Loading…
18
Showerthought: I used to crawl under every car I looked at, now I pull the dipstick and walk away
I used to bring a flashlight and cardboard to every private sale and spend 45 minutes poking at frame rails, but after buying a $700 Civic in Akron that looked clean underneath and ate a head gasket on the drive home, I flipped my whole approach. Now I show up, check the oil and coolant color, look at the tires, and if anything feels off I just hand the keys back and leave, no matter how nice the owner seems. Saves me a ton of time and I have walked away from 4 cars this year alone. Has anyone else switched to the quick once-over, or am I missing stuff by not going deep anymore?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
the_oscar8d ago
Bought a 2003 Corolla off a guy in Dayton who swore it was his grandma's, clean underneath, drove it 2 weeks before the trans started slipping. Now I just pop the hood in the driveway, sniff the oil, glance at the coolant, and if the guy starts rushing me I'm already backing out. Ain't worth the back pain crawling around for an hour when half these sellers are hiding something anyway.
8