Newbie here about to buy first vibe

[PluffHead]

After a few years of traveling in my friends Matrix I have decided to finally get one those lovely cars myself. I am getting the 2004 Pontiac vibe base today with about 103,000 miles on it. I have read so many good things about these cars but wanted to know if there any problems that I should be looking for before I hand over the money. The seller is only asking 3800 which isn't to bad. Thanks for any info and I am definitely excited to get this car.

[vibrologist]

No matter how good the reputation of our Vibe is it only matters how good YOUR candidate is: have it inspected by a pro of your choice and on your dime. If the seller does not agree you walk away. If he does agree your mechanic can point out things that yo would miss because you can't put the car up in the air.

I once sold a car and a prospective buyer had it inspected. It was a good thing for her because my own pre-sale inspection missed a thing. I believe she paid $40 for the inspection. Figure up to $100.

[vibrologist]

If you don't want to go the suggested route above....

Is the seller trustworthy? Ask questions and observe his line of answering. Is there evasiveness? Down playing of issues? Overemphasizing of one (false) positive? You are scrutinizing the seller, not the car!
Look for rust. Look for any signs of body repair. Then: ask the key question: was there any body repair? Ask this even if the seller says the car is accident free.

Bring an OBDII reader and hook it up. Are all monitors on? If not the codes have been cleared before you arrived.

Look for a minor leak of engine oil on the back of the engine, passenger side. It's the timing chain tensioner. Not a big deal really.


The rest is standard stuff.

[Transylvania]

Used Vehicle Purchase Checklist.docx

Used Vehicle Purchase Checklist

(18.93 KiB) Downloaded 295 times

It can be exciting to purchase a car from a private party. Have done it for the last few purchases and found the attached checklist to be very useful.

[ehoff121]

Welcome to genvibe!

Use one of the many free used car pricing web sites to see if $3,800 really "isn't too bad". Low miles, but you need to factor in options, maintenance history, and the likelihood that anything made of rubber (gaskets, etc.) is at least 14 years old and may need to be changed.

If you can swing it, search for a newer model year- the difference in price shouldn't be that much more.

Good luck in your search!

[tpollauf]

Welcome to GenVibe. Hopefully this Vibe is worthy of being sold to you AND you actually get it. Keep all of us posted here as to your decision & outcome.