Four tips to find the best used-cars

veriCAR is back to help you find your dream used-car. In the last article, we saw how to decide which model suits your requirements best. This week, let us talk about one of the biggest pain areas - looking for the right car.

The process of searching for the right used-car consumes time, effort, money and can stretch on for weeks. The key to ensuring that you find the right car is to start in the right place - starting right is half the battle won.

1. Go online

The Internet is beginning to prove itself to be a boon when it comes to looking for a used-car. Run a search for 'used car' on Google, and you will have a list of websites that display used-car listings.

Most websites have a large number of used-cars listed on them, with individual and dealer listings clearly marked as being different. This is also a good starting point to get a list of dealer names and numbers that you could get in touch with.

veriCAR (http://veriCAR.in) helps used-car buyers search for the right car. We take your requirement and budget, and use our experience to find you the best car for your requirement and budget. Call veriCAR, and ask about our service, veriFIND.

Prepare for the first call by making a list of questions that you would like every seller to answer.

In particular, ensure that you have all car details: model, variant, manufacturing year, mileage, registration, insurance, number of owners, nature of tax paid.

Remember to ask what price is the seller expecting, and will it be negotiable. Depending on how that question is answered, you will get a first impression of how far the seller might go to sell his car.

You also might want to find out where the car has primarily been driven (city, highways, inter-city runs), and why the seller is selling it -- be prepared for inaccurate answers, though.

Take down the address of the place where the car is located, and ask when it is available for an inspection. If the seller/dealer is hesitant about sharing any details with you, just scratch that car off the list. It is probably not worth your while wasting time over it.

After you have confirmed all vehicle details on the phone, you now have a list of cars that you can potentially visit. However, checking all cars is not a wise option. What you must now do is prioritise amongst the cars you have and decide which ones you are going to visit first. Here are some quick ways to prioritise.

Age check

If your budget allows you to, try to avoid buying a car that is more than 5-6 years old. The chances of finding a good car that will serve you without any trouble for a few years reduces substantially for cars that are more than 6 years old.

Mileage check

A thumbrule for a 'normal' car is 12,000 km per year. Multiply the age of the car by 12,000 and compare the number to the car's claimed mileage.

For example, a four-year old Honda City that has done 39,000 km is a 'slightly low-mileage' car, and hence a pretty attractive proposition. Modern car powertrains are designed to last for lakhs of kilometers if maintained well and serviced regularly.

Do bear in mind that low-mileage cars command a price premium in the market.

Dealer / Seller check

Run a quick web search on the seller's name to get an idea of his/her background. This information may not always be accurate, and should definitely not be used as a key decision-making criteria, but some information is better than nothing at all.

In case of dealers, try and find out what area the showroom is located in. If the dealership is in the middle of a number of garages and repair shops, be doubly careful with your inspection when you do visit the dealership. Also run a web search on the dealer's name to see if any past experiences are documented on the Internet (you will be surprised).

Be aware

Odometer fraud, accident damage, and serious mechanical damage can not be detected on the telephone or on the Internet. Finally, be aware of deals that are too good to be true -- they probably are. Every single seller, be it an individual or a dealer does enough research on used-car prices before putting up the car for sale, and no one will price it significantly under the market price.

Once you have prioritised your list, make a second call to the sellers that you intend to visit.

First, ensure that you tell them clearly that you had called before: this classifies you as a serious buyer. In a market where there are more buyers than sellers, it is important that the seller takes you seriously.

Second, tell him/her that if the car turns out to be to your satisfaction, you will close the deal then and there. Try and shave off a few thousand rupees off the quoted amount on the phone itself.

For example, for a car quoted at Rs 2.25 lakh, you might want to try this: 'I have to travel a long distance to get to your place. If you're willing to come down to Rs 2.20 lakh, I will travel down today and have a look at the vehicle.'

Next week, we will look at what you should do on your first visit. You will be surprised at how much small details can reveal. Stay tuned!

veriCAR (http://veriCAR.in) helps used-car buyers search for the right car. We take your requirement and budget, and use our experience to find you the best car for your requirement and budget. Call veriCAR, and ask about our service, veriFIND.