Questions to Ask When Buying a Used Car: Buy With Confidence

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Questions to Ask When Buying a Used Car: Buy With Confidence

Posted on January 9, 2023

 

One of your most powerful tools when you’re looking to buy a car, especially from a private seller, is questions. Questions are your primary weapon when searching for information about the car, which is why it’s important to have some good ones. There are infinite questions you could ask, and as you get more into negotiations you should tailor your questions to the car itself, but here we’ve collected some of the most important questions to open with. 

 

Why Are You Selling?

 

This is a great opening question to ask when buying a used car because it can reveal a lot about the car you’re about to buy. You’re most likely going to get one of two answers, either the owner is upgrading to a new car, or there is something wrong with this car that they don’t have the time or money to fix. If it’s the latter you want to know as soon as possible.

 

 

If a seller is cagey about answering such a simple question then that's reason to be on your guard because it probably means they’ve got something to hide. 

 

How Does It Run?

 

Getting into the more technical side of the car, this is another super important opening question to ask when buying a used car. Ideally you should ask this before the test drive because that will allow you to clearly compare what the owner says to your own experience. If they say it runs like brand new and your experience of the drive is less than ideal then you have good reason to be suspicious of all of their answers. 

 

If they’re honest on the other hand then you have a clear, first hand source of the car's issues, which is a great thing to have, issues doesn’t mean you shouldn’t buy the car, especially if it’s used, but it does give you negotiational power. 

 

Anything I Should Know?

 

In our weapon analogy open ended questions are your heavy hitters that should be used sparingly. Throwing in a question like this at the right time can be very useful for discovering things that you’d never think to ask, or some useful information that is exclusive to this car. If the buyer is forthcoming with information then they may tell you that the radio seems like it’s broken, but in actuality if you give it a good slap then it will start working fine, or that the touch screen works but only if you press extra hard. 

 

These are the facts you need for day to day life in the car and if the buyer is willing to share that info then that's a very good sign.

 

These are the 3 most important questions you should be considering when buying a used car, we hope it helps with your next purchase!

 

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