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Here's an easy and logical thing to do while checking out a used vehicle

starting out you're going to want to find a good-looking vehicle more times than not so find one that you'd be comfortable with driving and do some research ahead of time to figure out if it's a vehicle that's worth your time. Reviews if you see a bunch of reviews that say it's a piece of junk or that they had to replace a transmission or motor then it's probably not a good vehicle.

I personally would suggest a 90s Toyota car
Or a 90s Chevy truck
But everyone will have their opinions on them

but the other half of reliability is not just what others say it is what is going on in your vehicle

So when you go to look at a vehicle that is for sale
You are going to want to check multiple things

First you are going to want to around the vehicle and see what you can see if there is any visible damage that you didn't know about before such as worn tires or dents you should even go as far as to look under the vehicle to see if there is any visible leaks

My next segment is going to be leaks

If you are able to dip your finger in a visible leak

Look at it and see if there is a color to it.
Red is usually transmission fluid

Light Brown to Black can be motor oil Or something else just as important.

Yellow to green sometimes orange or a nasty brown mixture of all can be coolant ( radiator fluid)

And so on and so forth if there is any leaks on a vehicle and you don't know how to do them yourself or don't have any money at the time to fix them I would just walk away.

Next you should actually open the hood and check all your fluids such as engine oil ( make sure vehicle has been off for a little while)

See if it is full or at least close to being full and if it is not ask yourself why.
(Was there any leaks underneath?). Or maybe it burns oil? ( You should start the vehicle and see if it smokes)

blue smoke usually means burning oil

A little bit of white just on startup could easily just be a little bit of condensation in the exhaust in that case it wouldn't be too much to worry about

If it's heavy white smoke just walk away because chances are it's a blown head gasket and you don't want to find out if it is or not



never be afraid to ask questions about the vehicle to the owner it is up to them if they want to be truthful or not but chances are they will be .

Another thing with the oil while checking it make sure it is not milky or gray

Milky could mean coolant has leaked inside the engine.. ( a blown head gasket)

And grayish oil can mean worn out parts in the engine

Also check under the oil fill cap if it has a milky residue on it it could possibly mean blown head gasket not always but unless you're absolutely sure I wouldn't take the chance.

so after you're done checking the oil you should check other fluids that you are supposed to check while the engine is cold

Like power steering fluid and radiator fluid just to name a few .

Open the radiator fill cap and look down in the radiator and see if you can see any coolant if you can you will either see orange or green or a nasty brownish mixture of both colors

Ask yourself can I see any coolant in the radiator?

If not is there a leak? If no is the oil milky? If it's milky walk away
( keep in mind there can always be a super small leak that doesn't make big puddles underneath) so as long as the oil isn't milky you should be all right and it's probably just a small radiator leak that drips out over time)

After you're done checking all the fluids cold that you're supposed to. And everything checks out

Start the vehicle up watch the gauges do they do what they're supposed to on startup?

Now get outside the vehicle and listen to the exhaust and to the motor is there anything odd sounding?

If not then continue on with this process.
At this point you are going to want to test drive it.
Shift it from park to drive

Is the break pedal super soft or super hard?
If so walk away it may be the break system is junk .
If not then start to test drive it. As you are driving check if it is getting through the gears properly and check the gauges as you drive.
Make sure it doesn't overheat
But not only make sure it doesn't overheat make sure the temp gauge actually works ( personal experience)
make sure you put it into reverse at some point in your test drive and make sure actually has reverse that work.

Also listen to the motor as you drive it for sounds
also does it bog down when you drive it (does it sound like it wants to die while driving it?).

Feel free to add more to this list if you want while checking out a used vehicle

If all things check out you might just have yourself a decent vehicle but with any used vehicle there's going to be some type of repair involved.