Lots of drivers look forward to buying a new car, maybe to upgrade their current one or to downsize.
Some opt to buy used cars, which generally have lower purchase prices than brand new cars but still provide a reliable vehicle.
A former car salesman, who is not named, shares advice and recommendations on TikTok and YouTube.
In a recent TikTok clip he said: “These are five things that you need to check when you first turn up at a garage or a dealership to look at a used car that you have enquired about.”
Check out his recommendations below, especially if you’re in the market for a used car.
1. Start the car
The car salesman turned car photographer said the first thing to do is start the car up, assuming you have already met the salesperson and got the keys to the car or the salesperson is with you. He stated: “Obviously, you want to check that it actually does start. It’s not the end of the world if the battery is flat, that can happen a lot at dealerships.
“If it’s completely dead and won’t jumpstart properly then I would start to worry that that car has been sat for a long time with zero enquiries, which might make me wonder why, but if it starts up pretty simply with a jump pack then it’s probably just [been] sat for a few days so it’s not the end of the world.”
The expert suggests turning the air conditioning on once the car has started to make sure the air is blowing into the car. He noted that you want to check that the air conditioning is working and that it is working properly.
2. Check all electric items
Moving on, the ex car salesman said the next thing to check is all of the car’s internal electric items, starting from the right and moving into the centre. He explained: “So starting from the door where you’ve probably got, or possibly got, electric window adjustments, deadlocks possibly, almost certainly electric windows, try them all.”
He recommended trying them all from the driver position. Then he advised checking the steering wheel and the stereo in the central console, including the speakers.
3. Test the lights and indicators
The car salesman added that the next thing to check is the lights and indicators, testing all the different lights with the light switch. These include side lights, the main beam, high beam, fog lights and brake lights.
After this, he recommended checking that the right and left indicators are working correctly in the front and back and the hazard lights. He noted that it is easier to check all the lights and indicators if you have someone standing outside the car to help you look out for this.
4. Give the bodywork and tyres and once-over
The car expert added: “The next thing you want to do is hop outside of the car. From there, you want to start off by looking at the bodywork.
“Now, you don’t need to be an expert here. You’ve already done a HPI check before you’ve gone there so you’re not looking for massive amounts of accident damage.”
He clarified that you should look for spits or signs of rust and signs of poor paintwork that you’re personally not happy with. The car photographer also suggested checking the tyres, including the tyre tread on all four tyres and the dates the tyres were manufactured to find the expiry date.
5. Check under the bonnet and the oil
The car expert moved onto his last point and remarked: “Right, lastly, and this is before you take it out for a test drive or negotiate a price or anything like this, pop the bonnet. Again if you’ve got someone with you that knows what they’re looking at then great.
“If you don’t know what you’re looking at just have a look at the general condition of the hoses. Make sure nothing looks like it’s split, make sure nothing looks damp and by damp I mean oily because then there could be a sign of oil leak, of course.” He advised turning the car off at this point and checking the level of oil and the condition of the oil.