Buying a used car. Top 3 things to look for?

[hutchings1963]

buy private from a farang thats had it from new

full service history

has blue book in HIS OWN NAME

go over the body with a fine tooth comb including under the bonnet and in the boot and look for overspray of new paint especially on rubber trim and metal creases that havent been fixed in hidden places...take a torch with you

do doors panels line up...ie the gaps are consistent all the way down between the panels

check that condition of interior including seats and pedals,mats etc look like they correspond to the mileage

take your time as the car market is swamped with used cares and bargain hard

a lot of s/h cars in thai garages are crashed and repaired even at the main dealers like Toyota Sure

look for an expat returning home or upgrading his car on thaivisa classifieds,bahtsold or any other local farang website

Your last line makes sense with regards to returning home, but other than that I would say: don't buy from a foreigner but buy from a Thai. They will take much better care of their car and chances of it having been chipped are much lower.

[AlQaholic]

Manual transmission = Highways, Automatic transmission = city.

[DavisH]

Only buy from 2012 onwards, especially if you live in Bkk. Many cars got flooded in the 2011 floods. They could have hidden damage that would be hard to find. Look for cars with a full service history. Many badly damaged cars are repaired here - they would often be scrapped in a foreign country. You wouldn't be able to tell if they have been repaired or not.

But if you really want a city or vios, get a new one. These car hold their value really well. A 10 year old jazz/city can still fetch 200K. Unless you are on a budget, it's really not worth buying second hand here. You can also get a new manual ecocar for about 400K or so.

what good would that do? Many cars here are driven on red plates for years and then registered.

Also many of the 2011 cars, flood or not, wouldn't have arrived in showrooms until a year or even 18 months later.

Seriously, what percentage of cars were immersed in water here? I imagine it was a very small amount.

Paranoia.

At least 20-30 cars (that I saw) were left in my village and flooded. Neighbour have over 600K in insurance to fix his camry. Most cars are NOT driven or red plates for years. Cars in showrooms were NOT flooded. I'm talking about used cars. There was a spike in advertisement of used cars in 2012. Taladrod had over 20K cars advertised when the normal number is around 10k. It may be possible to check the insurance history for some cars to see if they were repaired following the floods. My point still stands though. No need to buy second hand here when small cars are not expensive. I certainly would NOT buy any car here unless I know it's history. Thus I would not but from a tent, unless it has come with a full check by a company such as Testcar.

[Gary A]

The mechanical parts on a vehicle can be rebuilt as good as new. The body of a car is another story. Bent and twisted is never the same as new and you can't see it. How many vehicles have you seen dog tracking down the highways? Tires wear unevenly and a good alignment shop can't fix it. If you look on BahtSold, you will often see "Accident"......... Minor, repaired. What exactly is a minor accident. That can mean about anything depending who is telling the story. If you have a friend who has taken good care of the vehicle and you know the history, that should be a safe buy. I'm always VERY wary of late model vehicles for sale, service history or not. The service history does not know how long the vehicle sat in a body shop for major repairs.

[JamieP]

Thanks for the good feedback given on here, I've bought several used cars here before but I'd be looking for different things in the cold, wet witntery wilderness of Scotland to the environment here. Flood issues aside I'm not going to be too concerned about corrosion so the tips on the mechanical issues were great.

[JamieP]

Would this have been a good deal?

2013 Toyota Vios J Automatic

White

LPG conversion done

37,000 km on the clock

3 month warranty (this is the bit I'm not sure about - why not 12 months? what's normal?)

in v. good condition cosmetically

mechanically fine as best as I can tell

The dealer wanted 385,000 baht

Opinions??

Edited September 30, 2015 by JamieP

[JaseTheBass]

I would put in a little more money and buy new. If I had to get a small car I would get a Suzuki Swift with a proper gearbox. If you're not worried about driving enjoyment there are plenty of other options for a smidge under 500k.

[NanLaew]

I would put in a little more money and buy new. If I had to get a small car I would get a Suzuki Swift with a proper gearbox. If you're not worried about driving enjoyment there are plenty of other options for a smidge under 500k.

I second the new Swift option. Great value and very reliable.

[DavisH]

I would put in a little more money and buy new. If I had to get a small car I would get a Suzuki Swift with a proper gearbox. If you're not worried about driving enjoyment there are plenty of other options for a smidge under 500k.

I second the new Swift option. Great value and very reliable.

Mine is approaching 40K kms with no problems. Plenty of second hand ones in the market now too.

[bobbin]

I'm looking now also..

I had been thinking to buy an older (2002-2006) BMW or Audi. Getting old I know, but I have found several on the internet sites with 50,000-110,000 km in the Bt 300K+. Now that I am about to buy, I've become nervous about buying a German car of this vintage.

My reasoning is/was that these were expensive here, although good quality. The owners had the means to maintain them and that sort of mileage indicate they were doing less than 10K a year on average.

So I began to think that a 2-3 year old Fiesta Sport or Suzuki Swift around Bt.350K+ would be more practical...Well, here is the problem. These cars were not expensive, so many many of them were bought by young men who live for their new car and the mileage is very high for their age. A few are out there with less than 20K but a lot are 50-90K!

[starman_tom]

I'm looking now also..

I had been thinking to buy an older (2002-2006) BMW or Audi. Getting old I know, but I have found several on the internet sites with 50,000-110,000 km in the Bt 300K+. Now that I am about to buy, I've become nervous about buying a German car of this vintage.

My reasoning is/was that these were expensive here, although good quality. The owners had the means to maintain them and that sort of mileage indicate they were doing less than 10K a year on average.

So I began to think that a 2-3 year old Fiesta Sport or Suzuki Swift around Bt.350K+ would be more practical...Well, here is the problem. These cars were not expensive, so many many of them were bought by young men who live for their new car and the mileage is very high for their age. A few are out there with less than 20K but a lot are 50-90K!

I'm also looking at buying a 10 year old car (Benz SL), my reasoning is that this car won't lose much more value, if its taken care of. So the money I put in to it now, I can get maybe 80% of it back in a couple of years. Just gotta somehow be sure that the maintenance has been done, tricky.

[Water Buffalo]

Age

Mileage

Price

[Jack100]

If you were buying from a garage in Bkk and it was a used BMW or Merc - is it possible to ask to see a print out of the engine diagnosic test ?

If they dont have one will the garage arrange to do a test - to make the sale ?

Seems to me this would show up any , major engine issues .

I had to do this with my car in the UK ( warning light came on ) but have no idea if they can arrange this here in Thailand ?

Thanks , Jack .

Edited June 25, 2016 by seedy
font

[DDbkh]

Ask for a warranty

[Ace of Pop]

Anything that hasnt got a Ford Badge on it..

[puukao]

I think they are smart when it comes to hiding problems....so very, very hard to know.

1. use your GUT feeling on the place, and especially the people there. If people try to sell too much, maybe leave. your gut feeling will tell you the place is shady

2. i really like a timing belt CHAIN.....just because

3. i bought a used suv once Suzuki 2004 grand vitara with 160,000 miles and it was simply great. i also bought audis and bmws that were horrible....mechanics checked them all out before i bought them

4. you are posting here, so slightly concerned about cash. i would limit your budget and put some aside for some fixes or .... hopefully not... some extended warranty which is usually a scam but i'm not sure how it works in Thailand

[Jack100]

Well I would hope to get a warranty as well , seems to me this diagnostic kit is just plug in from a lap top these days - not the

old sunken electronic pit which took up half the garage . Question of whether they have the software I suppose.

Jack

[RT85]

avoid if you can. there are plenty of NEW decent small cars not too expensive.

 

even as a pretty hands on motor guy myself... with about 6 or 7 car previously and pretty into the modification scene..

 

i never had a mercedes before... until i got one here second hand..

 

the nightmare continues.. then again.. older continental cars can be a real nightmare to repair/modify.

 

spent probably 200k in repairs so far... 

 

 

so good luck! stick to toyota or honda for best bet  hell cheaper to service and fix too... like 5 or 6 times less!

Edited August 13, 2016 by RT85