I purchased a used auto and without going into too much detail about such things like make and model I think I’ll talk about lessons learned.
First of all the vehicle is a lemon and I feel ‘ripped off’. The immediate investments in repairs for this vehicle just in order for it to pass inspection are high. This is what I get for buying a used vehicle from an owner without having sufficient knowledge of auto mechanics.
Luckily, so far, the engine and transmission seem to be in good condition. The engine has a lot of power (a friend in the know once told me this is a good thing) and the gears switch smoothly so hopefully I will get my money worth out of these two things. In other words I should be able to put a lot more miles on the vehicle before any major problems develop (I’m not talking tune-up here) with these two things.
My immediate observations must be made about the people who sold the vehicle to me. They seemed friendly enough. They were ‘open’ and had the vehicle plastered with patriotic stickers and decals.
They had decals stating contributions to their local police department for several years. They had an army reserve, “an army of one” sticker on the back window, a “proud to be an American” sticker on the front windshield.
The seller freely gave me several numbers to contact her. She was a mother and used the vehicle to transport the kids when they were little. She loved her vehicle and felt kind of “heart broken” at having to give it up but she said she no longer needed it.
After I purchased the vehicle but before I got all the paper work and auto insurance I needed to use the vehicle I mistakenly dialed her number but hung up. She had the confidence to call back and asked was it me who called and then inquire about how the vehicle was doing.
Hmmm, she seemed to be confident enough to inquire about her former vehicle without any hesitation. This too points to confidence in the vehicle.
After I got all the paperwork and started to use the vehicle I found out how wrong my impressions were.
The vehicle will need brakes, a muffler, windshield wipers, and high beam light switch work in order to pass inspection. It sounds like I’ll need some belts and maybe a new or rebuilt water pump pretty soon also.
All this shows that I am the biggest idiot to ever purchase a used vehicle that I know. I did not give the vehicle a thorough enough ‘going over’ and was happy that the engine had a lot of power, the transmission ran fine, and that there were no signs of leaks. I did not use a more thorough checklist when looking over this vehicle.
The things that pointed to a vehicle that may have problems were ‘surface things’. The paint job was faded and chipping in a few spots, the interior had a lot of heavy scarring, the carpeting was dirty and although there were no signs of leaks the engine was dirty. These are ‘judge a book by its cover’ things because they really don’t indicate any really major problems with the vehicle but they show the amount of care the owner had for the vehicle’s appearance.
The lesson learned is that if a person does not seem to care about the general appearance of his or her vehicle then it is highly likely they didn’t take good care of other more important and expensive things.
I think dealerships do the opposite. They spruce up the outside appearance of their used vehicles to sucker the consumer into buying.
For private sellers of vehicles it may be wise to pick a vehicle that is outwardly ‘up kept’ to predict the likelihood that all the important stuff was also well maintained.
This is a generalization but my experience and observations must be placed in the mix so that if I ever get a used vehicle again from a private seller I will have what happened here in mind and will double check vehicles that have an outward appearance that is not that good.
Live and learn as they say.