Not long ago we gave you a quick list of things that you don’t want to overlook when shopping for a used car, and today we’ve got 3 more things to add to that list. We’ll keep this a regular occurrence until we get through our longer list of things not to overlook, so if you’ve found these tips helpful, be sure to keep checking back for more in the coming weeks.
[ READ MORE: 3 Things You Shouldn’t Overlook when Shopping for a Used Car ]
Body Panels
This one is so obvious that people often do forget to look at it. They see the car that they want and the automatically want to jump behind the wheel and give it a go, especially if they like the price. But checking the body panels is just as important as checking everything else, because there could be some easily hidden damage, cracks or scratches that you wouldn’t notice on an initial glance.
Paint
Along with that, be sure to look at all of the paint around the vehicle’s exterior. Depending on how old a vehicle is, the paint might have faded or begun chipping. Additionally, rust could be starting to build up beneath the paint, which would show up in the form of “bubbles” on the panels of your vehicle. This is a big negative, and you probably don’t want to be driving around a vehicle that’s already begun to rust.
Frame Structure
Finally, and most importantly, you want to make sure that there is no frame damage. If the frame damage is obvious from just looking at the car, then the seller probably wouldn’t be selling it – and we certainly wouldn’t be selling any vehicle with frame damage. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t some underlying structural wear and tear that you might not want to deal with down the road. If you noticed any gaps between the body panels in your first glance around the vehicle that looked wider than the rest, that could be a sign of some structural damage. Also, when test driving the car, if you notice that the handling isn’t what you would expect, this could mean the same thing.
It goes without saying that you shouldn’t notice any of these things on vehicles available here at Gil’s, but it’s still important to check them out – especially if you’ve decided to purchase a vehicle from someone else. Hopefully these tips help you out in your search, and don’t hesitate to give us a call if you’re in the market for a used car.