how to buy used car from private seller?

amother

Thu, Jul 10 2014, 10:51 pm

I need to buy a car and dont have money to get one from a dealer. I dont trust private sellers who aren't jewish like on craigslist. so how can I find a good reliable car without unnecessary fees? no one in the community I live has a way of advertising if they are selling their car.

busydev

Thu, Jul 10 2014, 11:03 pm

you tried used car dealers? we bought one from another state.
is there a place you can put a classified ad? like a community circular? community yahoo group? facebook group? can you look at or hang up signs in stores?
theres also an online jewish version of craigslist (sort of) but I forget what its called...

MaBelleVie

Thu, Jul 10 2014, 11:12 pm

You should not trust anyone, Jewish or not, who is selling you a used car. You need to bring along someone who is knowledgeable about cars, and then get the car checked out by a mechanic before buying. If you think a frum person won't take you for a ride, you are woefully naive. So craigslist is fine.

amother

Fri, Jul 11 2014, 12:35 am

And be prepared, because used cars can go south without any warning.

Google the car you are looking into and see if it has had any recalls in the past, or if others have complained about certain parts going. Make sure to get a Carfax for the vehicle. Test drive it. Never buy a car that is not drivable unless you ARE a mechanic.

And daven. We had mazel with our first used car, and none since then.

amother

Fri, Jul 11 2014, 4:53 pm

Google about buying used cars. Spend some good time doing research. It can be done safely and successfully if you know what you are doing.

Also, check out the Consumer Reports car buying guide from the library. Its has great info on cars/vanstrucks by year and what issues they tend to have.

As far as not buying from a non-Jew, who do you think works at the car dealerships? And buying from someone frum is no guarantee you won't get scammed. We have frum guy in our community who specializes in selling people used cars. We talked to him, did some research and found a better van with less mileage for $2,000 than the price he told us was a great price. My friend bought from him and has a lemon that has thing after thing break. Their are honest Jews and dishonest Jews. Honest non-Jews and dishonest non-Jews.

mo5

Sat, Jul 12 2014, 10:12 am

We've bought used cars from dealers and private sellers. Important to check the service history and /research common problems that develop for the particular model car you're looking at and to have the car inspected by an independent mechanic.
It also took us a while to find the right price/car combination. First we had to work out what model or a few models were right for our needs at the time and then spent a long time looking at different online listing sites til we found the right one. We paid for more than one car to have a presale inspection. Money well-spent because we avoided buying lemons.
We were once sort of ripped off before knowing how important these things were.

cfriedman2

Sat, Jul 12 2014, 10:44 pm

Had 2 great experiences buying used from Elyon motors in Baltimore. I'd recommend calling him if ur semi local. He will go to an auction for you with no commitment to buy if u don't like the car he brings back and ur mechanic doesn't approve it.