Tips For Buying A Used Car

My husband and I recently had to retire our Volkswagen Passat and began looking for reliable used cars in Mission, TX since that’s where we reside.  With the recent rise in car leases over the past year, the trends show that used car deals are plentiful.  We were very excited when we found this out and started with an online search of available vehicles.  It was very overwhelming to look at all the cars that were available in our price range and I began to think that the selection process could easily go on forever.  There were plenty of newer, loaded cars, with lower miles available in a variety of makes and models. My husband and I decided to take a few steps to help make the decision process easier.

Conduct Some Research
Of the 50 cars that we were seriously considering, we realized that there were only 10 different makes and models.  We visited great online resources like Edmunds and Kelly Blue Book to get more information on each car.  These sites give great information about cars like cost to and reviews.  After reading more in depth about the cars, we quickly crossed a few off the list because we knew they would not fit our needs and lifestyle.  After visiting these sites, our list of 50 was now cut down to 15 cars.  I couldn’t help but smile at that very manageable number.
 
Make a “Must Haves” List
Since our search found there were many used cars in Mission, TX, we decided to make a list of amenities we must have in a car.  Our plan was to eliminate any car that did not fit the criteria we were looking for.  At the top of our list of must haves, we included things like less than 40K miles, iPod hook up through stereo, 4 wheel drive, and low gas mileage (nothing below 35 MPG).  After eliminating cars that did not match our must haves criteria, we went from over 500 cars, to under 50.  I was much more comfortable with that number and started to feel like this was something that could be accomplished.
 
Start Your Engine!
We took the list of 15 cars and found that we would only have to visit 5 different places to test drive all the cars.  We spent a long weekend test driving each and every car.  Of course once we were behind the wheel of some cars, we were able to eliminate them because we didn’t like the way they handled or drove.  We made sure we checked the exterior and interior of each car and spoke at length about each one before moving on to the next.  When all was said and done, my husband and I narrowed our search down to 2 cars that happened to be at the same dealer.
 
Let’s Make a Deal!
We met with a salesman and worked long and hard to come up with the best deals for each car.  Ultimately, since I am a huge bargain shopper, we chose the car that we got the best price for.  Don’t be afraid to bargain and try to get the price down on a car.  Since there are so many used cars available now, you have the upper hand.  Don’t leave until you’re comfortable with the price.
 
I hope you are as fortunate in your search as I was.  I couldn’t be happier with the car we ended up with!
 
Genavieve Santana is fairly new to the blogging world and uses her life experiences to appeal to her readers. Follow her @Genasvieve.