Make sure who’s standing in front of you
Find out if the seller owns the car and how long it has been in their possession. Ask for a passport and title – only the owner or his representative with a notarized power of attorney can sell the car.
Discover the history of the car: was it involved in an accident, how serious were the consequences of the accidents, were there complex repairs, etc.
Arm yourself with a calculator
The full price includes not only the amount transferred to the seller under the contract, but also the cost of service work immediately after purchase and consumables, the cost of checking legal purity and services of diagnostic service stations, the cost of insurance, as well as any need to purchase a parking space or a new set of tires. The resulting amount allows you to assess how appropriate negotiation is.
Don’t put off difficult questions
So you can carry out a legal purity check yourself by requesting the VIN and the state number of the car. In open sources and databases you can get information about OSAGO, the number of owners, pledges and wanted, and checking the portal of the traffic police and bailiffs will help you learn about possible restrictions imposed on cars.
It is better to draw up a contract in advance, and it should contain specific data about the car – its number, VIN, description of technical characteristics. It is also recommended to prepare an example of a deed of acceptance and transfer of a car, which will record the fact of the transfer of the vehicle itself, indicate the details of its technical condition and confirm that the parties have no claims against each other.
Just believe the facts
Do not neglect the services of gas station specialists: it is impossible to diagnose hidden defects by eye. But for its part, you can visually check the condition of the body, as well as the engine for traces of leakage of technical fluids.
The standard mileage of a car in Russia fluctuates around 15-20 thousand km per year: a much lower value should warn, and a much larger value indicates that due to wear the car needs to prematurely replace the consumables.
Trust your intuition, not your emotions
A nice car with no outward flaws, washed for show, is guaranteed to please, but if the salesperson seems suspicious, evades answers, or clumsily tries to find excuses for inconsistencies, it’s better to decline the deal.
Don’t count on memory – fix it!
In the modern world, it is customary to discuss any problems over the phone or in instant messengers, but when it comes to money, it is better to put all agreements in writing. Make sure that wherever you are chatting there is no option to delete messages for all participants in the conversation. After a telephone conversation, briefly record all appointments and send them to the seller. So you can be sure that the other party to the transaction is responsible for their words and will not refuse them.
Secure your money
At the stage of the technical inspection of the car, try to keep all receipts from the gas station – if you have these documents at hand, it will be possible to negotiate with the seller.
If a deposit is required at one of the stages of the negotiations, you must prepare a receipt for it, which will correctly indicate the amount and all important data about the car. You should not come to the meeting with a large amount of money and in general it is best to refuse cash. However, if you have agreed to pay cash, the money must be transferred in a crowded place, such as a bank branch, at the seller’s within the field of view of CCTV cameras.
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