Knowing Which Cars to Avoid Buying

The used-car scene changes from year to year, but following are a few general guidelines about what not to buy. If, for some reason, you have your heart or pocketbook set on one of these vehicles, make doubly sure that your mechanic does a thorough investigation before you buy it.

• Police cars, fleet cars, or taxis: Even if they're going for very reasonable prices and have been pretty well maintained, these vehicles have been driven for long hours over thousands of miles by people who neither owned them nor cared for them. As a result, they are often worn out and ready for pasture.

• Used station wagons: These are sometimes owned by traveling salespeople who put 50,000 miles a year on them. Unless you know the vehicle personally, a used station wagon should be checked out very thoroughly before you consider buying it.

• Used trucks or commercial vans: Be sure that the transmission and suspension haven't deteriorated from hauling too many heavy loads for too many miles. You may want to ask the owners, "If it's such a great truck, how come you want to sell it?"

• Models that have gone completely out of production: The only time you should consider getting one of these cars is if the one you want was so widely sold that there are still lots of parts available. Mercedes-Benz, for example, usually stocks parts for 20 years.

• Cars with engines that have been modified: If a major change has been made by the owner, find out what went wrong with the original equipment and ask a professional mechanic what damage the defective part may have done to other parts of the car and what effect the modification may have on the rest of the vehicle.

• Sports cars with racing modifications: Most of these souped-up darlings are miserable in stop-and-go traffic and at low speeds. Many have been worn out by leading fast lives. Sometimes the addition of turbochargers or exceptionally powerful carburetion can place a strain on a transmission or differential that wasn't designed for such rapid acceleration.

• Very new used cars: Unless you're buying a previously leased vehicle that has been returned after only one year, these may be lemons or may have been wrecked. Of course, the owner may simply have lost a high-paying job rather suddenly. (It's not considered "prying" to ask why the owner has put a vehicle up for sale. Listen to the answer with your "inner ear.")

• Old vehicles with very low mileage: Unless you've met the "little old lady" personally and know her church-going habits, chances are the odometer has been set back.

• Lemons: Some states require that DMV titles show whether the vehicle has been returned to the manufacturer as a lemon. California, for example, defines a lemon as any vehicle that has been held by a dealership for more than 30 days for repairs in the first year of ownership or that has a problem the dealer has been unable to repair after four tries. Despite this, automakers have consistently found ways of putting these losers back on the market disguised as ordinary used cars. The American Automobile Manufacturers Association (AAMA) has been lobbying for dealers to have to identify cars as lemons only if they are among the tiny fraction found to be lemons in court proceedings.

Any car that has been in a wreck: Although the car may have been repaired, it's possible that the frame is bent and less stable, that spot welds or body filler will not hold, or that the steering is damaged. Remember, even though you may be convinced that the restored vehicle is as good as new, you can have trouble finding a buyer who feels the same way when the time comes for you to sell it.

• Possibly stolen vehicles: If you unknowingly buy a stolen vehicle, it's your loss if the police repossess it. For this reason, don't part with more than a small deposit until you've had your local DMV search the car's title by its current owner's name or, better still, by the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) that can be found on the title, on the registration, and at the lower-left corner of the dashboard where it is visible through the windshield from outside the car.

• Previously salvaged vehicles: A salvaged vehicle is one that's been damaged to such an extent that an owner, leasing company, financial institution, or insurer considers it uneconomical to repair it. Insurance companies automatically deduct 40 percent from the value of a salvaged car, even if it's in good condition. If a DMV or NICB (National Insurance Crime Bureau) search shows that a vehicle has been salvaged, either have the price lowered by that amount or don't buy it.

• Cars that have been recalled for defective parts: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Auto Safety Hotline (800-424-9393) can tell you whether a car model has been recalled and will send you information about it. If the car you want has been recalled, it may be difficult to tell whether the necessary replacements or repairs were made.

• Pre-1992 vehicles with defective air conditioners: Although many older vehicles built before 1992 are well worth purchasing, keep in mind that the EPA has declared R-12, the refrigerant for their air conditioners, environmentally unsafe. Though reserves of the refrigerant will exist for a while, R-12 will become increasingly expensive and hard to find. If you buy a pre-1992 vehicle from a dealer, ask to have the air conditioner serviced and refilled with R-12 as part of the deal. Conversions to R-134a, the new refrigerant, will be necessary when the supply of R-12 runs out, and that may cost you a pretty penny.

• "Gray" cars: These are foreign vehicles that do not meet emission and safety standards. If you unknowingly buy a vehicle that has been illegally imported, it can be impounded, and you can run into insurance problems. Since 1990, the EPA has been authorized to collect a "gas guzzler" tax on post-1980 vehicles with low mileage ratings. They must be imported through a Department of Transportation-registered importer and modified to meet U.S. regulations before they can be driven. Although these vehicles may come with valid titles, they only prove ownership and do not indicate that the vehicle is legally drivable. Be sure any foreign-built car under 25 years old has been certified to meet DOT and EPA specifications.