Buying a secondhand car

Buy a secondhand car is a very confusing thing to do.

I live in Spain. There is one thing that I know without any doubt, and that is that every secondhand car sold through a dealership is well overpriced. It's as though there were some kind of unspoken conspiricy. If you were a new entrant to selling secondhand cars you would simply take your lead from what everybody else was doing and you would price your cars in line with the market. The mere fact that I would only be offered a pittance by the dealer to take my car off my hands, say fifty to one hundred euros, would not be any reason why it should not be offered for sale for three or four thousand euros.

It is true that a dealer has to offer a guarantee to the buyer for twelve months, but the guarantee has to be carefully examined because it may be virtually worthless. There is an expression that says "money for old rope." That´s what seems to be taking place in my mind on the used car sales lot. I have bought a few cars from dealers and that has led me to this conclusion. I even think that they must shake their heads when another deal has been concluded, in the disbelief that another member of the public has just walked in and given them a fist full of money for nothing.

To scientifically value a car for secondhand sale one should start with the book value that depreciates the vehicle over the years, according to a formula. As a potential buyer with the car in front of you, value can be either added to the car depending on how well it has been maintained, or deducted if it has been badly treated. There must surely be an agency that provides the book value of secondhand vehicles in Spain, but if so it must be a closely guarded secret.

The fundamental problem in buying secondhand is that we are buying someone else's problem without knowing what that problem is. This is the one activity where "Buyer Beware!" applies more than any other. You know that the money you pay that changes the title on the car is only a downpayment. You hope that you will be able to work through the problems that await you without the need to fully renovate the car.

I bought a 1995 Volvo 850 about six or seven years ago. I bought it from the owner of a dealership selling secondhand cars. He had bought himself an "S" class Mercedes as people kept handing him gobs of money. However, it was not too long before the Volvo started simply dying in the middle of traffic. After about 30 seconds I could turn the key again and it would re-start. The solution was to change the main fuses, but for far too long I ran a great risk of getting killed by traffic behind me who were not expecting my car to stall.

The car has run reliably ever since and I absolutely love it. I also have a Jaguar XJ6 Sovereign that is in such good condition that it seems to have just come out of the showroom. However, when I bought it the seller didn't tell me that it was impossible to lock it. For more than a year I drove the car around and left it parked, think it was locked, and it was only by accident I discovered the truth. Only God knows what else is wrong with it, but I drive it so rarely that nothing else has shown up. It is a real Jag classic, and just having it parked in my garage gives me such joy as I am a real Jag man.

I have been lucky! I have a friend who has three cars that he bought and are all rotting away in his back yard as they are all lemons. But then, my friend is a professional victim, so what can I tell you?

Copyright (c) 2013  Eugene Carmichael