that the car has been used more than its odometer suggest.
Take your time before making a decision and spending your money so that you do not repent your decision after you have spent the money . If you are unable to make a proper inspection then get the vehicle evaluated by a professional.