When buying a used car ('03 or better), what should I look for?

Answer 1

- Decide which cars you're interested in and check their current suggested values at kbb.com, nada.com, and edmunds.com TMV ("true market value").
- Shop around and don't get pressured into buying, especially if they try to sell you a car you haven't researched yet.
- Inspect the interior and exterior for defects (here's a good checklist: http://www.samarins.com/check/simplecheck.html)

Answer 2

Get a car fax on everything. make sure all the pages are given to you (if first page says page 1 of 12 and you only get 9 pages). Drive it and listen for anything that doesn't sound right, turn the radio off. 4 years old any other problems are likely to just be wear and tear maintenance issues ie: tires, brakes. Oh, check the oil! You'd think that dealerships would do that first, but generally they just clean the car and make sure it looks and runs "pretty good"

Answer 3

1) Low mileage
2) a car that high re-sale value (Toyotas are great for this!)
3) clean inside
4) no damage outside
5) a car with a high reliability history (do you research online!)
6) a popular color (ie silver is popular - but how many people want deep purple or bright green?) - a bad color can reduce resale value!
7) a car from a dealership that has a good used car warranty
8) possibly look for a 'newer' used car that might in fact have some original warranty left on it

Happy car shopping! :)

Answer 4

Hi
2001 - 1007 is okay , You can get really good cheap cars from auctions , you will find thousands of different auction and repo cars of all kinds of models really cheap at http://www.carauctiondeals.com
Hope this helps