Used cars are the best buy

The next 60 seconds will reveal what exactly it is that makes used cars great, and which one is the absolute best buy.

The number one benefit that follows buying a used car is that its hard to lose money if you buy carefully. When a new car is purchased, the minute it is driven off the lot, its value drops significantly. I am talking thousands of dollars. This is because it is so perfect, and a little scratch or dent seems huge compared to its original pristine condition. It truly does seem to take away considerable value.

Contrast this with a used car which comes usually complete with a few parking lot dings and whatnot. We take this in stride, we expect this, and so we are also relaxed when we leave our pre-owned car in the stall at the grocery store. If there is already a door ding or two, how much will one more matter? Less gray hair and longer, happier life is the certain result.

The best used cars to buy

The best used cars to buy are, in my opinion, lightly used red German cars. Well at least German anyway I own several. Continue Reading »

Questions To Ask When Buying A Used Car – Part 4

You can save a lot of time and fuel by making a list of questions to ask when buying a used car, and phoning around before you drive. In part three of my used car buying tips article series, I covered the topics of organized note taking during phone interviews, rust awareness, and problems the owner may have knowledge of concerning their own car. In this part I’ll go over some specific mechanical aspects which are typical problem areas with used cars.

Engine Issues

How is the engine? Does it burn oil? This is a good thing to know because an engine that burns oil is worn out to some degree. When a car is burning oil it means that the oil in the engine, which is there for lubrication and cooling purposes, is escaping into the combustion chamber somehow, and going out the tailpipe as blue stinky smoke. That means that the car is excessively polluting the air, and more oil must be added to replace what has been lost. These things can be expensive to fix. Continue Reading »

Questions To Ask When Buying A Used Car – Part 3

We are back with part three of the series, Questions to Ask When Buying a Used Car. In part two, we covered the questions about the drive train, service history, and accident history. In this part we are getting right down into the finer details of what questions to ask when you are interviewing used car sellers over the phone before you travel out to see their car for sale.
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Questions To Ask When Buying A Used Car – Part 2

Welcome back to part two of my article series. This mini-used car buying guide is a compilation list of my most important questions to ask when buying a used car.

To recap from part one, over the phone we want to make clever inquiry to see if we can establish with some certainty that the seller is not a private car dealer. Then we ask them questions to determine whether how long they have owned the car and if they are the original owner. The final area covered in part 1 was to pay close attention to the sense we get from the seller’s response to our asking about their reasons for selling. If we are satisfied with the outcome of this initial round, it is time to get a bit more specific.
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Now that summer’s winding down, its time for a blog carnival! A blog carnival is a complilation of blog past from related topic sites that bring the blogging community together. It’s a way for car bloggers and readers to reach out and expand their horizons.

The Garage is getting excited about Mark Tapscott’s Carnival of Cars, and Ask Patty is getting into round two of their carnival series Automotive Advice for Women Blog Carnival: Week Around the Auto World.

Carsopia is contributing to both of these carnivals of course. Thanks to the hosts for all your efforts! It is appreciated.

Questions To Ask When Buying A Used Car – Part 1

When you are shopping for a second hand vehicle, you will want to carefully pre-screen the cars you are interested in buying before you leave home. If you have a list of questions to ask when buying a used car, you can save a lot of time and energy. The reason for this is that it is much more efficient to call ten people who have a car for sale and ask them the right questions, than it is to drive across town to look at one vehicle for sale.
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Wow, I love summer! Especially now that its nearly over…

It seems like when I get near the end of something, all of a sudden its sweetness factor goes through the roof! My wife has our turbo diesel jetta to go to and from work, and since we are down to just 3 cars at the moment [OMG!] and only 1 of them is actually insured due to mods in progress [Yikes! Oh, yeah! It's okay. I don't have to go anywhere really...!], I was out on my bike not once but twice today, which was sweet!
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Used Car Buying Tips

So you are in the market for a great used car. You want one that will start every time you turn the key. You want one that will get you where you want to go safely and economically. You want one that will look good and be fun to drive. You can have all of these things in a car, and you can have them more easily if you remember these 5 things when you are car shopping.
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Welcome to Carsopia!

As you may have guessed by the name of this site, its a utopia of useful information about used cars.

We’ll have information on buying cars, selling cars, new cars, used cars, and cool alternative fuel cars like hybrid electric, diesel, solar, hydrogen, and more. Whatever we can find that’s relevant and timely about the cars of today and tomorrow.

We love cars, and we love driving our cars, but we love breathing good air and we love the earth, so we want to find ways of moving from the internal combustion powered cars that are so cheap and plentiful, to more fuel efficient cars, the new less poluting hybrids, and cars that run completely on non-poluting energy sources.