This is for buying tips and tricks - ads, Craigslist, looking under the hood, etc.

[abscate]

Hey my 99 V70 should be worth double - preset 1 is NPR/classical and preset 2 is NPR/news

I'm headed out to check out a '95 850 turbo wagon with 176k miles and rough paint "but runs well" - any specific tips or things to watch out for?

Ditto that - but mine has a Turbo and 5 speed...

[fairmont50]

fresh off a search for a car here with a couple of observations:
1. It is a bit of a cliche, but if possible check the carfax or service history. I found a S60R semi locally that looked good and was priced reasonably. After looking at it I checked the carfax on autotrader and it had showed up for sale at a dealer less than 1 week after being at a Aamco for service. It had since been through several dealers and auctions - did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling to say the least.
2. I avoid vehicles that have modifications (especially electrical) in general unless they are of obvious good quality. Purchased an old truck a year or so ago to have around for old truck stuff and probably overpaid by about 10% because it was a > 20 year old 4wd truck that had not been modified at all.
3. Look regionally for the vehicle if possible. There are overpriced markets, I live in one and have not purchased a car locally for years. Sometimes you can save thousands by driving a couple of hundred miles.

Thats all I have for now,

Chris

[fairmont50]

One more from recent experience:
If it is a modern car (security key) that does not come with at least two working keys, discount your max price by $250 - $500 depending on the car. Do your research and have some knowledge going in. I recently purchased a 2004 es330 and assumed that the key programming was the same as a 2002 es300 that I had some experience with in the past. This was wrong, the 2004 has no on board programming ability and requires either a dealer or locksmith to program the key.

Chris

[E Showell]

If the ad doesn't say whether the car was not smoked in or whether or not it had pets in it, I'll always ask before making a trip. I can't stand a car that smells of smoke and, as far as I know, there's no way to get rid of it. I also prefer to know if a car was adult owned.

I also study the photos, if any, fairly carefully. I tend to pass on anything with boy racer touches -- you know -- ground effects lighting, blacked out alloy wheels, etc. I figure if somebody was trying to make the car look fast standing still, then they probably liked to drive it fast as well, and while not always a problem . . .