How to Avoid Buying a Lemon

No one wants to buy a new car that constantly needs fixing. You no sooner drive out of the repair shop and it breaks down again before you even get home with it. There is a name for cars like this one, and they are called lemons. It can be tricky to get a dealer to buy your car back, once you discover it is a lemon. The wording in the law could be described to be a bit ambiguous. I think your best bet is always to know what you want and do your homework about the kind of vehicle that you want.

Before you go to a car dealership, look around online. Decide what will suit your needs. Do you like to go camping or boating? Will the engine of the vehicle be strong enough to tow a boat trailer or a camping trailer? Do you want a truck? What will you haul with it? Will you carry a large payload? Will you be driving in the mountains? Will the engine be able to make the climb, while pulling a camper? Whatever your lifestyle, make sure your new vehicle will be a good fit.

Before you ever sign a contract for a vehicle, do your homework. Wikipedia is a good source of information about any vehicle. Just for the sake of this article I went to Wikipedia and typed in "Ford Explorer" into the search engine. There is a photo of 5 different Ford Explorers from the early 90's to the present time. Wikipedia gives you all the statistics of any vehicle listed. It will give you information about the make, model, manufacturer, when it was produced, classification (in the case of the Explorer it is an SUV). Wikipedia will also tell you information about the transmission, wheel base, how long and how high the vehicle is.

Wikipedia will give you important information about a type of vehicle that you might not know otherwise. A dealer might not tell you that a certain type of vehicle has been noted for rollover accidents. With a little reading you can find out the good and bad of any vehicle you are thinking about buying. You can get the scoop on every generation of a certain kind of vehicle by using Wikipedia.com.
Should You Buy New or Used?

There is an old saying that if you buy a used car, you are buying someone else's problems. This is often true, but you can find a good used car if you do your homework and ask the right questions. Whether you buy from a new car dealership for a new or used car, or you buy a used car from an individual seller, you need to be direct and ask questions, as well as look the car up on the internet for information and reputation of the vehicle.

Before you go see the car, write down some questions that you want to ask. Many times we like the look and feel of a vehicle so much that we don't think to ask important questions. Here are some sample questions that are important when you are considering a car.

1- Has the vehicle been in any accidents.

2-How many owners has the vehicle had.

3-What is wrong with the vehicle right now?

4-Where was it serviced, so you can check service records.

If you are buying from a dealership or an individual, I would not advise to purchase a vehicle that you have little or no information. A dealership should be able to tell you when and where the vehicle was last serviced. Some individuals fix their vehicles themselves, so you might not have a record. You might have to go with a level of trust, which is not always a good idea.

I had a bad experience about 3 years ago. I bought a car from an individual. I drove the car, and asked the questions, and the man said he didn't know anything about the car. He said he just bought it to sell. I bought a lemon. It was a rotten lemon at that, because the transmission was bad in it. I asked if I could take the car to get it checked by a mechanic friend I know. He said I could drive it around the block a few times but would not let me take it into town because there was no insurance on it. Little did I know I could have driven it, because my own insurance would have covered me to test drive a vehicle. So my not taking the car to a mechanic caused me to waste $1000 and I never got the money back. A lesson learned. I'm just glad that I had not wasted more money on that particular sour lemon.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Explorer

http://blog.cash4usedcars.com/5-ways-not-to-buy-a-lemon/