Set Your Price
First you want to set a price limit for yourself. This doesn't mean you can low ball yourself with an unrealistic amount. We are want to spend less, but you need to set a realistic price upfront for yourself to play the game right. Think about if you want a new, used, or very used car depending on the price range. For a new car you are looking to spend at least 11 grand minimum, for a good dependable used car depending on your resourcefulness and luck you are looking to spend $3500 - $10000, and for a old used car you are looking at a millage that is close to the 100k range or more that may have questionable reliability at around $3000 or less.
Dependability
Most cars models with a few exceptions are good under 75,000 if they are not too much older that 10 years. Going for the most bang for your buck though Toyota, Honda, and Nissan are known for going the extra mile and lasting well past the 100k millage mark. If you are going for low budget or just plain want to get a relatively newer car with a good track record for dependability I would go with one of the three choices above.
Where to Buy
You always want to look for private owners over dealers. You can almost always get a better deal from a private seller, dealers want your money to maximize their profits, while private sellers are usually just trying to get rid of a car they are no longer using thats just taking up driveway space. On the other end of the spectrum though if you are willing to pay more money most quality used car dealers will give u warranty with newer cars. To find private sellers or dealers you don't have to start at the newspaper, in this day and age you can skip straight to the Internet. Not only that but you can goto the newspapers website and get their classified car ads without even buying the paper.
Before Your Final Purchase
First off don't let anyone rush you into a purchase. Alright, now that you found a good price give yourself ample time to do research on the prospective. Do a Google search on the car model you are looking into buying to see what kind of troubles other people have had with the same car. Your search query can me something like “Mazda 626 problems.” Now if you were looking into buying a Mazda 626, but go ahead and do a quick Google search before you buy you will see that the Mazda 626 is notorious for having a transmission that breaks down every six months. With that information we now know not to buy a Mazda 626. Another thing you can do to check up on a used car is to get a Car Fax history report. This will show you the history using the cars VIN number to let you see if the car has been in any accidents or what not.
OK, now you approaching your final purchase. So if you are buying from a private seller let me ask you this, is all the paperwork there? Make sure your private seller has a valid title to sell the car to you. You do not want to pay for a car without a title and risk it being stolen. That is a very bad situation, do things the right way and make sure everything is legit. Match the VIN number on the title to the VIN number on the car. Also make sure the title is real, the title will usually have a reflective seal to verify this. You are now ready to buy your car. If you went by the strict criteria above, congratulations you have made a safe, smart, economical purchase. Enjoy!
