purchase motor vehicle , buyer beware

Here is a post I made a couple of years ago:
The model year is very often and most likely mis-represented. First look at the little tag where the seat belt attaches to the floor. Unless someone went to the bother to change seat belts the manufacturing date is on that tag.
Also, no matter what country the vehicle was made in the year of manufacture is part of the VIN number. Here they may also call it the chassis number. The year is in code which is standard except for a few countries, but you can find all that information on the Internet. Vehicle Identification Number - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia See this site.
Buyer beware. Most used cars here I have seen have been re-painted, some because they all come here as white, some to hide Bondo and body putty, some to just give it a "new" look. Check the oil, smell the oil ( you should have someone familiar with that ) check the belts, check the hoses, check the coolant, look at the color of the inside of the tailpipe. The list goes on and on. If it has four different size and make of tires, I'd walk away. Look at the brake pedal, it is an indicator of how many kilomoters are on it, if it's an older car and has a new brake pedal, walk away. Look for wheel cylinder leaks or master cylinder leaks. Pay to have the wheels pulled and the brake wear checked.
Have someone qualified to "listen "to the engine. Many cars have two oil filters(Diesels) and some gasoline engines have 2 fuel filters. Diesels have at least one large fuel filter/water separator. Drive behind the car, watch for dog tracking and smoke, blue smoke is bad. Whew, I am getting too old for this. What do I know anyhow ? I know I have missed many many things on this check list due to time constraints. If I continue I might miss my own funeral. I hate it when that happens.
Best wishes, don't buy from the guy in the plaid suit or the driven by a little old lady only on Sundays to church or the bar. Beware of real low mileage, that is not necessarliy a good thing. Read read read. Good luck. Volume number 1 of ?
Luck is being prepared when opportunity knocks.

Also what has happened since I made this post, the Kia Sportage we bought from a lawyer we can no longer get it registered. We got tags and stickers no problem for 2011 and 2012. Now we cannot get it registered for 2013 or 2014. The LTO has put these "surplus cars" on some kind of a "could have been imported illegally list". So of course we have been working with the lawyer we bought it from, but so far to no avail. the LTO registered it O.K. in 2010, 2011, and 2012. So why a problem now ?? Cannot get an answer.
I guess we keep driving it until if we ever get stopped at a check point they will confiscate it. Then what ?
So, when buying, be real sure with the LTO that this vehicle has no import problems before you buy it.
But in our case it was 3 years later the LTO decided it might have been smuggled in or whatever.
All I can say is be real careful.

 

I forgot to mention that our KIA Sportage was registered as a 2007 model, when in fact it was built in 1996. See my other post on how to avoid that trap.