Red Flags When Buying a Car 

What Red Flags do YOU watch out for when buying a car? COMMENT BELOW! Burnout season is upon us! Ditch those old rubbers and save $80 on a brand new set of Yokohama Advan Apex tires today! www.fitmentindustries.com/todaysdeals

"Is it a Land Rover?" "Yes." ... Red Flag

Biggest red flag: "No low ballers, serious buyers only, I know what I have".

No interior pictures is a huge red flag for me.

Red flag when buying a car? “Price is firm.” “I know what I have”

When they say "the AC just needs a recharge". This tells me that, as well as other things about their car, they don't know are broken or don't care to fix them.

If only I had a dollar for every time Alex said “people like you and people like me” or “couple two tree things”

I hate it when they say “ needs ________ it’s a quick fix” if it’s so quick then why haven’t you fixed it?

Not a red flag but more of a general rule: Never fall in love with a car until you own it. It will most likely hurt either your wallet or your ego or both A LOT when you let your emotions drive you to buy a car that you are just looking at.

One of my biggest red flags are phrases like “my baby” “my pride and joy”. 9 times out of 10 it’s a car that’s been beaten on and poorly maintained and the seller is trying to wring as much sentimental value out of it as possible.

Anything with “707hp from dodge”, guaranteed to be abused like drift wheels.

My car had all the FLAGS . still bought it xD

Biggest red flag for me is "mechanic owned" that's when you know it's been absolutely beaten on

My favorite red flag is when people put $10+k into a car and are suddenly looking for a "family car".

Definitely the biggest red flag is how the owner talks. If you do a little research before buying a car and you ask them questions about the car and the most common answer they say is "I don't know" then you don't even gotta look at the car.

The people that thumbs down are the ones selling these cars.

A big red flag for me is when the clock on a car is in a default - -:- - zero position like that as they unplugged the battery to try and clear any messages or it has a battery drain issue where they leave it disconnected or where they haven’t driven it because of a underlying issue and had to jump start it. It’s a big one on 2000s volvos because the clock is super easy to set so if they didn’t even take the effort to set the time after it’s been disconnected or jumped from a dead battery then who knows what else is wrong. Also a super clean engine bay on an older car that you know was scrubbed hard. Often times it was to hide a leak or something. When checking on a car on person and the engine is hot before you get there then often times they could be trying to hide a cold start issue. Always ask to have it be cold so you can check the cold start.

If the seller wont let you drive it briefly at wide open throttle thats a huge red flag

"Lady driven/Grandma Driven/Grandparents car." Usually means that the owner was absolutely shit and they are trying to sell their car using boomer selling tactics

“Just needs a tune” is followed closely by “just needs a fuel pump” for project cars. TL;DR they don’t know why it won’t start

When they say anything like “runs like butter” “runs smooth needs nothing” and then the car will be a 160k mile 325i

Oil. Leaks, flakes, shavings, shimmer and how black it is. A little burning or leaking is normal on most older cars, but an excessive amount is a sign of issues. Oil is the easiest way for anyone to get a decent idea of the health of the motor if you know nothing else about cars. It can also be a red flag if the oil is too clean, that’s a potential seller hiding something.

Just assume everyone selling is a bigger liar than you when you sell your car

huge red flag is wiring, if it looks scuffed, the car is a ticking time bomb

"Mechanic special" always gets me

Summed it up pretty good "If it sounds to good to be true it most likely is.." 😅😂😂😭

My red flag : When someone says they take very good care of the car and they are "car guys" and the engine bay is absolutely filthy.

Old school muscle buyers. Do research on the car. Check all the panels and if there are any patches check to see if they’re from the right model year. I’ve seen ‘70 Duster’s ‘74 body panels. Check that or ask the owner

Literally in the market for a car under 20k and these guys keep putting out sick videos that I need to see haha thanks guys

I see a genesis coupe in the thumb nail, I instantly click because I have one But then he doesn’t talk about it 😂

I bought a heavily modded ap1 s2000. It has ap2 motor and trans. Buddy club coilovers Berk 3" exhaust with test pipe and tuned on an aem ecu. Stern mags with a bit of camber in front and rear. Zero receipts but I was able to drive it before making a decision but kind of fell in love with the burble tune on it and the way it handled. I bought the car and is still running super healthy to this day. I had to take care of a couple leaks (vtec solenoid, tct) and the car is still running super strong. Guess I got lucky!

One of the things I got got with when I bought my Mk7 GTI was title washing. One good way to check for it is to see if the car still has its manufacturer stickers on the inside of the doors, the hood, and the trunk lid/hatch.

If they have multiple listings that are all over the world. most people only list there car once, where they live

When it's "too clean". If anything with fluids in it is freshly cleaned, it means that it was leaking yesterday and will be leaking tomorrow.

I live in Illinois and nothing frustrates me more than when I’m going to go look at a car that was made before the 2000s just to find a giant rust hole in the car they avoided telling me

Biggest red flag, this is specific to Facebook marketplace. “Listed price is not real price, Facebook won’t let me put price”

Red flag when the buyer thinks they are buying a new car when buying a project car. Research research research and buy knowing you'll eventually have to do maintenance and other stuff.

Red flag would be when the owner list on the description a c5 corvette and says “ oh I know what I got it’s a 1-400 from the factory with these options “ or when they say not joyrides

Wow, 2 evo clips right in the intro.. okay i'm invested

Its hard to say Alex I bought a 94 300zx 92,000miles on it because it looked cool and the seller told me it just needed a timing belt. I spent over 2yrs trying to get it right and took it to a mechanic to let him try it in the end the car never ran the same before I sold it. Overall I think its just a challenging platform to work on and its not for everyone seller didn't mention it needed suspension and new trim as well. I luckily was able to break even and sell the car for what I bought it for plus the money I put into it because of the inflated used car market right now

Finally put on verde wheels I bought from you guys on my Lexus is350, they came in around a week and packaged really well, would recommend for anyone

One time I went to look at a 2001 Subaru Legacy, and there was no oil on the dipstick. Everything else looked, and sounded fine, and it ran/drove fine. But the moment I saw no oil I ran for my life.

First cars should be as close to stock as you can get barring teenagers with mechanical families. They can often save a car. But as "my very first car" avoid mods you didn't do or pay to have done.

Love this channel so damn much yo🙏🔥🔥

"I wish someone had told me about red flags on the b7 A4 that was a terrible choice..." 🤣🤣 I'm dying. B8 S4 all day baby

Red flag #1: literally any kind of aftermarket modification.

I check all of the panel gaps to see if they are all even. Factory gaps are very close and good shop will get them even.

It’s wasn’t just a 3000gt…it was the vr4 All those red flags suddenly looked like the entrance to a carnival 🙃😭😬

Uploaded as I’m about to go buy a car

Biggest red flag, especially in the Midwest, "No rust on the car" and there are no pictures of the underside

My car journey started when the previous owner said it just has a exhaust leak and needs a AC recharge needless to say cars been sitting for about a year and has a flat and failed clear coat 😂😂

Those wheels on the hoonigan autofocus car 🔥

Oh God did this hit home. So last year I went from homeless to semi homeless. Trying to take care of my family that became homeless too. Sold my 93 Suburban and 03 Jetta to buy a 04 Scion xB. Everything looked good, took it around the block. Great car. Project car but working for 2.5k. Head was blown and they'd just patched it up for the sale. They vanished of course and I was left going through the whole cooling system praying it was something easy. It wasn't. So I was left with a complete loss on the car with nothing to drive and no money.

1:24 the way that synced up

The boys at Fitment Industries helping me buy a 350z

I bought my mk4 vr6 12v and it actually only needed a tune for the cams 👌🏾 but the guy was a legit Volkswagen shop owner

Biggest red flag I can imagine is you show up to meet the seller, you pop the hood, and the car's already warmed up.

I was really hoping for “ we don’t have bread aisles we have tread aisles “ 🙃

My favorite is just need a family car now. I saw a STI hatchback marketplace with car seats in the back. Checked his Facebook profile was a 22 year old in college with no kids. Staged the photos with car seats bc he "needs a family car"

bouta go look at a mk4 jetta gli in 2 hours and you posted this. Big W

Yall should do a video on elkhart lake, road america, and nascar this year since they are going to be here close in wisco on the 4th

Always look for rust! That can kill your car without you really noticing

A big red flag is trying to buy a car that has been sitting "for a while". Most of them cost very little but can end up costing more in the long run. From rotten tires, blown engine, the owner no remembering what was wrong with it or the notorious "it just stop running".

Look at the underbody. It tells a whole lot of the car. Pinch welds. Tire wear, and oil pan and engine for any signs of wetness

Seller (16 yo kid) posted his car at a decently lower price with Low miles. States that ‘car runs fine with no issues’. Sent me a list of mods. Agreed on viewing and I flew down to visit him (it’s an 8 hour drive). When I visited the car, his dad drove it. Told me ‘the ignition switch is iffy’. Car was missing the factory strut bar and beauty cover, and reverse gear doesn’t stick sometimes. Barely drove WOT, didn’t allow me to drive because ‘his insurance is still under mine’. Worst part? There was no damn AC. Was not too pleased when the ad said no issues with car. Dad told me ‘the son drives this car on the weekends at night, windows down’. ‘Car enthusiasts don’t need AC due to the load on the engine’. Immediately walked away and rented a car to drive home. I should have noticed the biggest red flag was when the kid couldn’t pronounce ‘eibach’ and didn’t know what brand it was. Said ‘I am not interested in any negotiations, and 15 people have already texted me regarding the car, one person offered 16k cash’ Can’t believe someone would sell a car without AC without staying on the ad. This is wrong.

Let me tell you about the time I bought a 240 out of state, in Socal during FD weekend at night! :D

*the biggest red flag I could think off would defintly be when a car looks to pristine on the out-/inside and the owner recommends to not test drive.* I never had that happen to me, I don't own a car and driver license for long but I'm sure there are people who blindly bought their cars without test driving them first. Because the owner said it worked fine. Also here's another tip based on experince of some of my friends and others I heard. Check every dang function in a car if it works, most importantly check the lights, check the brakes, check air and tire profiles, check the coils, check for the existence of airbags and security features such as ABS, ESP, ASR seat belts working important one! Check for fluids, check for energy, check every damn button on the dashboard/infotainment system check the climatronic/climate controls check for lights in the driver dashboard kinda obvious but people tend to ignore warning signals. Because otherwise you'll regret it. That's your money, time and value being on the line. Check the service history inside the manual- glovebox of the car. Check the owner history if it checks out as said in the video. Here's a tip if you're purchasing a car keep a neutral guideance with you someone you can trust or preferably who has knowledge with cars and the technical side in general. This might be a friend or a buddy of a buddy with deep technical mad skillZ, just pick yours wisely I luckily had my older brother with me who knows the ins and outs of his cars and regularly helps other troubleshoot issues with theres also he's one of the founders of the car crew that I'm with double win. Pretty much a non-brainer at that point. Here's someone I would not wanna take on the ride of buying a car for me, someone who previously had bad decisions on his record regarding cars having big project cars which are not finished yet. OK let me explain that, I'm talking about someone so dang sure saying as a negative example hey this car just needs a tune, someone who already bought the cars with flaws but still paid to much for it and didn't bother trading with the owner. Someone who tries and promote a certain type or brand of car to you. Someone who might say has knowledge but knows jack' shit about the actual technology or type of car you wanna buy for example you might wanna own a RWD car though the person that helps you has only ever had FWD cars.

To be real.. any car I go for I ask to check the oil and do a almost full diag lmao and ask to hear it run.. and see if it leaks and runs hot as well as see what it sounds like.. most the time ppl don't want you to test drive so I ask them to take me on a short ride along. But for everything you spoke on in the vid I didn't know

Just needs "fill in the blank" because almost every time it needs more. Oh and I saw a kid put windshield washer fluid in a coolant resevoir. Then when I asked about it he got mad and asked me if I was going to buy it or not.

Private sellers are the scum of the earth. They all think the pros are con artists so they try to one up the competition. The #1 rule of buying a sports car is - Pay a little more for the cleanest car you can find. Looking at a $3000 280zx? Find one that's worth $5-6000 and try to get a bit of a deal. Looking at a $7500 350z? Find one that's worth $12,000 with a catback, low miles, an owner who doesn't know how to drift and a life in a garage. Do not buy someone else's forced induction performance mods. They didn't do all that work and pay all that money to hand you a problem free car and trust me, they didn't out grow it. They just can't afford to keep it alive anymore. Try to find cars that have fallen out of favor. BMW Z3, and Z4 often shows up with an owner who has moved on. 986 Boxer is dirt cheap now, you can be picky about shape. GT86/BRZ/FRS is available used with 40,000 miles for nearly the same as all the 100k miles plus cars. Avoid 90s turbo cars. They were miracles of the age and now you need to be a rocket scientist to revive them. NA is your friend. And, don't make speed a priority. Speed costs money. Either that, or buy the $30k sub 50k miles car from the used section of a new car dealer's lot and get a pre purchase inspection.

my n54 needs an oil change thanks for reminding me

For anyone wanting to buy a Subie with an EJ engine. If there any mods make sure it got a tune by a reputable tuner. Even if it’s only an intake. While the car is on open the oil cap and check for white smoke coming out. If you see white smoke run. Head gaskets are obviously notorious on EJs and no matter how much people tell you “iTs OnLy A pRoBlEm On Na EnGiNeS”, its not. It’s hard to know when a hg is out on a subie because the car will feel perfectly fine. Highly likely that you wont see any coolant in the oil or any of the typical head gasket signs. The way to check is go WOT and then right away check the coolant reservoir. If it is bubbling, looks foamy, and/or is overflowing the hg is out. Sure, it can be air in the system but chances are the seller already replaced the coolant, thermostat, did a coolant pressure test, and who knows what else. It’s the head gaskets. When the hg blows on the perfect stock well maintained subie you got, get some ARP head studs. The stock ones fail even at stock levels it’s fucking stupid. Ask me how i know. If you want to make decent power and more reliability get an FA subie. With e60, fuel pump, and a good tune you’ll easily make an extra 100awhp. Can’t get that from an EJ. Subies with the EJ engine are fun cars, but unfortunately it’s not the best platform for performance. I got my 2012 wrx last year and a month later the hg went out. Completely stock. Rebuilt and added some supporting mods for future power mods i had planned. I went stage 1 then stage 2 and all was well. 2 months ago I went stage 3+ E85. Making some fun power, but once again hg. I learned my mistake and i didn’t get the best of tunes when I knew I should’ve. Am i giving up on the car? Fuck no, I have an IAG block sitting in my garage right now ready to be put inside my subie. This has been a dream car of mine since I was 12 so my emotions blind my judgment but I sure don’t care. It brings me happiness. So if you get a subie just make sure you also get an extra engine while you’re at it.

Drove 15 hours to pick up an s13 out of country, had a good price, looked pretty nice, ran a stage 3 chip and just had a full engine built and rust repair (with paperwork) a few years but only about 500 miles ago. 'just runs a little rich so could use a tune'. I couldnt test drive it because of 40cm snow in the mountains of austria amd it had no plates, but it started fine and we drove it up the trailer and headed home. Back home i wanted to do a small test drive, 2 minutes in it died due to intercooler piping blowing loose. Fast forward: its been 8 months and i was able to drive it about 10 miles during the time. No bolts were tightened, lots of cables not connected, brake failure, wouldnt start, misfired, turbo failure and it just keeps on going. LESSON LEARNED

My entire project was a red flag. Pulling codes. White smoke in the exhaust missfire. Pulling codes. Oil leaks. Struggled on startup

I usually take it having less than 4 wheels as a red flag, unless it's a Reliant Robin, but I wouldn't buy one of those..

"mechanic owned" probably means it's held together with the bare minimum requirements

I always pull radiator cap (when the cars cold!!) and let the car run for a minute with the cap off. If you see a bunch of bubbles coming up, probably bad news.

Wow this is the earliest I been to a video

A good red flag imo is if you pop the hood and its already warmed up, be wary. Probably has a really hard cold start

Somebody in my area was selling a pristine e55 AMG ;) The red flag was that I didn't instantly sell all my belongings to get it

You should be the only one hosting this channel!

the age of a car as well. you cant fix a car you cant find parts for. I've got an 87 Fiero and most part suppliers at garages don't carry parts for them anymore. if anything breaks i have to supply my own parts to be fitted which takes time to be delivered then over to the garage to be put on so its this big hassle whenever anything goes wrong.

Is it a first Gen RX8? Yes... RED FLAG DON'T BUY IT! EVER

Was watching the tophers review on the 2021 jetta

When a 'good' deal has been on the market for 2 months

When the owner says “this things quick/fast” definitely sign it’s been hella abused

"Tendency to blow up" is such an accurate description of Subarus

Yoooooo I completely forgot about Kyle Reese, I need to go back and watch him finish that widebody build

Biiiig red flag when the seller says “Min0r IsSuEs” while not stating what the minor issues are. Gets mad when you ask simple questions(keep in mind you just want to get what you pay for). Also if the issues are soooo minor, why didn’t YOU fix it?!

…. 11:57 i own a B7 a4. it’s currently getting a motor replaced. 310,000 kms. i’ve owned it for less than a year

Only time I've skipped maintenance.... Apex seals + rebuild

Can u make a video of a ctsv and w211 e55 amg kn who you’d think would win in a drag race

A big red flag for any car is when it takes 10 minutes to start. Still bought it. Was a 10 buck distributor fix. idk what point im trying to make

When there is a self reported accident on the Carfax, and the dealer says it's clean.

Red flags when watching a video - if it takes >3 min (and 2 commercials) to get into any actual context….

high temps upon starting

If you buy it from a dealership or owner that mean independent civilian make them sign a contract, stating that this motor is not damaged and any possible body damage, accident or suspension issues or exhaust problem and wiring issues... leave columns on a contract that way the owner or dealership kaput what is wrong with the vehicle.. that way you are aware of any problems and y'all both signed and dated with a witness and then going to get it notarized at the courthouse and give copies of contract to each party... problem solved so now you want to worry about no one ripping you off... I start doing it back when I turn 16 back in 2001 and found out that the dealership in Johnson City Tennessee rip me off because somebody called be a bright idea to put sand in the motor I had that car for 3 days I took it back and get my money back and ever since then I start making for sign a contract cuz I feel if they want you to sign a contract of ownership of a vehicle they go sign a contract stating there's nothing wrong with that car and give you a Carfax this is nothing personal this is business

its nice seeing SD Wheel for a minute there, too bad its first shift XD

I didn't watch all of it before posting this buuut, turn the car on and check for the MIL light, if you don't see it ko/eo, big flag.

A big one is if they keep repeating the same few things that they "replaced". Like really trying to hammer it home that they JUST did a full maint check on the vehicle and everything is sound, but they can't exactly name the specific parts that they changed/replaced besides easy things like Spark Plugs and wires and belts.. I unfortunately fell for the "you can do anything you want to it!". It's basically their subconscious coming out and telling you there's gonna be a lot of work to make it nice. Basically, I bought a neglected 95 Civic 4dr. O2 was unplugged so the engine would run rich enough to produce a pop in 1st/2nd. Oil and clutch fluid had not been changed in who knows how long, the Spark Plugs were fried, and it leaked oil on the INSIDE. The mechanic that fixed everything told me it actually upset him to see the condition of the vehicle, as it was very apparent that the previous owner basically polished a turd. The plates it came with turned out to not even belong to a current registered vehicle. So far about $1500 in repairs. Moral of my TL;DR, don't be afraid to negotiate! All in all, I should've payed $400-$500 less than I did. But because I'm a shy little b--ch I'm paying the price.