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Cars have become so expensive these days that many people are no longer buying new cars and have turned to buying used cars. And of course who can blame them, with a new car running over $20,000 and the fact that you can get a good quality used car for $7,000 or less. And with a savings like that it is amazing that anyone buys new cars anymore. Here we are going to give you a few tips so you can be sure that you are getting a good quality used car when shopping.

Of course the first thing you want to look for is any rust on the exterior of the vehicle. And we are not just talking about visible rust as there can be lots of rust under the paint. The way you can tell if there is rust under the paint is by looking at the finish. If you find spots of the paint that are bubbled up, there is a great chance that rust is underneath and ready to push its way through. If you find any rust on the vehicle keep looking because a little rust now could be a lot of rust in a year or two.

The next place you want to look for rust is in the trunk of the car. This is something that no one ever looks at. But if you have rust in the trunk of the car it will spread. Not to mention you won’t want to put anything in that trunk as it could end up suffering from water damage as the water can come right through rust spots.

Now check out the interior of the car. If the interior of the car is clean there is a good chance that the person who owned it took good care of the vehicle. If the seats and carpets are stained or torn there is a good chance that the previous owner didn’t take care of the car and he probably didn’t perform the scheduled maintenance either.

Now while you are inside the car check all the controls, this includes windows, door locks, heater and everything else the car has. The last thing you want to do is to buy a car in the summer and then find out the heater doesn’t work when winter hits.

Now check the tires to see if there is tread on the tires and if there is any uneven wear. If one side of the tire has less tread than the other site that is a sign that there is something wrong with the front end. It may just need an alignment, but then again it could be an issue that could run thousands to fix. So if there is any uneven wear move on and find another car.

And lastly it is time to take the car for a test drive. When you test drive the car make sure that you take hard turns both right and left turns and check the brakes to make sure there are no issues. By taking the car for a test drive you will be able to see if there are and clunks or other issues..