A car is one of the most common things for a person to own nowadays. In our busy modern lives, each day we have to get to a certain place while we don’t have much time to walk or use a bike.
We use our cars to go to work every day, take our kids to school, and go on road trips. It’s safe to say that owning a car is just a necessity.
Not all of us have the required budget to buy our dream car, especially if you’re a student or you’ve just started saving money. That’s why we’re here to give you a tip on how you can buy a solid car on a “not so traditional” way.
We’re going to talk about used car auctions.
Not so many people are introduced to this way of purchasing a car, but we highly recommend it since you can sometimes nail a very good deal and save a lot of money while still getting a solid vehicle.
If you’re new at auctions first it will seem very “fast and furious” but after a while, you will get used to it and understand the entire process. You don’t have to visit the places of live auctions, you can use a mobile app for cheap used cars. This way you can browse all the listings from your home and act with urgency when a good deal is presented to you. Here are some tips on how you can be better at bidding and auctions in general.
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Carefully listen to what the auctioneer is saying
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Before he starts the bid for each car, he will read all the specifications and point out of there have been any major or minor problems with the car itself.
If he says “No major mechanical problems or faults” that means that the vehicle shouldn’t have any major problems with the brakes, steering, gearbox or transmission etc.
If he specifies the faults in the vehicle you need to listen carefully and decide for yourself if it’s worth the hassle of having to deal with the pointed out issues later.
Always do a test ride if the option is available
Most solid places will allow you to do a test ride and see if you personally like the car. We advise you to always take advantage of this opportunity if given to you. Sometimes they can forget telling you about some feature or an issue with the car and the chances of you finding out about it is by taking the car for a drive yourself. At the end of the day, your personal satisfaction is the most important thing. Even if you get an awesome deal for a car, but you simply don’t like how it “feels” to you, you shouldn’t buy it. Always get what is comfortable and feels good to you.
Use certain websites or magazines to check the price of the car before bidding
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If you want to buy a used car at an auction, one of the most essential things is to check the price of the actual car before bidding for it. Some people skip this step and get caught up in the excitement of the process and they end up bidding more than the car is really worth. We’re here to get a good deal, not trick ourselves into losing our cash. Sites like Kelley Blue Book or Edmunds can help you with this.
Other costs and tricky situations
After winning the bid and receiving the keys for the car, you might get inside it, excited that you got yourself a new ride, just to realize that the car is immovable and you need to pay a towing to get it out of the parking lot.
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Yes, if you bought a car that needs to get a part or two changed so it can run, you will need someone to transport it to a car service station, and this will cost you money. Have some cash prepared for situations like these. You don’t want to be left there standing with your new car that wouldn’t start.
With all of this being said, we hope that you will take our tips into consideration and get an amazing deal for your new used car.
