Posts Tagged ‘older used cars’
Older Used Cars – Avoid Getting Screwed
If you have just finished up your education and you’re a young person, chances are you will be getting to work on your very first job soon. You will most likely require a car for your first job. If you’ve never had a job and a decent income yet, you will not be able to afford a new car. People will start looking around for older used cars for sale at this point.
Some used cars are good, others are bad. The good ones are the ones that have had proper maintenance throughout their years. Ofcourse you want to protect yourself against buying a used car that’s just plain bad. You know what I mean, one of those cars that’s all rusty and goes to the scrapheap a year after purchase. Paying too high a price for an old used car is something you want to avoid. Car pricing guidelines are important to know about before you buy anything. Let me give you some advice that you can use to decide what to pay for cheap old cars for sale by owner of all kinds.
For a new car, you will have to pony up somewhere between $9,000 and $23,000. The price will be higher for bigger sized cars. Right after you roll the car out of the showroom, it instantly loses half its value. Buying a new car and then selling it quickly, would make you lose thousands of dollars in almost no time. This is why most people hang on to their new cars for at least a few years.
When cars reach the age of 5 years and over, their owners want to buy newer ones. Any 5 year old car is considered to be ‘old’. The price for a car that’s 5 years old should never exceed 15%-30% of its original value. It has to be closer to 15% if the car is more damaged than average. If the car looks like it’s in good health, somewhere around 30% is fine.
When you are looking at older cars for sale that are much older, say around 10 years, the price really may not exceed 20% of its original value.
These pricing guidelines are important to think about when looking for budget used cars for sale.
You will prevent wasting your money this way!
Cheap Old Cars For Sale By Owner
Do you want to learn more about buying cheap older cars?
When I was younger, I had a lot of older used cars and each one made me all the wiser. I want you to learn from my experience, so you can avoid wasting your money on lousy old cars.
A lot of people fear that cheap old cars for sale by owner aren’t worth looking at because they’re old. Nothing could be more wrong than that. A car that’s had good maintenance is never too old. Cars that have been well maintained throughout their life, usually have plenty of juice in them to last you many more years.
Looking at it that way, old used cars give you good value for relatively little money!
Not all the cheap older cars you will encounter are good ones. Some cars are just plain bad. You can protect yourself from buying a piece of junk if you know what to keep in mind.
When looking for cheap old cars, you must keep a few things in mind. I will list the most important ones right here.
Test drive a cheap old car before you pay money for it. You must have your legal papers before you take the drive. Make sure to have your drivers license on you. Have a look at the car’s insurance papers to see if everything is okay.
If everything is okay, start the car’s engine and listen to the sound it makes. Old cars sometimes take a second before their engine fires up. This is fairly normal. Once the engine is running, make sure its sound is healthy, like a roaring bear. If it sounds good, it probably is.
While driving the car, pay attention when operating the gearbox and the pedals. When you operate them, do they feel smooth? If the car has had good maintenance, the gearbox and pedals will operate smoothly, even if it’s an old car.
Be sure to mind the brakes. When you slam down on them, the car must stop in a straight line. If not, then that means the brakes are almost dead and they will need replacement soon.
What about the acceleration? A well maintained car should be able to accelerate rapidly. If the car accelerates slowly, this means the engine has wear and tear.
In conclusion, use your instincts to determine if a car is healthy. If you think something might be wrong with the car and repairs will be needed soon, bargain for a lower price.