jetfan8178 said:
Go look at the car and take it for a drive make sure that the engine is cold before you start it for the first time so that any noises will be amplified.(60k warranty so not a big deal)
This is my mantra. Go early in the morning, open the hood, and put your hand on the exhaust header. If it's at ALL warm, then the owner started if before you got there, which means it will not start when it's cold.
So here are some tips I like to follow:
I personally look for an engine that is "honest" dirty - a years worth of dirt and grime. Clean engines mean they are leaking like crazy and the seller steam/checmically cleaned it to hide the leaks.
Look under the hood at the inner fenders. Notice any welding? The car's been wrecked.
Standing at the front/rear of the car, line your eyeball up with the side of the car and look down the entire side of the car at once. Does the paint on each panel (fender, door(s), quarter panel) have the exact same shine? If not, one panel has been re-painted, also indicating a wreck.
Check the back side of each wheel. If it looks like liquid has been dripping down and running across the tire, the brakes are leaking fluid. (This is unusual in a car with disc brakes or less than a few years old but....)
Has the factory radio been replaced, or does it look like the panel has been removed, a new stereo taken out, and the factory one put back in? if so, crawl under the dash and see if the wires were hacked, or do they use a harness? Whack job = stay away.
While you're under there, check the other wires. This may require removing the udner dash cover with a screw driver - bring one - and make sure no other wires are cut. Especially around things like the fusebox, headlight switch and center console. Favorite places to wire in accessories.
Do all the electrical accessories work? All headlights, blinkers, console lights, wipers, horn, cigarrette lighter (often overlooked) etc? Push ALL the buttons! Something broken means electrical problems. Those can be a pain to fix.
Does the car smell musty, or are the carpets damp? Especially in the trunk, or at the foot of the front passengers (windshield replaced with a bad seal = leaking through the glass, down the inside of the firewall, and across all those nice electronics like the ECU and fusebox.) Trunk leaks are often caused by being rear-ended.
Is there a spare tire, jack, and lug wrench?
Are all the seatbelts in place in the rear seat? If not, someone may have removed them to do some fancy amp install, cutting holes in the fuel tank in the process. I've done that before! Oops!
Are the factory speakers installed? If not, check to make sure the wires are not cut. Also points to future electrical problems due to an amateur stereo installation.
Are the tires worn evenly? Bad alignment could also be a sign of a wrecked car.
Do the doors close straight? Also a sign of a wreck if they do not. (On my car you might not notice that the drivers door is ever-so-slightly off - the bottom of the door does not come all the way up to the body, but the top of the door does. It's because I slid into a snow bank at about 15mph, and it apparently bent the car a bit. Subtle, barely noticable, about 2-3mm off, but it's a clue to my car's past.)
Check the coolant. You know what it should look like. Plain water, or funny stuff in it means engine problems.
Have a shop do a leakdown and compression test - that will tell you worlds about the car. Well worth the money unless you are planning on scrapping the engine anyway!
Hope that helps.
