Now, if you've already decided to buy a used car, then nothing like it. You have a set budget and you want to work around it and see what you can possibly get in that amount. Once you've zeroed down on the options that are shown to you, the first thing you should, and this is a mandatory, do is take it out for a test drive. This needs to be done because it is the only way you will know how the car, after so many kilometres on the odometer, still performs.
You take it out for a test drive and these are some simple checks which you can do.
1) Check the acceleration of the car. The pick-up of the car might have suffered for sure but the car should be able to do a good bit of highway driving. If you go above 80km/h then keep a keen ear out for rattles, squeaks and steering wobble
2) Engine noise is another thing that needs to be checked during this highway driving. The more the noise, the less maintained the car and that evaluates into higher maintenance
3) Also check if the gears engage in a smooth fashion. If it does not, the clutch plate might be the issue.
4) Take the car to an uphill and then accelerate ahead. This test will make you realize if the engine suffers fatigue on a steep slope.
5) Suspension is one thing that really needs to be checked and what better way to find out than to take it on a road with a few potholes maybe. All -in-all you have to make sure that there is no suspension noise or squeaks. If there are any that you discover, it means that the car needs a lot of work to be done on it.
6) Make sure you check the brakes of the car too, to see if at all they do exactly what they're meant to do - Stop the car!
These are a few things that you can keep in mind before you finalise on the Used car that you want to buy. At the end of it all though, we strongly recommend that you show the car to a mechanic (who is known to you and will give you an unbiased opinion) to check out the car and give you a complete feedback.
