In the process of buying an another nissan. When i bought my first Max i spent a good deal of money taking the car to the mechanic everytime and paying him 100 bucks for his opinion. I wanted to compile a quick checklist of things you people would look out for when checking out a used car. A few things like what to look for under the hood, what noises to listen to etc etc. Any input is appreciated.

 

a few of the important things that i look for is how good the condition of the paint is, if there are any stains in the interior, drive it around see if you notice anything strange, and then finally i would take it to a mechanic to have it checked out (if i really liked the car that is)

make sure the color of the dash and steering wheel match, pay attention to if the doors and the seats match(usually if they dont match, the car may have been in an accident) Check to see if the rims are correct, for instance, if you see a 97+ with the sawblade style rims, you have a problem(although it might not mean anything)

 

Under the hood, look for fender bolts that may have been turned. You can tell by scratches on the paint of the bolt, unaligned bolts, and also look for overspray anywhere on the car. Have someone follow you on a test drive to see if the car is tracking. (tracking is basically when the cars front wheels are over more to one side than the back wheels, we've all seen it before).

Good luck!!

Brian

 

definitely get a pro to inspect and if anyone knows: do the lemon laws in states apply to old cars?