Beware of the seller
Lies make the world go round. Ask any politician, lawyer or for that matter used car salesmen. If they don't lie, they have heart disease and die early. In fact, of the many kinds of people going to hell, these three hold the top five spots. Unfortunately you have to deal with all of them at some point of time.
Many consider used car salesmen synonymous to an itchy irritating rash gutter snakes develop on their bellies from always laying in the lowest, dirtiest gutters. That's just wrongful stereotyping. There are good used car salesmen but they only exist in Greek mythologies where cars were not invented. So their only crime is lying? Well, isn't that the case with that guy who told that girl to eat a forbidden apple despite it being truly forbidden? Lies cause trouble. So how do you spot the lies?
First of all, everything you hear a used car salesman say is probably a lie. If they tell you they have a blue car and it looks blue, it probably isn't. Once you get into that frame of mind, it's easy to avoid their smooth oratory skills.
Next, good used car salesmen have very smooth oratory skills as mentioned previously. They will 'sir' and 'madam' you till you feel like you are Queen Elizabeth, even if you're a guy. And you won't mind. Remember, you are a moderately well off middle class person looking for a used car, not a queen. You are not poor, because poor people in Bangladesh cannot even think of owning cars before the taxes are raised again.
Next, you look at the car. If it's a blue car as stated, it's probably not. They will tell you in their ads that a car is 100 per cent fresh. Some of them will show their honesty by saying it is 83 per cent fresh. That's like saying the earth is 83 per cent mango or that a marriage is 50 per cent ninja turtles. It just doesn't make sense. Thumb rule is, if there's a percentage attached, divide it by two and you get to a closer estimate. Anything that is not 100 per cent fresh is less than 50 per cent and that means it's held together by chewing gum and some paint. But that's okay because now you know that nothing can be believed.
If the car looks okay, finally go on a drive. Everything will work. Everything will be smooth. Here's how you prepare not to get severely hurt in the coming future. Assume any used car being sold has to have something wrong. If it's old, it's obvious most things have stopped working two government changes ago. If it's a relatively new car, be prepared to pay 15-20 thousand in the first couple of months to make things right. Almost no one sells a car unless they are thoroughly irritated by a niggling fault. Don't get me wrong, some fashion conscious people do sell a car cause they just want something newer. It's rare. And then some people sell cars that are fully functioning but have the most severe problem of them all, that of being boring. Like a new Corolla.
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