I’ve seen a number of used car ads where one of the photos is of a binder full of receipts. Those cars go to the top of my list.
But you can relax a little. Knowing you did regular oil changes and maintenance increases the value of your car.
But, the gas slips? No one’s going to say “Hmmm, nice car, but I’ve got to wonder if he put gas in this it every couple of weeks?” Everyone puts gas in their car, you can lighten up… (if you want to, or can).
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eta: If you really want to be a bit OCD about it to give you peace of mind, I’ll bet there’s someone out there who’ll want to know what songs you were listening to on each errand…
(artist, album name, genre and beats per minute optional)
In highschool a friend of mine would occasionally be allowed to use the family car. He had to replace the gas he used, save the receipt, and it had to be a specific brand.
With regards to taking it to the mechanic, that might not be an option in this red-hot used car market if you’re getting it from some place like CL, facebook, etc. The seller is unlikely to agree to letting you have it for a day or so to get the inspection if they have offers pouring in to buy it as-is. It doesn’t hurt to ask, but don’t be surprised if the seller refuses. They’re not being shady or anything. It’s just that there’s no reason to agree to your request if there are lots of other buyers.
A vehicle with 150k+ miles is going to be a vehicle with associated wear. You should know enough about older cars to be able to spot major problems on your own. Expect that things that wear out will have appropriate wear and will need to be replaced at some time. It also helps if you can do minor/moderate repairs on your own. Many repairs on older cars are relatively straightforward to do yourself. Youtube is a great resource for how-to videos for just about any car repair. If you are somewhat handy, you can replace things like alternators, water pumps, radiators, etc. yourself and save a bundle on repair costs. It takes a bit of time to do all the disassembly/reassembly, but those are the $$$ labor hours that drive up the cost of mechanic repairs. Buy the part yourself and keep the labor costs in your pocket.
If you do not want to go to the trouble and effort of taking the vehicle to a mechanic, just check it out yourself and see how many little things don’t work any longer. People who take care of their cars get the little things fixed, those that don’t care just let them go.
All the dash lights working, condition of the interior, etc. can tell you a lot about how it has been cared for. Check out the engine visually, is it a filthy mess that looks like they rarely open the hood or is it relatively clean, hoses not cracked, belts looking good, how old is the battery, that sort of thing. You don’t even need to know much about cars to tell if it has been serviced and treated well.
Are the tires good? People driving around on bald, dangerous tires do not care about the rest of the vehicle. Things like that can tell you a lot about the car without even being mechanical.
But that is just my opinion. I have been driving my Trans Am every day for the last 22 years and the list of things that I have done to keep everything, working, and I mean everything, would be too long and boring to list. But I get real anal about getting things fixed. Currently one of the pop-up headlight motors is going out and that is on my next list. Fucking pop-up headlights!!
I would like to fix things myself but at my age some of it would be too hard. I have zero flexibility I can get help from my kids for some of it. I certainly will get the carfax.
Since it isn’t going to be used everyday I would be most concerned about the age of the battery, condition and age of the alternator, and the belts and hoses. Batteries are only really good for about 5 years. If you decide to buy the truck, but it needs a battery, I would go with a more deep cycle battery. Most batteries are just for starting the car, a deep cycle one has thicker plates inside but can hold for longer periods, especially if there is any slight drain on the battery. A regular battery in a seldom used vehicle is more likely to be dead when you want to use it.
This is often overlooked. I once bought a Jeep Cherokee from small private used car lot and the guy was surprised that the real window washer worked. “Those usually don’t,” he said. “I always expect little things like that to not work.” That was weird to me – I was raised to fix anything that quit functioning on a car. It was designed with component x, and component x was meant to be used, and thus it must be maintained in good working order. I confess I spent too many years too poor to repair everything on my cars, but the desire was there. Now I can, and I do.
I just ordered new windshield washer sprayers for my Honda. The old ones were distributing the spray unevenly, so I took them off to clean them. It only made the problem worse. They still work, but they don’t work right, so I’m going to replace them. For most people it likely wouldn’t even be noticeable. But for me it is and thus must be remedied.
And even mismatched tires. As someone noted upthread when someone only replaces a pair rather than a set it’s indicative of them being either too cheap or too poor to get that full set, which is ideal. That speaks loads to what they’re able or willing to do with the rest of vehicle.
Personally, I seem to always have transmission problems in vehicles I’ve bought used. Buying a manual seems to eliminate many of those issues, especially if the clutch has been replaced at regular intervals. My son’s car (a 2007) has only 110K miles on it and the automatic transmission is already shifting very hard. It’s a sealed system so I have to take it in to a shop and have it looked at. I hate automatics.
People who are short on money may well get all the things dealt with that matter to the long-term function of the car, but not shell out several hundred dollars to, say, fix one burned-out bulb out of four lighting up the dashboard display when the other three make it still legible; or to keep some feature functioning that they themselves never use and that doesn’t otherwise affect the car.
If you’re buying an older used vehicle, just figure that you’re going to have to have some of those repairs done. If you can figure out what’s likely to need doing soon, you can use them to negotiate the price – at least usually, I don’t know about in this market - but I certainly wouldn’t not buy a vehicle because the battery’s old.
My brother keeps records like this, including gas slips, and periodically calculates the cost to own/run his car. Example: $1.50 per mile. It’s an interesting calculation, one that really shows the value of buying a good, high-mileage car over a new vehicle. (“Good” is key)