5 Things To Do When Looking At A Used Car

The sniff test: “Go in and if it smells musty, smells oily, smells like there’s an engine problem or a water problem, something like that,” Linkov says.
Fire up the engine: “Puffs of blue smoke or white smoke out of the exhaust, [that would] be a no-no, because you’re having water issues, you’re having oil mixing with the fuel, coolant leaks,” he says.
Get the vehicle identification number, or VIN: “It’s on a plate in front of the driver’s side window, or you can get it on the registration,” Linkov says. “If you’re looking at a private sale, particularly, but even out at a dealer, ask them to run the VIN in their service records and see what the history of that car is. How often has the car come in and out of service? Did it bounce around? … You just begin to get a history of the life.”
Check if the lights are fogged: “If you see that the lights are kind of fogged, it means that there was probably a water issue, maybe a flood,” he says. “So if there’s a moisture condensation that looks like it’s inside the lights, avoid that car.”
Keep an eye out for rust: “You want to look for rust on things like screws,” Linkov says. “Look on the seats. If the seat bolts don’t look like they’re painted, and they look new and the rest of the car looks like its age, [the] seats were replaced. Why were the seats replaced? Why does the carpet seem a little different on one side? Why is there rust underneath the inside of the lips of the engine bay? Stuff like that.”

5 Things To Do When Looking At A Used Car

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