Your First Car
By John R.
Parked red Tesla Model 3 at sunset by FRIMU EUGEN from frimufilms
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*DISCLAIMER* This article is based strictly in the United States. Many things that are standard in the U.S. as listed here, such as legal statuses, regulations, practices, legislation, or legal ownership requirements may not exist in other countries. If you live outside the United States or U.S. Territories, research the laws and requirements according to your country of residence.
Many of you reading this article are probably looking for a car at this moment, that is why you clicked on it, right? Don’t judge, I am still honing my clickbait skills. Either way, there are a ton of things you need to consider before making a purchase. Remember, this car will be a part of you for years to come. Now, your first car probably won’t be a Tesla. I’m sorry if that is what you expected this article to be: How to get a Tesla for the first car. It probably won’t happen. But that doesn’t mean you can’t find a nice car to commute from work or school in.
For those of you who have a car, maintaining it is important. But in order to maintain it, you have to first buy one. This can be tricky, as the cars are getting more and more expensive these days. If this is your first car, you’ll want to buy it used. NEVER (unless you have a very abnormal amount of money for a high school teen) buy a new car from a dealership. You always want to buy a used car for a good price. You can either buy it through a dealership or a private party. If you choose the former, there are pros and cons. In the United States, there are “lemon laws” that require a dealership to clean the car and ensure it is in perfect working order before they sell it. The problem is, car salesmen are notorious for being hard to work with, and it is possible that they could hide things from you to sell the car, often at greatly inflated rates. To find dealers near you, you can just put “used cars for sale <city/state>” into Google. The easiest way then is to scroll down a little until you see a list of companies next to a map. You are going to expand that, and it should show you the dealerships in the city, their physical location, and web address. Most dealerships have a website and an online database of all their cars, but some don’t, as they want you to physically go to their location. And some of the dealers who have an online inventory will not include the price of the car, but will instead ask you to call them for a price; ignore these.
Private Seller
If you go through a private seller, you will be using tools such as Facebook marketplace and Craigslist. You have to be very cautious when choosing cars from here, as people can be just as deceitful as a dealer. You always want to go look at the car and drive it around in person before you buy it. There are also certain questions to ask.
For instance, certain models of Honda sedans have transmission issues and have had many recalls for airbags and transmissions. The transmission is possibly the most important and most expensive part of your car. When looking at a car, first research if that model has had issues in the past and pay attention to the recalls. Car manufacturers issue recalls when there is a serious defect in the car that could result in injury or death. PAY ATTENTION TO RECALLS.
For the Honda, I would ask the seller, “Has this car had transmission issues in the past, or how old is it? Have you noticed signs of it going out? Have you taken it to a dealer to get it fixed?”
You can notice a transmission going out simply by how the car shifts gears. When you push down on the accelerator, the transmission is in charge of changing gear levels. When the engine is pushing one gear too much when you speed up, the transmission seamlessly switches to a new gear. If you notice your car jerking or lurching when undergoing rapid acceleration or going up steep hills, that may be a sign of the gears not switching properly and the transmission going out. At that point you need to take it into a mechanic and see what the issue is. The problem is in most old cars, when the transmission dies, it's often going to total your car, meaning, the cost to fix the issue, outweighs the cars actual value.
Some other things to pay attention to when buying a used car from a private dealer are the following:
Have they power washed the engine? If they have, they are probably trying to hide something from you.
Are there major dents, deformations, or paint chippings? If there are, especially if they are on the front or rear bumpers, this could indicate they have been in an accident. Car wrecks significantly reduce a car's lifetime and performance. Depending on how bad the accident is and how much has been repaired, it could be a reason to flat out ignore the car and keep looking.
Are the tires balding? Make sure you check the tires; if they look like they are losing tread, you may need to replace them. In most cases, new tires will cost around $600 - $1200 dollars to replace.
Has the car been smoked in? This is pretty self-explanatory. A car with a smell of cigarette smoke is very distasteful and the smell never comes out unless you do some serious cleaning, and even then, it will still linger.
Has the car had regular oil changes? Oil changes are probably one of the most important parts of maintaining a car and keeping its lifespan as long as possible. A well-maintained car should have its oil changed every 3,000 miles, or 6 months, depending on how much you use it.
Are the brake pads worn? New brake pads are relatively inexpensive, usually around $150-$300 per axle(two wheels).
Is the car a trash pit? If so, this may say something about the owner's standards and how he kept the car.
Check for paint fading or chipping: The state of the paint may indicate the weather conditions the car has been stored under, which may have an impact on its reliability.
Some other things to look for are whether the AC blows both hot and cold; some older cars are impaired in that regard. Check the steering, as it may be looser/stiffer than expected. Another important thing to look for is the legal data. In order to legally be on the road, a car must be registered with the state, have insurance, and up-to-date tags. Check for all of these things before making a purchase. Another very important question to ask them is why are they selling the car? Are they selling it because they got a new one? Do they simply not need it anymore? Alternatively, has it been in an accident? Is the car totalled? Are there expensive issues?
After you decide whether you will buy the car or not, all you need to fix is the paperwork to transfer it to your name. The seller is usually responsible for drawing up all the papers. Some states do it differently than others, so I encourage you to look up the process in your state. In Oregon, for example, both the buyer and seller must sign the title, a Bill of Sale, then the buyer must register the car to the DMV within 30 days. BE SURE TO READ CAREFULLY THE ENTIRE DOCUMENT BEFORE SIGNING. When you sign, despite whether you know everything on the document, your signature indicates you agree to the entire document. Read it carefully before you sign. If you are a minor (under 18) you will likely have a parent or legal guardian co-sign it with you, as minors generally can’t make deals like that.
Dealership
If you choose to go through the dealership, you are risking dealing with people who have a reputation for being hard to work with. Car salesmen are notorious for hiding things and doing anything to sell a car. Remember, they get paid by commission, not by an hourly rate, meaning, they get paid based on how many cars they sell. However, this doesn’t go for all salesmen; you may meet some fairly honest and respectable people. Per usual, you will want to test drive the vehicle. Be looking for all the same things as you would with a private seller. Dealers may be subject to the Lemon Laws, but that doesn't mean they actually adhere to every letter of it. Dealers are usually easier to buy through, because they have all the documents in hand ready to go, the car is usually pretty clean and works, buying cars in dealerships also goes fast, so if you see a potential car, you need to jump on it if you want to claim it. On the plus side, you have a lot of assurances you don’t have with private sellers, but they will usually be much more expensive than their private counterparts.
And now for the last section on this article, we must give an honorary mention to the Kelly Blue Book. This is a trusted resource that most car dealers and private sellers will use to value their cars. Before you buy or start negotiating be sure to check the KBB to make sure that the seller isn’t over pricing their car. This is a very trusted, very famously accurate source for most things car related. You can value your car, find vehicle history records if they exist, view various recalls on a certain model, and even shop for cars.
To continue reading about other very important factors to consider, <link to article SP2>. If you want some more sources outside NorthStar Academy, here is a list of useful websites:
Transmissions:
Cbac.com
Purchasing the car:
NPR.org
Misc:
See Part II of this article here!
Columns: 🔎Informational 🗣️Advice 🔗Companion Articles
John R is a two-year veteran of NSA and of the NorthStar Navigator. He currently lives on the West Coast of the United States. He is deeply interested in topics concerning international relations, geo-politics, military history, equipment, and tactics, law, and criminal justice. He plans on attending college and getting a degree needed to becoming a police officer. He loves the woods and the sea, and his favorite types of day are cloudy, windy, wet.