6 Questions to ask a Private Seller

Here are 6 questions you should ask a private seller before buying a used car. Being equipped with the answers to these questions should help you to make a well-educated purchase.

1. How many miles are on the clock?

Cars with higher mileage generally require more maintenance and more things are prone to go wrong in those cars with higher mileage. Cars with less mileage are generally less prone to problems and don’t require nearly as much maintenance. Asking this question will allow yourself to let you know what you are getting in to after you have purchased the used car. Also if the car has an usually high or low amount of mileage you might want to ask the private seller why the miles are unusually high or low.

Are you the original owner?
Someone who has taken care of a car for 7, 8, 9 or 10 years is likely to have taken really good care of that car because it was a large part of their life. Or if the person selling it is the original owner and the car is more than 5 years old, then you know there is a good chance they have taken care of the car. On the other hand if you are buying a car that is 2 or 3 years old and the person that you are purchasing it from is not the original owner then you might want to ask some questions because that car has already been sold and it has been passed through multiple owners and is only a few years old. It’s a really good idea to find out if the person who is selling you the car is the original owner and pair that answer to the age of the car.

3. Do you have the service and maintenance records?
Often people who are selling cars will say that they did this and that and replaced this and that but unless you can see that the part has been replaced or you can verify that the part has been replaced via a mechanic then you should certainly look through the service or maintenance records or receipt to prove that they have actually replaced the engine part or component of the car. Do a visual inspection or check the records to see they tally up with what the owner tells you.

4. Can I take it for a test drive?
You are definitely going to want to take the car for a test drive because it will really allow you to test for whether there is anything wrong with it that is either significant enough for it to make noise or to affect the driving capability or the general driving smoothness of the car. You can look at a car and everything can look fine yet when you actually take the car for a test drive many things can be signals that something is wrong with the car. It’s therefore a really good idea to ask to take the car for a test drive because it will really allow you to feel the things that you cannot see when you simply look at the car.

5. Why are you selling the vehicle?
The owner may or may not be truthful with you. For instance the owner may be selling the vehicle because they have been encountering a lot of problems with it. It may be known as a ‘lemon’ according to car terminology but they may or may not tell you that. It is a really good idea to ask that question because they might give you a legitimate reason like they are moving to a different area or country or they simply want to upgrade to a bigger vehicle. If they are honest with you it will allow you to get some good reasoning behind why they are selling the car. Depending on the reasoning you might even be able to bargain a lower price for example if they are moving in a week you will be in a good position to barter the price down as they need to get rid of the vehicle quickly.

6. Has it been involved in any accidents?
A car that has been involved in an accident should really be looked at because there can be plenty of things wrong with that car that are hidden beneath the hood and beneath the vendors and body panels of the car. It’s a good idea to take an extremely good look at the vehicle if the owner tells you that it has been involved in an accident. Even if they tell you it has not been involved in an accident you should definitely do some research and take the appropriate measures to find out if it actually has or hasn’t been in an accident.

Those are the six questions that you should ask a private seller when you are buying a used vehicle. Getting answers to those questions is absolutely crucial because the answers will allow you to make the most educated purchase and get a great deal on the car and avoid purchasing a ‘lemon’.