Step 1: Check for any debris or signs of moisture. There will be physical signs of water damage in a car that has been in a flood. Carefully examine the car for wetness and debris on the auto’s exterior and interior – these can be signs of flood damage. Looking at the headlights carefully will reveal if there is water on the inside of them. Make sure you check everything out including the glove compartment as well as under the floor mats. The flood may have penetrated the engine, and you’ll want to check under the hood to see if it has. Some signs that your car has been damaged by a flood include water, dirt or rust underneath the hood.

Step 2: Smell the car thoroughly. The smell may be the first sign you are looking at a flood-damaged car. If flood waters have covered the vehicle for any period of time, the interior will reek of mold and mildew. Carpet and upholstery take quite a long time to dry, as damage of this sort is slow to fix. A musty smell can permeate the interior of the car and cling to fabrics. Reconsider the purchase if something about the car doesn’t seem right. The damaged was probably caused in a flood.

Step 3: Look around for repairs and or replacements. Salespeople have been known to try to hide damaged aspects of a car. Be observant of any out of place items in the car, such as different fabric and upholstery, parts, or other interior details. The new parts will be obvious to detect because they will be clean and shiny against the old interior parts.
If a used car is offered with an ‘all-new interior’, remember the saying ‘Caveat Emptor”.

>>> Read Part 2 of How To NOT Buy a Car Damaged By Flood >>>

Step 4: Take a quick drive. The fastest way to determine whether your car has flood damage is to start it. Check each component of the electrical system for proper functioning and no liquid oozing out of the vents or gaps. Drive the car to make sure that everything is working fine. If not, it’s possible that the vehicle was previously damaged in a flood.

Step 5: Hire a licensed auto technician to examine the vehicle. In the event that you lack faith in your own opinion, take the car to your mechanic for an inspection. If flood damage is detected by a mechanic, the vehicle’s warranty will be automatically voided (if the vehicle is still under warranty). Before buying a pre-owned vehicle, this is certainly something to keep in mind. Regardless of the apparent newness of the vehicle, have a professional double-check to make sure it hasn’t been flood-damaged and that the warranty period has not expired.

Step 6: Obtain a history report of the vehicle. Purchasing a Carfax vehicle history report can provide an added layer of protection against inadvertently purchasing a flood-damaged vehicle. The only thing you need is the VIN (or vehicle identification number) for a thorough record of any wrecks the vehicle was involved in as well as repairs or recalls. Please note that a Carfax report can’t guarantee to list all the damage that has happened to a car. A series of title changes may be an indication that previous owners have moved the car through various states in an attempt to conceal the severe damage the car has suffered. Occasionally, repair jobs are not picked up by Carfax due to changeovers with titles. It’s a good idea to sign up for a Carfax report, but be sure to use other sources of information as well when determining whether or not the vehicle has suffered flood damage.

Chuck Kosmider writes about buying cars and other car tips as a staff writer for HowToDoThings.com.Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/how-to-know-if-you-are-buying-a-car-damaged-by-flood-845808.html

Whatever your reasons for wanting a new car, you are probably quite intimidated by the prospect of purchasing. Buying a new car is an important task and big decisions have to be made.

When you buy a new car, you have to contend with a number of factors. You have to work with your financial situations and resources. You have to review the available deals. You have to search out the best features to meet your needs. You also have to deal with the market factors. The price of cars varies depending on the make and model you are looking for.

Working with dealers is perhaps the most daunting aspect of buying a new car, however. Retailers, as we are all too aware, purchase vehicles at wholesale prices. Their objective is to secure a profit, often as large a profit as possible. Dealers are in the game to make money. They may have a number of additional items to upsell to prospective buyers. There may be special incentives offered by manufacturers to the dealers. We, the consumers, may be unaware when we are being directed to buy things we do not need so that the dealer can make a bigger profit.

There is a trick to buying cars. The goal must always be to come out as consumers with a good deal. Since there is rarely any room for bargaining, it is very important to learn how to hit the spot, to target the things we want.

The smartest consumers are the ones who take the time to study the market, study the available features. It is important to learn the tricks of buying and selling used by the strongest dealers.

The best dealers really have their own codes and strategies. The more you can know about dealers’ agendas, the more you can do to promote your own interests

>>>  Read Part 2 of Avoiding Car Dealer Scams 101  >>>

You should always test drive a car before you buy and you can learn a lot simply by paying a visit to your local dealership. Go with a friend, preferably someone who knows cars. Take a look at the pricing, review financing options (what are the dealers asking for?) and any special offers and promotions. Try to get a sense of how dealerships work.

Your goal in visiting a dealership and test driving one or two cars is not to end up signing on the dotted line. You are much better of having dealers come to you with their offers. The goal of visiting a dealership, however, is to assess the quality of the product you are going to buy.

Once you know exactly what you want, you can post the details on AutoBidsOnline.com. Top dealers will pick up on your request and compete to accept or counter your bid. Most importantly, you can do all of this without having to divulge your personal contact information first.

You should be able to talk confidently about your plans to purchase. You should be confident asking questions and making requests. You should also be able to control your budget and avoid buying things that you don’t want or need.

By studying the market for new cars and being clear about the car that you want to buy, you do not need to be intimidated. You can even have a little fun while you shop.

The more information you have about your precise circumstances and the deal you are looking for, the better sites like AutoBidsOnline.com can serve you in bringing forward seller offers that match your criteria.

Tim Cartwright writes for AutoBidsOnline.com where you can research, compare, and review new and used cars. Build your dream car and get competitive quotes from dealers in your local area. Visit AutoBidsOnline.com

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/avoiding-dealer-scams-101-823351.html

Seriously! Some of them will actually do that! They are counting on and hoping that you won’t bother to carefully go over the paperwork – and many new and used car buyers don’t! And why don’t they? Its usually because they are so burned out and worn down by the entire car lot buying experience that they just don’t have it in them to scrutinize the paperwork and just want to get the hell out of there. And guess what? That is EXACTLY what the car dealers are hoping for and what their entire burn out car buying process is designed to do to you!

If you discover this on your paperwork then they will give some lame and totally bogus reason by telling you that the finance company requires it, or who knows what else?

Here are 2 easy ways to avoid becoming a victim to this auto car warranty scam…

• Go over the paperwork thoroughly and if you see something weird, and they aren’t able to explain it to your satisfaction, then walk out the door and find your answer somewhere else.

• Get an extended auto car warranty from an outside source INSTEAD of at the car dealer.

• I also suggest you minimize the time you spend with the shark in the finance department because that is where they will lean on you hard to get you to buy their extended car warranty and whatever else they can make you pay for…and the best way to accomplish that is to get a car loan online.

You can save yourself an unbelievable amount of grief and money by doing those simple things to avoid this car warranty scam.

An extended car warranty starts when your factory car warranty ends – which could be something like 5 years or 100,000 miles, or whichever comes first, but the length of manufacturer warranty varies from one car manufacturer to another.

Here is the problem…

When you buy a new car, the dealer may try to force their very expensive extended automobile warranty on you.

Car dealers handle extended car warranties in the finance department and the pressure to buy one of their expensive and often inadequate extended car warrantys can be extremely intense! The reason they push them so hard is because you might be surprised to know that car dealers make very little money on the sale of new cars. Thats right, believe or not, the big profits are made selling used cars. So in order to boost their profits when selling new cars, they will push all kinds of things on you that can make them extra money.

The extended auto warranty scam can often cost you twice as much and they are usually not anywhere near as inclusive as an extended car warranty you can get on your own AFTER you have bought your new car. Yes, you can buy one later.

You can save hundreds of dollars by getting your own warranty AFTER you buy your car!

The fact is that you don’t need to buy your car warranty before you leave the car dealership even though “they” in the finance department will try to club you over the head with their extended car warranty scam and tell you that “you must buy it now or you will never be able to get one again!”

They might tell you that you’re being stupid, cheap, or a fool, and whatever else they can do or say to make you fall for their extremely expensive car warranty scam NOW!

You don’t have to buy it that day. Its a lie. So don’t fall for it. It is true that an extended car warranty is a great thing to have and the sooner you buy an extended car warranty, the less you will pay for it.

Letting yourself fall victim to the extended car warranty scam the day you buy your car won’t make any difference, except cost you a lot more, because the truth is that you have 30 days after you buy a car to get an extended car warranty.

Of course they won’t bother to inform you of that one little tiny detail.

The worst thing about the extended automobile warranty scam is that they may not even offer you the choice and just bundle it in with the price of your new car!

So caveat emptor (let the buyer beware) and there are other car warranty scams, but now you know about this one.

The above questions ( Car Scams – Dealer Says They Will Pay Off Trade-in ) were submitted by a reader and here are my answers…

First of all, I would never trade in a car because you won’ t get anywhere near as much money for it as you will if you sold it yourself. Seriously, we are talking about hundreds or possibly even thousands of dollar more if you sell it yourself. See, the thing is that you are going to have to clean up your car anyway if you are going to trade it in, so why not spend just a little more time and sell your car yourself?

Okay, I realize that wasn’t your question, so let me get to that…

To have the car dealer pay off your car loan may not be a car scam…but it might be for some. The reason I say that is because in the present economic situation where things are sucking, there are many car dealers across the country (and maybe even some with the best of intentions) that are going out of business. Okay, big deal. Well, it is a big deal because the problem is that they aren’t paying off the loans on cars that they took in on trade. And guess who is responsible for paying off your car loan? YOU! Yes, no matter how much they promise to do what they say they are going to do – the bottom line is that YOU will be the one that gets stuck for paying off your car loan because you are the individual on the loan. Trading in your car is enough of a scam as it is because of all the money you will be throwing away, but letting someone else tell you that they will pay off your car loan can and often is another one of those car scams to be aware of.

Now I am thinking that they are either going to request a larger down payment, or leave the down payment as it is but increase the interest rate which would give me higher monthly car payments…or they want to lower the monthly payments by extending the term of the loan to beyond the current and agreed upon 5 years. Of course I don’t want any of those things.

My questions is: Can I get the car I traded in back? I would really love to back out of this deal because the car I bought from them isn’t running well.”

“I bought a 1996 Pontiac Grand Am SE with 47,000 miles on it with an extended warranty. Four months later the engine light came on and the dealer fixed it and said he put in a brand new catalytic converter. Five months passed and the same engine light came on, but now the car was undrivable. The mechanic said it was the #2 and #4 fuel injectors and distributor coil. He told me he replaced all those parts. Another five months went by and now the extended warranty has expired. My mechanic looked at it and said they never put in a new catalytic convertor and whoever fixed the fuel injectors did such a bad job that gas was going into all the wrong places in the engine so it totaled the engine! It was going to cost me four thousand dollars to fix it! So now I’m left with no car and two more years to pay on the loan and I’m left to buy a junk car for five hundred dollars that could be another nightmare and a sure car dealer horror story!”