Questions To Ask When Buying A Used Car?

By Admin Reading time: 8 min read Published on: 09 / 04 / 2025
blog image

Buying a car is always a heavy investment that you make for the comfort and safety of yourself and your loved ones. A car is a heavy machinery that should never be taken for granted because it could put your life at risk, and that’s one chance you do not want to take under any circumstances.

Due to the heavy and sturdy manufacturing of the modern day cars, they tend to be more efficient and have a long life span. Taking advantage of this feature of these majestic inventions the second-hand car industry came into existence. Buying a luxury car first hand is a dream not feasible for everyone but buying pre owned luxury cars is very much possible even with your financial crunch. It is not always possible to buy premium banded cars but you can easily find used premium cars with best used premium car brands on sale for a marginally less price that would go easy on your pocket and give you the pleasure of owning a premium brand car as well!

In the past year the second hand and used cars industry has grown with a rapid momentum. Some statistics show that the sale of premium used cars for sale and first hand sold cars are somewhere equal in numbers with a negligible difference. Unfortunately, a lot of these second hand car sales end up in a fraudulent sale. To save yourself from a similar cheating make sure to ask your seller the following questions:

1.     Has this car been in any accidents before or does it have a clear record?

To make an informed decision, the answer to this question can help you determine the life expectancy and depreciation value of the car. If the car has been involved in accidents in the past then it means that the depreciation value if the car is high and it is most likely to need frequent repairs and runs to the garage which will be a huge liability for you and can possibly put your life at risk as well.

Make sure to check the service tracks of the car to check whether and how many times the car has been in an accident. These service tracks are basically like the vehicle’s tracks. But since, sometimes these tracks don’t cover everything so make sure to ask the car owner everything they know about the car’s history and positively check if the car has a clear title or not. Make sure the car does not have a salvaged or damaged title.

It’s advised that do not reject the car because of a minor accident here or there but if it has been involved in a serious accident once or in a couple of occasions then do reconsider your decision to buy the car.

2.     What is the status of the car and can the seller legally sell the car?

The question on status of the car broadly includes three key things:

-          The title does not have a damaged or salvaged title

-          The title is currently in the seller’s possession and the seller has it physically in hand.

-          The car is ready to be signed over to the buyer.

Only if the above three conditions are satisfied, only then consider buying the car.

If you find out that the car has a salvage title, then this would mean that the insurance company decided that the repairing cost of the car would be more than the actual cost of the car. This indicates that the car was probably involved in a really bad accident or is not fit for usage, especially a second sale. Either do not buy the car or with the help of this revelation, you can get the price of the car brought down.

3.     Number of owners the car has had

At the end of the day while buying a second hand car you are looking for a good quality car with a few previous owners, depending on the age of the car. The less number of owners, the better. If the car has had many previous owners then it could mean either of these things: the depreciation value of the car is very high, there are some mechanical issues with the car, or the maintenance cost of the car is high and the owner is trying to pawn the car off.

4.     Why are you selling the car?

This question can answer a lot of your questions. If the owner gives you a straightforward satisfactory answer, then you should consider buying the car. But if you find something suspicious about his answer or his reason seems problematic to you, then reconsider your decision to buy the car.

5.     How many miles has the car been driven for?

If you are someone who cares about the mileage of the car and want to know if the car can drive a reasonable number of miles at regular intervals, this question can help answer your questions. You want to find a balance between a car that sits at home and one that’s a workhorse as well.

These are some standard questions you must ask the seller if you want to make an informed decision. Along with these if you are fishing for some other information about the car then you can ask questions like: can you take the car for an interstate road trip? Is there a spare tire and jack with the car? Any issues or repairs that need to be made? And do not forget to take the car to your trusted mechanic for check up!

AutoBest (ABE) allows you to find the best car for your needs in your price range. It also gives you the liberty to contact the owner to ask valuable questions that will affect your decision making process. AutoBest (ABE) brings you the most pleasant online premium car shopping experience because they understand the importance of your comfort.

HAPPY DRIVING!

Read More:

1. Performance-Check for Second-hand Cars: A Guide

2. What is the Importance of Mileage for Used Cars?

3. Petrol V/S CNG Used Cars: Which One Should You Choose?

FEATURED ARTICLES