Unless you are a car expert…the world of petrol power can seem a bit of a mystery at best. Or a minefield at worst! The reality is most people don’t know much about cars. They might be perfectly happy with that until they need to buy a car. If you are buying new or leasing things can be simpler because the risks are low. You will get a car under warranty, there are lots of reviews around online and these days new cars are pretty reliable. However, lots of people out there either can’t afford a new car or don’t want one. So, they enter the used car world and buying a second hand car can be rather stressful. There are lots of things that make it like this. But most of them can be combated with a bit of planning making it a lot less horrible.

Buying a Broken Car

The biggest worry of all is essentially buying a bad car or a lemon as car people would say. It can look perfectly fine but after a few days, weeks or even just a few miles things can go wrong. Cars can be washed and made to look nice. However this can cover up all kinds of damage. You might see a shiny little car that has, in fact, been thrashed to within an inch of its life. On top of that its never serviced and in need of a lot of work. This underlying fear can really put people off buying a used car and it is understandable.

Choosing a Car

For some people trawling through car sale websites and apps like AutoTrader is actually fun, but these people are few and far between. The rest of the population find it tedious. What tends to happen is a person will choose a car based on what a friend has or a parent and then search for a good deal. This can lead to a lot of problems. You may see a cheap car that looks just like your friends, only to find out it the smaller engine version that breaks all the time, or its cheap because it has done 100,000 miles more than the one you got the idea from. A lot of people just end up looking for a car that’s not actually right for them for various reasons.

Dealing with People

Going to view a car can be really stressful. It is made worse if the person selling makes the buyer feel under pressure, and if the buyer knows very little about cars it can be worse still. Then there is the “deal”, not many people like haggling, its awkward and takes a lot of practice. The pressure of the pending haggle can really cause a lot of anxiety and even put people off buying a used car altogether.

Making it Better

There really are things you can do to take a lot of the stress out of buying a used car.

Car Checkers

First of all, get a car check before you buy. These handy things basically run a reference check against all recorded MOT fails, servicing, insurance claims and much more on any given car. What this means is that before you go a look at a car, or after you have looked but before you commit you can check its all as it should be. Not previously stolen, not constantly failing MOTs, not been written off and re-built and more. While it won’t guarantee the car is perfect it certainly makes it much less of a gamble. Car checkers like the Car Guide can even give you estimated running costs and more which are really helpful when buying a second hand car.

Research

Its boring but do your research. By all means start thinking about cars you already like but use Google to find common problems, read old reviews from the year it came out and check out forums where people talk about issues they have had. You may find out your chosen car is going to be trouble no matter how good a one you find. Look at prices, get a feel for what a good price is and a silly price low or high! By researching models as well as alternatives you will get a much better shortlist of cars to start looking at.

Consider a Dealer?

This is a tricky one. In some cases, a car dealer can be great, if they are a good one (check google reviews) they will offer a small warranty and be very helpful. However, if they are a bad one, they can be the very worst places to buy a car from. A lot of people do not like going to someone’s home to buy a car, if this is you then find a really well reviewed dealer and have a chat with them. But when you are booking a viewing, ask if they are a dealer before visiting, quite often it will look like someone’s home and you arrive to see 20 cars on a big driveway.

Don’t Haggle

If you don’t like haggling, then don’t do it. Simply pay the price if you think it is a good price. If it’s too high don’t view the car. But be confident in asking for a bit off, you will be surprised what you will get because remember, the person selling it probably doesn’t like haggling either.

Buy doing your research and getting a proper idea of the right car and by using a car checker you can vastly reduce the risk and stress of buying a used car. Knowledge is power and thanks to the internet we have access to a lot of it!