Buying a used car is a huge investment. That's why you need to make sure that the person selling the car is being open and honest with you. You don't want to get taken for a ride. A good way to find out if you are getting a good deal or not is to ask the person selling the car some basic questions and seeing how they respond. If you don't like the responses to any of their questions, then it's probably not a good idea to be buying the car from them. The first question to ask is, "Why are you selling the car" Most people don't sell a perfectly good car for no reason, so ask yourself if their response makes sense. Secondly, ask if you can look at the VIN both on the dashboard and in the driver's side door. If they don't match, then you are dealing with a car assembled at a chop shop from stolen parts. Then ask if your own mechanic can take a look at the car. If they won't let that happen, then you know there are major problems with the vehicle. Finally, ask if you can take a 30-minute test drive. Many major problems don't turn up until the car is warmed up. If they will only let you take it on a five-minute test drive, the odds are that you don't want to buy the vehicle
One thing that many people don't know about when they are trying to buy a new car is title branding. Title branding is done in many but not all states to protect consumers from buying a car that has major problems. For example, if the car has been totaled, declared a lemon or suffered major flood damage, that information will be stamped on the title of the car. Creepy used car salesmen are aware of this. What they do is drive the car to a state without title brands ,and re-register the car so the title seems clean. But you can beat them at their own game. There is always a record when a car receives a title brand, and our search system will find that record. If our system tells you that the car has been titled branded in another state, that is a giant red flag that the car has a bad history and will be a bad value for you to purchase.