SEARCHING FOR A PRE-OWNED CAR

As you might have guessed, the search is on for a pre-owned car. Reading the seller's explanation on Facebook Marketplace, the description might hint at future problems that are commonly referred to as red flags. On the other hand, some are downright funny. For example, this week was reading a seller's description which stated, "Transmission needs a hand."

Really, I'm not a car expert or mechanic. There isn't a hand in the transmission. Hand? No! Torque converter? Yes! A torque converter is a part of the transmission. If you interpret this as I did, the transmission is shot and worthless. That's going to be a major headache. Don't walk! Run! Because if you don't and purchase the car, you will find yourself walking not riding.

However, before doing a car search, you should do a Google search. It's best to enter the make and model years to avoid. If you are considering a Toyota Corolla, you would enter in the browser the make and model years to avoid. Knowing the years to avoid, you can send yourself an email with the years that weren't mentioned. Not all car years are created equal. I know that bit of information was shocking and earth-shattering.

For the Toyota Corolla, the answer was to void the 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2009, and 2014. Immediately, sent an email to me with Toyota Corolla, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013. Entering the make and model in the subject line of the email will prevent frustration when trying to find that nugget of information the next time that it's needed.

Amazingly, the cars that you should avoid are the very cars that are coming up in my car searches. Obviously, people are trying to sell the cars that they should have avoided. Trying to find the good or better car years, it's like trying to find a needle in your backyard. Face it, people aren't selling their good rides.

Seeing a post for a 2010 car with 139,500 miles looked interesting with nice pictures too. The price was only $3,750. Seller's description, "Airbag light on, inspection passed, rebuilt title, no mechanic issue, Cold A/C."

First thought, how did it pass inspection? If the check engine light or the airbag light is on, it's an automatic fail. OMG! A rebuilt title means that it was in a collision, wrecked and the insurance company totaled the vehicle. When it's a rebuilt title in Texas, the vehicle will never have a clean title again. As for no mechanic issue, clueless as to how the seller could say that when the airbag light is on.

Continuing to search, this car had a really short description, "Doing well sluggish on transmission." Laughing, how can the car be doing well when the transmission is sluggish? Next!

The next one was driven 190,000 miles. The seller's description said, "New timing belt, water pump, new 4 Goodyear tires from Sam's Car won't start (don't know why??) Needs to be towed. Asking 1999."

Oh, that sounds familiar. My guess would be a head gasket or a cracked engine. Who wants to pay $1999 for new Goodyear tires from Sam's? Not me.

Scrolling through the listings, the seller was advertising their 2002 car that was driven 88,000 miles. The seller begins, "Hi I'm selling my car runs good good condition low miles and alarm title is lost." Left the errors, it's as written. This is definitely a red flag. Lost alarm title? Laughing out loud! In Texas, the title is clean or it's lost. If it is lost, the seller needs to go to the Texas Department of Vehicles Regional Service Center. Enough said!

When you find a car that looks promising, get the VIN #. With the VIN number, you can check to see if there are any recalls. This is very important. Always check to see if there are recalls. Furthermore, there are thousands or hundreds of thousands of cars that had recalls regarding the Takata airbags. It's alarming the number of vehicles that haven't been fixed and that are on the road or even for sale. It's dangerous! Why? The airbags can explode, causing injuries or even death.

Another VIN search should be done on iSeeCars or your favorite VIN search website. You can do a few free searches on iSeeCars or you can purchase a membership.

Today, from the pictures, the 2009 car looked good. Read the description, "Problem with the motor mount." Hey! Passing on that one, no one wants the engine to fall out on the road.

So, the search continues with no tears but with laughter.

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https://www.iseecars.com/vin