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Avoid being scammed when buying a car this summer

Buying a new car has turned out to be a nightmare for an unlucky proportion of drivers. As a growing concern to buyers, being scammed when buying a car is unfortunately a distinct possibility.

When it comes to buying, a good proportion of buyers opt for a private buy rather than their typical trade dealer. However, when searching for a suitable vehicle to purchase, you should take into account the following tips to ensure you receive a genuine purchase and avoid be left short.

The most obvious factor is to make sure you have the real and relevant car documents for the vehicle you propose to buy. If the seller does not have any documents, than the likelihood is, the car does not belong to them!
This should also be in a trusted location, ideally the seller’s house. If there was a quick problem or issue with the car, than you have an address to return to and question the sale. For example, if the car was found to be stolen, you can provide a previous address to cover yourself.

Your payment method can also help you avoid becoming a fraud victim. Cash transactions are all well and good, but you have no security or proof with this type of transaction. A cheque or card payment is a more secure and efficient method of payment.

Always test drive the vehicle before buying and makes sure it’s more than a quick trip around the block. You need to be confident in the car you’re buying. A car may look in good tact from the outside, but you will not gain a better overview of the true condition of the car unless you give it a thorough test drive.

Another factor that would be hard to prove with a glance is the current mileage of the vehicle. More scammers are fixing the mileage of a car to push up the valuation.

Requesting a look from your mechanic and using judgement based on the age against the mileage, can help you decide whether this has been illegally altered.

Lastly, there’s an old saying that would point directly to any of the points above. If the price sounds too good to be true, then it probably is!

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