Buying a used car is not a simple process like reading the reviews in Hearst Corp owned print magazines regarding your next new car
and making a decision based on the results of comparisons that are in
turn based on advertising dollars…. Buying a used car is a much more
complex process that involves searching websites, dodging scammers on
the web, liars on the phone and cannibals in person. But we’ve broken
the basic requirement in 6 steps as follows:
Step 1: Research: Know why you want what you want.
This
feature will focus on your pre-search research that everyone should do –
including understanding what options, availability, and specs are for
you car – we will point you to the best websites and best people to call
(yes – there are people who will pickup the phone and explain to you
why you shouldn’t buy a particular SAAB…or any SAAB for that
matter…). We also have created a handy guide for creating a value matrix.
Step 2: The Hunt, Searching for your next ride.
We
give you some tips on finding a good example of the car you are
searching for…obviously you can wait for it to appear on the Daily
Turismo – but you have tons of other options to finding that AMC based
BatMobile you’ve always wanted.
Step 3: First Contact: How to screen potential cars via web/phone/email
Now
that you’ve found 50 versions of the car you are looking for you need
to narrow them down to a few that you want to contact, test drive etc –
we give the tips on how to weed out the junk and how to approach a
seller. We also give you to ability to understand what kind of seller
you are dealing with and how likely they are to tell the truth.
We
give you the goods on what to do when you take a look at the car you
are buying — including key items you always want to check and a
detailed checklist of other things you need to look at. Special guest post by Ian and Kim Lomax of Jewel or Jalopy.
Step 5: The Art of War: How to negotiate and get what you want without getting eaten.
Okay
– you found the car you want and now you want to buy it – we give you
some advice on buying a car via the old fashioned face-to-face method or
via the newfangled ‘the ebay’ internet based auction house and how to
avoid getting hosed. Mostly we try to give you hints on how to avoid
lunatics who have posted craiglist ads to lure you into their trailer
parks so that they can kill, gut, cook and eat you….
Step 6: Homestretch: First things to do with a new car and how to avoid common pitfalls.
Now
that you’ve bought that 1973 Pontiac Bonneville Brougham edition you’ve
always wanted we give you some tips on how to get proper insurance for a
unique classic and how to quickly find the relevant information about
preventive maintenance and other things you want to do with your new
ride.
DT will create a detailed article for
each one of those steps in the next few weeks and publish each one as
they are finished – and we invite commenters to add helpful information
in the comments. If the comments are helpful or hilarious we will add
them to the general text of the article. This article will be a
permalink on the main page menu bar for future reference.
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| So many Volkswagens to chose from… |
If you have an idea for a DT Special Feature and you’d like to contribute: please email us here: mail@dailyturismo.com