How dependable are websites like truecar, carmax and carfax are? Any particular place where I should look out for good bargains/deals?
If you want to go safe, buy certified pre-owned. If you want to risk, buy in an auction. Carfax and CarMax are different animals, CarMax is a dealer, Carfax is a company that prints for you the record of a car (miles, accidents, etc)
Mileage
Make sure it's used. Sometimes they'll bait and switch and give you a new model same price. But i want used (i like the smell)
Hate when they pull that shit. Dealerships are the worst.
Get a preowned certified car, safest route if you are not car savvy. It is warranty up to X miles. They are under 5,000 miles.
Even certified pre-owned doesn’t guarantee the vehicle was maintained well or has not been in an accident. My own method is to target private owners that keep methodical records on their cars. Oil changes every 5k to 7.5k, transmission fluid changes every 30k. If these were done, it is likely the car has been maintained well. Search for “records” on Craigslist.
Why shall I do 5k Miles oil change when car advised to do every 10k?
Well I’m not necessarily saying you should. If you find someone who does that, it will be more likely the car has been well maintained. Even if owner has records for 10k oil change intervals, at least it is more likely they were done regularly, rather than someone just saying they were done. Also, it also shows that the owner cared to keep records and thus, more likely took care of the car. Also if you were looking at a 1-3 year old car with less than 30k miles, I wouldn’t care too much. But a 60k to 100k mile car? I’d care more how it was maintained. In particular, lots of transmissions nowadays are lifetime fill, but reportedly start to fail at 100k+ miles. I’m not going to get into what intervals should be. There are forums devoted to that (bobistheoilguy.com) and you can form your own opinions. My Highlander specs 10k oil and lifetime transmission fluid intervals. I am planning to own it for a long time (200k miles?) so I do 7.5k oil and 30k transmission fluid intervals. Also will add that if an expensive car, get it checked out by a shop or knowledgable friend for past accidents and mechanical issues.
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