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Comment by antiframe | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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)?"

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