So, you've decided to buy a used car. Good choice, you're going to be saving a lot of money. However, you might be worried about what almost all future used car buyers worry about: how do I make sure I buy a reliable car? After all, buying new seems so safe, since a new car has never seen more than a few miles of test drive wear. You also have that sweet warranty backing you up.
The truth is, though, that buying used affords you several advantages over a new car in terms of finding lasting reliability. Think about it: a new car is unproven. You won't find out until a few years later whether that fancy new transmission design has an irritating tendency to explode while downshifting. With a used car, though, you can easily read up on the model's history, and find out how its reliability record is shaping up.
So, how do you go about determining the reliability record of a specific used car model? The answer is to visit the appropriate owners forums. Simply search for "[my car model] forums," and you should find what you need. On these forums, users will be discussing an incredible amount of minutia concerning their beloved cars. Start reading around, and looking for trends.
What do I mean by trends? I'm talking about posts with titles like "Another '99 Transmission Explodes While Downshifting," and other similar headlines. Basically, if there is a known problem with a given model and year, the people on these forums are sure to know about it. Many forums even make up guides detailing the different flaws in different model years. Read through these, and see if you can find a particular model and year that has very few problems. You can then count on these to be fairly reliable across the entire used car market.
Also, don't be afraid to ask questions yourself. The people in these forums are passionate about their cars, so they're more than often thrilled to share with you. Just be sure that the questions you're asking haven't been clearly covered elsewhere, or you might catch some flack.
So, using car owner forums is just one way of finding a reliable used car, but in my opinion, it is one of the most effective. Trust me, this kind of research will pay dividends when it comes to actually looking through the listings and finding that perfect, super reliable used car.
US $18,000.00
