Hello all,

looking to buy an 09 focus from the local buick/caddy dealer. how necessary is to have a used car from a large dealer inspected by a private mechanic? i have only bought cars from private sellers and have always done this.

Thanks

If you have always inspected the car yourself, then take it upon your self to get this one checked out.

You know what to look for?

I'd continue to buy from private sellers. You get a big discount. If a dealer is giving you that big of a discount, then something happened to the car that is not on insurance records, or they are trying not to disclose. I would not trust Car Fax either. Trust your eyes and experience when it comes to finding wrecked cars being passed off as no wrecked. I make car sales guys angry- I can see it. Most of the time they don't even know enough to know that they are misleading you.

in the past i have always taken cars from private sellers to a mechanic. i know very little about cars so don't know what to look for myself really. Guess i'll keep doing the same.

It is still under warranty i believe (34,000 miles year 2009). so that should help a little

Even under warranty you should still have it inspected by your private mechanic. A dealership doesn't want to put much money into something they are selling so they just do as little as possible to make it presentable for sale. There are some dealerships that go out of their way in the inspecting area but not a lot do. If you have used this mechanic before and trust them completely, I would keep going there.