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Comment by TedDoesntTalk | Hacker News Reader

This is why buying a used car from a private individual is a much nicer experience and probably how I will buy any future car.

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Yeah, with some rare exceptions, I think I agree: even if you happen across an untrustworthy person in person-to-person sales, at least they don't have the additional benefit of a whole infrastructure around them set up specifically to aid in screwing you.

Right. People tell me "but how can you trust a perfect stranger?" To which I reply most people selling cars are honest. Most car salesmen are dishonest. I trust private sellers more than I trust car salesmen.

Get the car checked out by a trusted mechanic or shop before buying it (a mechanic or shop that you've used before). They charge less than $200. Yes, they can miss problems, but they're not going to miss obvious problems. i've done this and the buyers never had a problem with it. If the buyer pressures you, "I've got 3 other people lined up to buy", then walk. You don't need THAT car THAT badly.

It's also generally nicer to have a check up before using anyway. Even for a new car

I've never heard of getting a new car checked out before driving it. Interesting. What would you expect to find? That the car might have been abused at the dealership before it was sold?

Lots of new cars have been damaged. It isn't every car, but enough that one should look. Sometimes it is little things like dents done during shipping and fixed by the local dealer. Then there are occasional major repairs done if something went wrong at the factory during assembly. And we cannot forget that Tesla that was delivered "new" but missing a brake pad.

QC/QA isn't an infallible process (see: Boeing) and defects or even missing parts may well slip by as the vehicle leaves the factory. Though, I haven't gone so far as to have a new car inspected by a mechanic, personally.

are sellers normally willing to drive to your mechanic/shop? or do you have to find one that will meet you somewhere?

Every time I've purchased a used car from a real person, getting it to my mechanic for a once-over has never been a problem. Usually, they've let me take the car there myself pre-purchase, sometimes wanting me to leave some sort of collateral (such as the car I drove to them in). They already know where I live and what my phone number is, so if I steal their car, the cops won't have any problem finding me.

A couple of times, I've been fine with buying the car first, but with a clause in a sales contract saying that I have the right to return the car within 3 days for a full refund (basically replicating the effects of my state's lemon law. The lemon law only applies to new car purchases).

But the mechanic's check has never actually revealed any issues that the seller hadn't already disclosed to me. People tend to be pretty honest about those sorts of things.

Genuine question, how do you find a trusted mechanic? I know close to nothing about cars. Just the basic things I need to do to maintain it really. I find the space intimidating because I don’t have the ability to sus out the people I’m interacting with, and my impression of the field is that it’s kinda “get all you can” out of a customer. Ultimately I end up leasing so I get the two years free maintenance and oil changes and never have a vehicle long enough to have to deal with real issues. I have good credit so I don’t feel too bad about the trade off just for the sake of not having to worry about cars. I basically have the feeling I imagine tech illiterate people get when they talk to Best Buy geek squad employees but for me it’s with cars.

Go by a auto repair shop nearby (can be a franchise too) and ask them if they do inspections on used cars.

"I'm looking to buy a used car and wanted somewhere to give it a once-over? Do you do that? If so, how much and do you have availability on (day)?"

I have always preferred buying used cars from real people over used car companies because the companies tend to be sleazy.

I've never been burned or disappointed buying from a real person. I've bought two cars from used car dealers and deeply regretted both of those purchases.

Except it would be a complete dud, have spun bearings masked with thick oil, any number of issues. Oh and then you get to pay tax on that purchase again.

You can get it looked over by a mechanic before you buy. You can take it on a test drive - I thought this was standard practice. And I'll mention that your likelihood of major horribleness is much less if you are buying a newer car rather than an older one.

And yes, you might have to pay taxes, but you get that with the dealership as well. Dealerships aren't immune to taxes.

My point about the taxes was just frustration. Buy and sell a car 100 times, pay taxes on it 100 times. It's theft.

One could also say that ownership is theft: you're putting up a fence and preventing other people from using a resource, backed with a gun.

More reasonable people acknowledge that there are obligations both ways: Society has an obligation to the individual (private rights and ownership), and individuals have an obligation to society (taxes and limitations on what you can do to private property).

I do agree that sales taxes seem kind of weird and arbitrary way to collect society's obligations. Personally I prefer something along the lines of Georgeism, where only property is taxed. This makes the ownership / taxation thing symmetric.

No, it is just tax. Tax is part of a person's contribution to society.

If you aren't getting much value for your taxes, perhaps elect better people to handle that tax money.

In practice, we seem to be electing people whose main difference is which country we're going to bomb next year. It would sure be nice to vote for someone who'd use all that money for something actually useful, and who could credibly win. But so far I haven't seen any such. Which is not surprising, since the people who get elected through the current system have a vested interest in maintaining it, no matter which side of the aisle they're on other issues.

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