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Don鈥檛 Get RIPPED OFF Buying a Used Car - YouTube
Channel: Donut Media
[0]
- So, you're thinking about
getting a project car.
[2]
Good, that's great news.
[3]
But how do you do it?
[4]
How do you actually do it?
[5]
Where do you look?
[6]
How do you find one?
[7]
Once you find one then what do you do,
[8]
just go to some guy's house and buy it?
[10]
Yeah, kind of.
[11]
Today, we're gonna break
down that whole process.
[13]
We'll show you how to find the right car,
[15]
how to go inspect it and test drive it,
[17]
we'll show you how to negotiate
[18]
and how to actually buy a project car.
[20]
Kind of like a big old buyers guide.
[22]
Come on, let's go.
[24]
(trap beat)
[29]
Hey guys, this episode was
made possible by Mobil 1.
[32]
Mobil 1 advanced synthetic motor oils
[34]
are designed to keep
important engine parts
[36]
in excellent condition for 250,000 miles.
[39]
But I'll tell you more about
that later on in the episode.
[42]
So obviously I think
you should get a Miata,
[45]
but you don't have to.
[45]
You can get whatever you like.
[47]
But listen,
[48]
especially if this is
your first project car,
[50]
you really want to get something
that's gonna go smoothly.
[53]
So I'll give you some criteria
[54]
for what I think makes for
a good first project car.
[57]
A lot of this is kind of predicated
[59]
on the production numbers for a given car.
[61]
If a car is uncommon or rare,
[63]
you're not gonna find very many of them
[65]
and you're not gonna find
that many parts for them.
[67]
So as far as car shopping goes,
[69]
these days I use Facebook Marketplace.
[71]
I really like Craig's List,
[72]
but nobody seems to
post much there anymore
[74]
and everybody's on Facebook
so there's a lot of traffic.
[77]
All right, so let's find some examples.
[79]
Let's check some different cars
[80]
to see if they make for a good project.
[82]
First, let's check some
for old Mr. Pumphrey.
[85]
Check a Mark I Rabbit.
[87]
- [James] Not good.
[88]
- (laughs) Not good.
[90]
A couple examples.
[91]
Price isn't too bad.
[92]
They're definitely all projects.
[93]
There's only about three
[95]
in all of Southern California
right now for sale.
[97]
Okay, not terrible.
[98]
Let's see what's out there for parts.
[100]
There are actually more places
[101]
still making parts for
these than I thought.
[103]
That's not bad.
[104]
Not the worst choice for a project car,
[106]
but not the best either.
[108]
There's just not that many of them,
[109]
it'll be tough to find one.
[110]
But they're still out there.
[112]
Next, let's look at
something I kind of want
[114]
that I know is a bad idea.
[115]
How about an old Jaguar XJ.
[117]
I love these.
[118]
Ooh, here's an XJ 12 for $4,500.
[121]
That's the V12.
[122]
It's a 1990.
[123]
They didn't make very many of these
[125]
and there's only one for
sale anywhere around here.
[127]
So this is a perfect example
of a terrible project car.
[131]
While it seems cool and it's enticing,
[133]
it's a bad idea.
[134]
There's no aftermarket support,
[136]
there's no community around these,
[138]
they didn't make nearly enough of them.
[140]
So stay away from stiff like that.
[142]
Now let's look for a Miata.
[144]
Less that $4,500.
[146]
So many results.
[148]
I mean,
[150]
there's a million examples.
[152]
Let's check for parts.
[153]
I bet I know what we'll find.
[156]
Oh, a million parts everywhere.
[158]
Because they made a million Miatas
[160]
and everybody's working on them.
[162]
As it turns out,
[163]
the Miata is a great
choice for a project car.
[166]
Wow.
[167]
So another thing that you should check
[168]
when you're checking out the forums
[170]
and the Facebook groups
and all that stuff,
[172]
you should check for vehicle
specific buyers guides.
[175]
Generally a forum will
have a specific guide
[178]
to give you an idea of
what you should look for
[180]
when you're looking at a specific car.
[182]
Some cars will have very common issues
[184]
that you need to be aware of.
[185]
So before you go look at anything,
[187]
check for a specific buyer's guide
[188]
and that'll arm you with some knowledge.
[190]
So once you find something that you like
[192]
that has a great community,
[194]
great parts availability,
[196]
and doesn't seem to be
being sold by a scammer,
[198]
it's time to inquire.
[200]
So here's a quick list of stuff
[201]
that you want to make sure
you ask right off the bat.
[203]
Get out a pen, write this down,
[205]
take some notes.
[206]
You want to ask about the title.
[207]
Is it clean and in-hand
and ready to sign over?
[209]
What do I mean by a clean title?
[211]
I mean not salvaged or rebuilt.
[213]
Salvaged or rebuilt title means
[215]
that at some point during a car's life
[217]
the insurance company for
that car decided to total it.
[219]
And that can happen for
a number of reasons,
[221]
whether it's the car
actually got into an accident
[224]
and got mangled,
[224]
or if it was in a flood
[226]
which is always an absolute no.
[229]
Or sometimes maybe it got broken into,
[231]
some thievery was afoot.
[232]
So a salvaged title in and of itself
[235]
isn't a definite no.
[236]
You need to do some
research but in my opinion,
[238]
it's better to go with a clean title.
[240]
So anyway, back to
things to ask the seller.
[242]
If you live in a state
[243]
that requires the title to be notarized,
[246]
do they have it notarized?
[247]
Ask about service records.
[249]
Does the seller have
any maintenance history
[250]
or service records?
[251]
Do you know how this car's been treated?
[253]
Has the car been smogged?
[254]
If you live somewhere
[255]
that it needs smogged
or emmission checked,
[257]
has it been done?
[259]
Another big one,
[259]
especially if you're looking for a car
[261]
that has specific options
or a certain addition,
[263]
you want to get the vin
[265]
and at least run it through a vin decoder
[266]
so you can see what the car
actually was from the factory
[270]
when it was built.
[271]
A vin decoder is just
something you can find online
[273]
for whatever car you're looking for.
[275]
You just plug the vin right in
[276]
and it'll give you a whole listing
[278]
of the entire build spec sheet
for the car when it was made.
[282]
Super handy.
[282]
Then you can go a step
beyond that if you want
[284]
and you can take the vin
[285]
and you can get a Carfax report,
[287]
which does cost $40
[288]
but it can be very much
worth its weight in gold.
[291]
It gives you a lot of
very pertinent information
[293]
that can be helpful when you're
thinking about buying a car.
[296]
And another thing to think about,
[297]
which I think a lot of people
do think about, is mileage.
[300]
Higher miles aren't
necessarily a bad thing.
[302]
It's not always the best way
to gauge the health of a car.
[305]
Some cars with higher miles
can be very well maintained
[308]
and be very healthy.
[309]
There are also on the other side of that
[311]
cars with low miles that
have been treated very poorly
[314]
that you don't want to buy.
[315]
So the number on the dash
isn't the end-all be-all.
[318]
You need to think about
how it's been treated
[320]
and cared for over its life.
[322]
Anyway, if you found a
car that gets you going,
[325]
you've talked to the owner,
[326]
you've asked these questions
[327]
and everything still checks out,
[328]
it's time to go look at it.
[330]
(chill beat)
[333]
So it's time to hit up the
owner and go check it out.
[336]
But it's not always the best idea
[338]
to just go to a stranger's
house I will admit.
[340]
So a lot of people like to meet up
[342]
and check out a car in public places,
[344]
like a Harbor Freight
parking lot or a gas station
[347]
or even a police station.
[348]
A lot of police stations will
even have a designated area
[351]
for that type of thing
[352]
where you can do Craig's
List transactions.
[355]
And that is a really good way
[356]
to keep yourself from getting murdered.
[358]
All right,
[358]
so we'll assume you got the
basic stuff out of the way
[360]
like the title, maintenance, smog,
[362]
all that kind of stuff.
[363]
So now it's time to inspect the car.
[365]
And a big thing that
you're gonna want to do
[367]
while you're inspecting the car
[368]
is stack up bargaining chips.
[370]
And what I mean bu bargaining chips
[371]
are things that the car needs.
[373]
Even if it's stuff that you
don't necessarily care about.
[376]
Or stuff that you do.
[377]
But for a negotiation's sake,
[379]
you need to stack up
[380]
all the things that are wrong with the car
[381]
and make it seem as bad as possible
[384]
so you can get the best price possible.
[386]
With all that said,
[387]
it's time to really
get into the inspection
[389]
and we're gonna start with the exterior.
[392]
First off, obviously,
just walk around the car.
[394]
Give it a nice once over.
[395]
Make sure there is zero dents.
[397]
Make sure the body's in
perfect shape just like this.
[400]
How's the paint?
[401]
What kind of condition is it in?
[402]
Do you even care?
[403]
Also it's time to check the tires,
[405]
see how much tread they have left,
[406]
see if they're starting
to dry rot or crack
[408]
or if they look really old.
[410]
While you're at the
tires check the brakes.
[412]
Take a look at the rotors,
[412]
see if they look nice a flat
[414]
or if they're deeply
grooved and look very worn.
[416]
Get an eyeball on the
brake pads too if you can
[418]
and a flashlight can sometimes help.
[420]
But you want to see how much
meat is left on the pad.
[422]
If they're nice and thick, great.
[424]
If they're not,
[425]
it's probably time to replace them.
[426]
Check all the lights,
turn on the headlights,
[428]
the hazards, the taillights.
[430]
Whatever the car has you
need to make sure they work.
[432]
Then pop the trunk,
[434]
see if all the interior bits are there.
[436]
Check for the spare tire.
[437]
And if the car ever came with a toolkit,
[439]
see if that's there.
[440]
It's also a good time,
if it's a convertible,
[442]
to make sure that the
convertible top goes up and down.
[445]
You're gonna want to look
for any holes like that.
[447]
And now it's time to get
your head under the car
[451]
to make sure the thing's
not covered in rust.
[453]
Check the brake lines and fuel lines,
[455]
make sure they're in good shape.
[457]
Look at all the suspension bushings,
[458]
make sure they're not falling apart.
[460]
Look for drips and leaks.
[461]
This thing has good a lot
of wetness on the oil pan.
[464]
That's another bargaining chip.
[465]
All right, that pretty
much covers the exterior.
[467]
Now it's time to get into the interior.
[469]
All right so once you get in the car,
[471]
first thing you should
do it (sharply inhales)
[473]
take a deep breath in.
[474]
How does it smell?
[475]
Does it smell like mildew and mold?
[477]
Are there any signs of water damage
[478]
or any giant, big, gross stains?
[481]
- [Eddie] Are there?
(giggling)
[483]
- The general cleanliness
of the interior of a car
[485]
is often a pretty good gauge
[486]
of how it's been treated by
whoever you're buying it off of.
[489]
What kind of shape is the
cloth or the leather in?
[491]
Are the seats destroyed or not?
[494]
Is there a radio?
[495]
If there is does it work?
[496]
Are the speakers blown?
[498]
How does it sound?
[498]
Push every single button in the car.
[501]
Make sure the heat works or
the AC works if equipped.
[504]
And check the dash.
[505]
Are there any lights on on
the dash that shouldn't be?
[508]
If so it's good idea to get them scanned
[510]
'cause it might not be a big deal.
[511]
Might be a great bargaining chip.
[513]
All right that pretty
much covers the interior
[515]
so now it's time for the fun stuff.
[516]
Let's pop the hood.
[518]
(synth music)
[520]
All right, so here in the
engine bay take a look around.
[522]
What does it look like,
[523]
how's it make you feel?
[524]
Is the condition overall
pretty good, pretty clean,
[528]
or real gross?
[529]
Are there a bunch of zip ties
[530]
and a bunch of evidence
of some shoddy repairs
[532]
or modifications from previous owners?
[534]
If so kind of a red flag.
[536]
It's nice to get things
that are relatively stock.
[538]
It's a good idea to check the oil.
[540]
Now listen, you're gonna want
to give your new project car
[542]
an oil change pretty much ASAP,
[544]
but you need to check
what's in there currently
[546]
and make sure there's no shiny
metal bits or grittiness.
[549]
'Cause that doesn't bode well
for the health of the engine.
[551]
Check the coolant as well.
[552]
Check the level,
[553]
make sure there's no oil floating in it.
[555]
And check all your hoses and
all the rubbers under the hood.
[559]
All that stuff is prone to
becoming brittle over time
[562]
and breaking which is bad.
[564]
You need to check your belts
[565]
for general wear and tear and health.
[566]
So you're also gonna
want to ask the seller
[568]
about the timing belt.
[569]
And if he says "Huh,"
[570]
then it's probably time to replace it.
[572]
All right so if everything
checks out in the engine bay
[574]
and it doesn't seem like
anything's about to come apart,
[576]
it's time for the test drive.
[579]
Does it start right up like that
[580]
or does the battery sound weak like
[582]
(makes weak revving noises).
[584]
Put it in gear.
[585]
Are there any grinds or weird noises?
[586]
Do you have to force it in?
[588]
Row through all the gears.
[589]
How does it go?
[590]
No problem, great.
[591]
all right so first gear,
[592]
start letting the clutch out,
[593]
see how it feels.
[594]
Nice and tight,
[594]
no weird noises, no weird vibrations.
[597]
Sweet.
[597]
Now it's a good time to test the brakes.
[599]
They work, yes?
[601]
Okay, good.
[603]
So now let's get up to
about 25 miles and hour
[605]
on a nice flat road.
[607]
And we're gonna be listening
for any vibrations,
[609]
any weird noises, rattles, clunks.
[612]
Anything that seems out of place.
[615]
So get going nice and straight.
[617]
And let of the steering wheels.
[619]
See if it pulls one way or the other.
[621]
If it does you might
just need an alignment
[623]
or you might need some
new suspension bits.
[626]
You hear any weird noise
coming from the transmission
[628]
or the engine now that it's
up in the RPMs a little bit?
[631]
What about the differential out back?
[633]
Hear any clunks?
[634]
Get on and off the gas a little bit.
[636]
Sorry, Eddie.
[638]
Does it make any weird
noises when you do that?
[640]
How does it feel?
[641]
Does the throttle feel
like it's hesitating
[643]
or does it feel like
[645]
it's actually attached
to the throttle body?
[647]
Now let's get up to a little bit faster.
[649]
Let's get up to highway speeds.
[650]
You get up to about 60 miles an hour
[653]
and feel for the same vibrations,
[655]
feel for any rattles,
[657]
or weird noises coming through the cabin.
[659]
Especially through the steering wheel,
[661]
the petals, and the seat.
[663]
Your butt is a really good
indicator of how the car is.
[666]
Go back and forth a little bit,
[668]
do some zig zags,
[669]
find some corners,
[670]
test out the suspension.
[671]
Do you have any clunks?
[673]
Does anything feel out of place?
[675]
It's a really good idea
to try to hit some bumps
[677]
so that you can really test the suspension
[679]
and see how it acts when it hits bumps.
[681]
If you've got worn out end links
[683]
or control arms or bushings,
[685]
bumps will kind of sort that stuff out
[687]
and you'll really get to
hear some weird noises.
[689]
So take a look at the gauges
[691]
after you've been driving for a minute.
[692]
Does everything seem good?
[693]
Is the tack working?
[694]
Does the speedometer work?
[696]
Is the coolant temp good?
[699]
Are you overheating at all?
[700]
Especially in Miatas,
[702]
that's a pretty common issue, overheating.
[704]
And it's basically a death certificate.
[707]
So make sure the thing is not overheating.
[709]
This has an oil pressure gauge.
[710]
Make sure it has oil pressure.
[712]
So listen, I know I just
said a lot of stuff,
[715]
a lot of things to pay attention to and,
[717]
and it's probably more than
[719]
you're gonna be able to remember.
[720]
I get it,
[721]
it's hard for me to remember
everything I just said.
[723]
So I was thinking ahead.
[725]
I made you guys a checklist
down in the description
[727]
so you can take it with you
[728]
or just pull it up on your phone
[730]
whenever you go to look at a used car.
[733]
Take the checklist with you
[734]
and just check the boxes, baby.
[737]
- [Eddie] We do it 'cause we love you.
[738]
- We do it 'cause we
love you, that's right.
[740]
You might think you're done at this point,
[742]
but no, no, you are not.
[744]
We've got a lot of stuff left to cover.
[746]
(funky beat)
[748]
Now this one's gonna be case by case
[750]
and not every seller is gonna
want to negotiate with you
[753]
which is their dang right.
[754]
But of course you want to
pick up your project car
[756]
for as cheap as possible so you can have
[758]
as much money left over
for mods as possible.
[761]
So now it's time to pull out
[763]
all those bargaining chips
we've been talking about
[765]
and dock as much money
as possible for them.
[767]
So go over all the things
that need to be fixed
[770]
and try to knock the price down.
[772]
It's also a good idea
[773]
to be ready to take the
thing off their hands
[775]
right then and there.
[776]
I always show up with
cash because some sellers
[779]
just want to get their
junk out of their hair
[781]
and you can be the person
to take it off their hands.
[783]
So I usually shoot for about 20% off
[785]
and I'll usually settle around 10% off.
[787]
This Miata was listed at $2,900
[790]
and I took it for 25.
[792]
Now I think that's pretty good
[793]
given that it's a two-seat roadster
[795]
that runs and drives with no real issues.
[797]
I think that's pretty awesome.
[798]
All right, so now that
you've settled on a price,
[801]
what's next,
[802]
how do you actually make it be officially,
[804]
technically, legally yours?
[806]
Well,
[808]
I'll tell you.
[809]
So one of the first
things that you need to do
[810]
is what's called a bill of sale.
[812]
Some states require it, some states don't,
[814]
and to be honest even in
states that do require it,
[816]
I've never actually been asked for one.
[819]
But it's so easy to do that
you might as well just do it.
[821]
There are three places basically
[823]
that you can get a bill of sale from.
[824]
You can check your state's DMV
[826]
or you can write one up
yourself just by hand.
[829]
Or I made you one, the Donut bill of sale,
[832]
you can download it from
the description below.
[835]
So next up is the title transfer.
[837]
This is probably the biggest part.
[838]
The title is actually the piece of paper
[840]
that officially assigns
ownership of a vehicle.
[843]
So you need to get the
title put into your name.
[846]
So now you got the title
sorted out, what's next?
[848]
You need to insure it.
[849]
So call up your insurance
company or get on their app
[851]
or what have you,
[852]
and make sure that you get it insured.
[854]
Because we can't have any
uninsured drivers out there.
[856]
So insure it, drive it home, very easy.
[859]
So now it's insured but it's
not registered to you yet.
[862]
So what do you do?
[863]
Can you drive it unregistered?
[865]
A lot of states just require
that you have it insured
[868]
and that you have a bill of sale
[869]
and you can prove that you
basically just bought it
[871]
and that's good enough for them.
[872]
Some states that's not okay,
[874]
but in those case you can
generally purchase a permit
[876]
that will allow you to
drive a car for a few days
[879]
unregistered basically
for this exact thing.
[882]
So congratulations,
[883]
you just bought your very own project car.
[886]
Are you done?
[887]
No you are not.
[888]
It's time for the most
important part of all.
[890]
You got to flex on everybody
[891]
and put your new project car on Instagram.
[893]
(upbeat music)
[896]
Nah, but really,
[897]
this is your kind of introduction
to your new community.
[900]
You got to take some pictures of your car
[901]
and put them on Instagram and
say hi to your new family.
[904]
If you want to get better at
taking pictures of your car
[906]
to put on Instagram,
[907]
check out this episode of
Wheelhouse that Nolan did
[909]
with Larry Chen and John
Jack Cirone, my roommate.
[912]
So you've got a project car,
[914]
you got it home, and you
posted it on your Instagram.
[916]
I am so proud of you.
[917]
But what's next, what now?
[919]
Is it time to mod?
[920]
Not quite.
[921]
Often overlooked but very important,
[923]
it's time to do some maintenance.
[925]
So we're gonna be replacing
all the belts, all the filters,
[928]
and all the fluids on this little Miata.
[929]
Like the most important fluid of all,
[931]
your motor oil.
[932]
When you're changing the oil on any car,
[934]
whether it's a project
or your daily driver,
[936]
it's important to go with
a high quality motor oil.
[938]
And that's why we've chosen
Mobil 1 to sponsor this episode.
[941]
Mobil 1 advanced synthetic motor oils
[943]
are designed to keep
important engine parts
[945]
in excellent condition for 250,000 miles.
[948]
Compared to conventional oils,
[950]
Mobil 1 motor oils offer
outstanding performance
[952]
and a long-lasting protection.
[954]
Mobil 1 synthetic oils
are specially formulated
[956]
by a dedicated team of
scientists and engineers.
[959]
Up tot 20,000 hours of
lab and field testing
[961]
and 500,000 miles of
road and track testing
[964]
go into each bottle of Mobil 1 motor oil.
[966]
So guys, visit the
nearest Auto Zone to you
[968]
or click the link in the description below
[970]
to find the right high-quality
[972]
Mobil 1 synthetic oil for you.
[974]
Now seriously, if you've got a car,
[975]
it's gonna need an oil change.
[977]
So you might as well support the sponsors
[979]
that help us make these videos,
[980]
because without them we couldn't do it.
[982]
Thanks for watching.
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