It doesn’t matter what you do, there is a good chance that you are going to get a lemon. I have gotten lemons for both new cars and used cars, but there are ways to minimize the odds of join this unlucky “I bought a lemon” club.
First, when buying an used car, do a lot of research. With the way that the internet is today, you can do more research from your home computer then a service shop could of dream of 10 years ago. You can receive a carfax report on a individual car that give a detail history of what it has happened to it. There are even some car sales companies like Enterprise Rent a Car, will actually show you every time the car got it’s oil changed and if any damage ever had to be fixed on those vehicles.
The last bit of information that you should think about is the reliability of the brand of car and how many you see on the road. Don’t think that you are going to buy a Russian made Yugo and think that you aren’t going to spend a lot of time and money on maintenance. Though they are one of the most unique cars on the road, they were not made to last the ages. Stick to the brands like Honda, Toyota, Cadillac, Saturn and even in the last few years, Fords, that are really making leaps and bounds in improve their car’s life expectancies.
