Bare essentials on how to purchase a quality used car.

Nov. 5, 2010 - PRLog -- If you are reading this article you are probably in a market for a used car, with today’s economical turmoil used car sales has increased tremendously over the past 12 months in Ontario. If you are an average consumer you may not know what to look for when you are about to make this major purchase, so let’s exploring some of the topics surrounding the subject.

1.   Touch and test drive – This is probably one of the most important things you can do before making the commitment to purchase. Drive the vehicle in city and on the highway, feel the steering wheel, roll down the windows to listen for unfamiliar sounds. Go over few bumps to test the suspension, and listen to squeaks and rattles the vehicle may have. When driving at higher speed, you should test for tire balance and steering wheel vibration. Turn on the A/C even though it is winter, make sure the expensive and electronic components on your vehicle work 100%.

2.   Look under the hood – Even if you are not technically inclined, you will be surprised how much you can learn about a vehicle within 10 minutes spent under the hood. Look for original factory stickers under the hood; this will indicate if the vehicle has been involved in a front end collision.  Check the color of your engine oil and transmission fluid. This can quickly tell you if the previous owner maintained the vehicle on a regular basis. Expect small amount of rust, it is perfectly normal under the Canadian climate. Inexperienced buyers will only focus on the small and insignificant areas while the experienced buyer will know exactly what to look for. Don’t make the same mistake as everyone else.

3.   Body and paint – Look for color differences between the body panels, it is normal for a vehicle to have few repainted panels as long as the CarProof amount is less than $5000. (With the exception of few high end exotic or luxury cars) Paint color difference will show easily on silver or beige colors, while black or white is more difficult to determine. Look for sanding marks under the clear coat and taping marks. This is the tell tale sign of body shop repairs in the past. Certain vehicles such as Honda, Acura, and BMW will have body panel marking of the VIN number. It comes in as form of sticker with the vehicle’s VIN printed on. If a sticker is missing from a door, you should know this door has been replaced in a previous accident. In a nut shell minor accident is expected, as long as there is no major structural damage you should be fine.

4.   CarProof Report – In today’s market it is absolutely essential to have one of the most power report in your hands. This comprehensive report will list all areas concern such as lien check, vehicle insurance data, and title search. Although it is not always bullet proof but it is essential to your used car purchase. A clean report is just like a clean bill of health, so make sure you ask your seller to provide you with one before handing over your hard earned money.

Thank you for reading this article it is brought to you’re by Used Cars Scarborough, your used car specialist in the Scarborough area. To visit us online please visit http://www.usedcarsscarborough.com for other helpful articles and our complete inventory.

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Used Cars Scarborough offers top quality used cars in the Scarborough area of Toronto, we specialize in quality used cars for under $10000. We also offer bad credit and no credit financing, visit us online at http://www.usedcarsscarborough.com