Tips When Shopping for a Used Car

When buying a car, especially used, there are countless places you can go to. Whether it be a used car dealership, a private seller or from a new car dealership like us, Maple Toyota - it's important to get your fix of facts before you start shopping. Here are a few tips to help you with choosing a used car.

Do your research...

What type of vehicle are you looking for?

Narrow down what kind of vehicle you would like - Maybe a hatchback, a sporty 2 door coupe, or perhaps an SUV or truck. This will narrow down the vast amount of vehicles on the market so you can focus on comparing different brands.

What are your must have features?

Identify what you need in a vehicle - Are you concerned about fuel efficiency or cargo space? Maybe you want specific technology like a backup camera and Bluetooth? Brush up on which types of vehicles offer the features that will fulfil all your needs.

What years are you interested in?

It's good to have an idea of what model years you are going to be looking for. This prices will range based on the condition of the vehicle, the kilometres, as well as the features. ….your budget, or certain features that are only available from a certain year on. Confusion may arise during your search when comparing the number of kilometres each of your eligible cars has and comparing their age. How are you supposed to know what are realistic expectations?  - Well, the average driver will put about 20,000 to 30,000 kilometres on their vehicle each year. So, if you take the kilometres of a vehicle and divide them by how old the vehicle is, you will now have the average kilometres driven per year. If this number is less than 20,000 km then you will know that the previous owner drove less than average, and the reverse, if this number is more than 30,000 km then you will know that the previous owner drove more than the average. Now you will be able to judge which vehicles you may be interested in based on the kilometres.

Budget

Before delving into the world of used cars make sure you set a spending limit. This will give you a better idea of what cars you can start test-driving. Once selecting the type of car you're going for, comparing prices is a handy way to get an idea of what you're looking at spending.

You could also try out an online tool to help get ideas of what you should be paying for a certain used car. The Canadian Black Book^™website allows you to enter in the vehicle's make, model and year and then estimates how much that car should be sold for. This is a good place to start if you're completely at a loss for how much you're going to have to spend on your wheels.

When using a dealer like us, Maple Toyota, there are often many financing options available to you, which makes the process a lot more smooth and simple than having to set up everything with the banks on your own.

Select the right seller

There are many benefits of buying a used car through a dealership. Instead of taking a chance on a private sale, you could be reassured with our used cars. They are meticulously cared for in order to bring you the best quality of pre-owned there is out there.

Before making your final decision, it's always a great idea to look into Google reviews and how a business is rated. For official dealerships you can usually find a review from someone who has purchased a used car from them - this would help you feel out the service you could expect to receive. With our Google rating of 4.6 out of 5, you can feel confident in your selection of Maple Toyota.

Don't get overwhelmed! We can help you with your search for the perfect used car to suit your every need.