4 Expenses I Wasn’t Prepared For When I Bought a Used Car

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Buying a used car can feel like a smart financial move. After all, you avoid the steep depreciation that happens with new cars and often walk away with a vehicle at a much lower sticker price. But what many people don’t anticipate is how quickly unexpected expenses can pile up once the car is officially yours.

That was exactly the case for Marc Skirvin, co-founder of Cash Auto Salvage, who bought a 2015 Ford F-250 for $18,000 two years ago, which looked like a bargain.

“It seemed to be in good shape when I test-drove it, and it was marked with a reasonable price of $18,000,” Skirvin recalls. “Once I included all the other costs, though, I ended up spending about twice my original budget.”

Here are the unexpected expenses he ran into.

Immediate Repairs We Didn’t Know Were Necessary

Even if a car looks and drives fine during a test drive, hidden issues can surface quickly. For Skirvin, that happened just two weeks after buying the truck. 

“The A/C compressor went out. Although the A/C worked fine on the test drive, it looked to be on its last leg and indeed did fail,” he explained.

Fixing the compressor alone cost him $1,200. On top of that, the brake rotors were worn out.

“After some longer trips we had now felt the steering vibrating,” Skirvin added.

Replacing the brakes set him back another $800.

Tires That Looked Great But Weren’t

Appearances can be deceiving.

“The tires had good tread and were in reality as hard as a rock. I just found out they were over six years old when I had to replace one because a nail popped it,” Skirvin said.

Since mixing new and old tires isn’t safe, he had to buy all four at once, costing him $1,100.

“I should have verified the date codes when I gave them a once-over beforehand,” he said.

Registration and Title Transfer

Buying a used car can sometimes come with paperwork issues. For Skirvin, issues with the vehicle’s registration and title transfer cost him $650.

“The prior owner had registration fees that were owed and somehow transferred to me when I recorded the title,” Skirvin said. “Some liens that were not expunged created extra trips to DMV and unexpected transfer fees I had not accounted for.”

Insurance Surprise

Insurance is another expense where assumptions can get you into trouble. Skirvin thought his F-250 would cost about the same to insure as a typical pickup. Instead, he found out it required commercial car insurance.

“Commercial vehicle insurance, especially when insuring a diesel work truck, is also more expensive than regular personal auto insurance,” said Skirvin.

At $300 a month, it became one of his biggest ongoing expenses and one he hadn’t budgeted for.

“I should have actually gotten an insurance quote before buying it,” he said.

Maintenance Catch-Up

Skirvin also discovered that the previous owner hadn’t kept up with routine maintenance. That left him footing an $800 bill for overdue services.

“I found a few fixtures that were due, including the transmission service, diff service and general TLC the previous owner clearly didn’t give them,” he said. “These are things that are the most baseline of services that should have been done years ago, yet they missed.”

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