Before you buy a used car of any type, there are a few questions that you should ask yourself or consider:
- If you have bought a new car, generally the manufacturer will provide a warranty of some kind or another. Usually 4 years or 50,000 miles. If the car owner is not planning on keeping the car for very long then most likely they would not buy an extended warranty. Now, if you are buying this car as a Certified car, you have the remainder of the warranty time left and you can buy more at purchase. You need to be very aware of how many miles are left as most often, the miles are the one that will knock you out of the warranty.
- It’s going to be important for you to see the reliability record of the model you’re wanting to buy. If you are not buying a certified pre-owned vehicle then you are leaving yourself open to having future service issues.
- Who is backing your warranty? If the manufacturer is backing the warranty then you can be sure that you’re getting top notch service. However, if it’s the dealership that talked you into purchasing an aftermarket warranty, well you will get the cheapest sort of service, if at all.
- You are going to want to know if there is a deductible and is it per visit or per repair. This is a very important question to ask. If it’s per repair and each is $100, then if you have to have the oil changed and the door handle replaced, each of those would be $100 meaning $200 out of your pocket. $100 per visit would mean $100 out the door no matter how many repairs there are.
- Be sure to check to see what is covered under warranty. This can be where you get ripped off. Another consideration is if your warranty covers ABS brakes. Some won’t include it so you would want to upgrade it.
