Before you talk turkey, inspect the bird...
Apr 23 '00 (Updated Apr 25 '00)
You've decided to buy used…or at least to take a cut at it. You know what you want, you've done the research about the vehicle type, and you know about what you should expect to pay. You've found a couple of cars that you want to pursue. Whether they are private sales or being offered by a dealership, the final step before entering into negotiation is evaluating the vehicle itself.
Never, never enter into price negotiation before you have really checked out the car. You could learn something that will give you some leverage. If you find something wrong - perhaps not serious enough to make you want to pass - it can help you get a lower price.
The first step is the "walk around." You are looking for blemishes or discoloration that might indicate that the car has had bodywork. A machine that has been in an accident may be just fine - but if the owner or dealer has not told you about it, and you find that to be the case, you are in a strong negotiating position. When you are doing that inspection and you cannot be sure about what you see, plan to take the vehicle to a body expert - he can tell you.
Inspect the tires and wheels. You are looking for signs of hard impacts, sidewall rubs and so on. Tread depth is important; you can get a feel for how old the tires are. Evenness of wear will tell you about the alignment of the front wheels. Look at the rear ones - a common trick to hide alignment wear problems is to rotate the tires, putting the uneven tread wear in the rear. The front tires look fine…but that is not where they lived for the last year or so.
Bounce the car at each corner. It should go down, rebound up, return downward below the level it sits at no more than once before settling. This tells you about shock absorbers. If the vehicle bounces up and down several times the shocks are weak.
Climb into the car. If the dealer prep people are on their toes it will look and smell pristine. But there are a few telltale signs they often miss. Look at the pedals…if they are heavily worn, the car did a lot of stop and go driving. If it's an older car, and the pedal rubber looks brand new, the dealer probably replaced the pads. Inspect the seat upholstery, looking for wear and tear. In SUV style trucks, look closely at the rear interior for signs that it carried heavy loads - nicks and blemishes will tell the story, along with scratches in interior paint.
Get under the hood. A dealer will have probably done a steam-cleaning job, polishing up everything that you can see standing in front of the engine compartment. Reach in, finding a place that you can touch, not in view. If your hand comes back with oil-damp grit, pass the deal. Do this on both sides. If you can reach the area under the rear of rocker covers (assuming you know what those are), that's a favorite spot for leaking oil to be evident.
Check the oil - it's probably been changed, so it will look perfectly clean. If the vehicle has an automatic, check the transmission fluid - it will probably be full, but you are going to smell it. You will have prepared yourself by getting a container of brand new transmission fluid and sampling its bouquet. If a transmission has been abused or has problems, its fluid will have a smell reminiscent of burning because it has gotten hotter than it should. If you know what new stuff smells like, the difference will be obvious.
Look at the battery-mounting bracket - if it is freshly painted, then there may have been corrosion there. Squeeze heater and radiator hoses. If they seem brittle, they are nearing the end of their life.
Don't talk about what you find as you find it. A dealer sales person will give you a bunch of glib answers, and you will tip your hand. In fact, you don't want him anywhere near you as you look the car over. If you can arrange to kick the tires as he leaves you alone, he'll be thinking he has a mark. If you have to, do the inspection around the corner, during your test drive.
Now, drive the car. If you can get out of the lot without the salesman, all the better. Drive the car into a nearby parking lot, or find a side road with no traffic. Get the car up to 40 miles per hour or so, then stamp on the breaks holding the wheel lightly. If there is any tendency for the wheel to pull to either side, the car needs break and/or alignment work. Also, apply the breaks lightly at low speed. If the car seems to alternately slow down at varying rates, like a pulsing, the brakes need work.
Come to a full stop. Hit the accelerator hard - if there is any hesitation or bobbling as acceleration starts, the car has a tuning problem. It could be either fuel or electrical system related.
As you drive, turn on and test all accessories. If air conditioning is present, hopefully your testing is being done on a warm day. If you can get one of those little pocket thermometers used for AC system tests, stick it into one of the ducts. It should read somewhere around a temperature that is at least 30 degrees below the outside temperature. If it's too cold for that test to be done, then reserve it as one of the things you will have checked by a mechanic.
Find a stretch of highway that will let you get up to 60 plus miles per hour. Be watching and listening for signs of wheel imbalance - jiggling steering wheel, vibrations that make the mirrors blur. Get in the middle lane, and take your hands off the wheel, holding them close so that you can grab it quickly. The car should stay in a straight line - if it does not, alignment problems might be indicated. Remember that this test has to be done on a level piece of highway.
If traffic permits - no cars around you or close in front or behind - jerk the wheel side to side. Even staying in your lane, the movement of the vehicle should be crisp and feel well controlled. If it seems to roll a little and seem "inaccurate" in its response, there may be suspension or steering system problems.
Stop, raise the hood and listen closely once the engine is good and hot. If you hear any ticking or clicking sounds there could be valve train problems. If the engine rocks on its mounts excessively, it's not running smoothly at idle. Turn on all the accessories and lights…watch the voltmeter on the instrument panel. Its reading should not vary significantly. If it does vary a lot, then the battery, charging system or idle speed is suspect.
If you are looking at a vehicle with good ground clearance, you can get under it. If you feel that adventurous, you can tell a lot by just taking a look underneath. This is best done after the vehicle has been running for a while...look for signs of freshly leaked oil. The places to look are around the engine oil pan, where the engine and transmission meet - around the "bell housing," at the end of the transmission housing, where the driveshaft connects and where the driveshaft goes into the rear end. In front wheel drive vehicles, or 4 by 4's, look at front axles for seal leaks. If there is a leak at driveshaft seals, you will see wetness on the bottom of the floor above the universal joint areas - the oil gets slung away from the place where the leak is. If you don't look for this stuff yourself, make sure the mechanic you have do the looking does so.
After reading all this, you might be saying to yourself, "I haven't got the foggiest notion of what he's talking about." If that's the case, just find a mechanic who will do all these tests, and more, for you. You get the car to him and he can put it up on a lift and check the exhaust system, running gear, hydraulic lines, emergency brake cables, U-joints, ball joints, CV joints - all the things that can be about to fail from wear. He can even tell you if the radiator coolant needs changing, if he really knows his stuff. Besides - you would have just been pre-qualifying the car to decide if it was worthy of the effort to get it to the mechanic. If the mechanic spends a couple of hours going over the car, it will cost around 100 bucks - but it can save you over $1000 if he finds something that needs work. If he'll let you under the car while it's up on the lift, you can see a lot yourself.
If nothing else, you can use this as a guide to what your mechanic should check. And, if the seller refuses to let you have the evaluation done, pass the deal. If a dealership sales person sees you walking after saying no, the answer might change to yes.
So - what can you do with the results of all this? If you come into a price negotiation armed with knowledge about mechanical problems, you can make the deal contingent on either a fix or reduction in price commensurate with the cost of the fix. The dealer will want to offer the fix - it will cost him less that way. Fine. You just tell him that the mechanic will evaluate the results, and that if it's not satisfactory - no deal.
Each state has varying laws about rescinding a deal - become familiar with your state's "right of rescission" statutes. If they do not cover it, insist on writing in your right to back out if promised repairs are not done to your satisfaction. Car dealerships offer what they call an "adhesion contract" - one that offers no negotiation or modification except where the blanks are filled in. That does NOT mean that you cannot insist on a new provision - one that protects your right of rescission.
A dealer that fights you to the extent of losing you on these points is not worth doing business with. Walk away.
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