Buying any used car is a tricky game, every other car dealer could take you for a ride if he gets a hint that you don't know jack shit about the vehicle. I took nearly 4-5 months to narrow down on my buy after checking out almost 8- 10 cars, and the process was indeed a learning curve for me in all aspects. Having bought a decent car for a decent price, I would love to share my experience with all so that next time you are out in the market to find a used car you are equipped with some tips and tricks that can help you pick the best out of the lot.
The Sanity Check
The first and foremost thing while looking for a used car is to make sure that the car doesn't have an accident history. Even though your dealer or seller may make you believe it is a clear car, there are some sanity checks you can do yourself to be sure of the same.
The glass check - This is the easiest way to see if the vehicle had any major accidents in the past. Most cars will have the year of the glass printed on their glass parts. And if the year matches in all the glasses, voila, you have a clean car! Again the year on glass should match the year of the car manufactured though. See example of the pictures attached.
In my case, my car was a 2006 make hence 06 has been mentioned in all 7 glasses. But one of the small panes had a different year and once enquired the owner said since once he locked the car with the key inside he had to break open one of the glasses to open the car. Refer below to see which one was broken to do so. Usually experts break this small one in such cases since its easy to find a replacement for the small pane.
Light check - the second easy way to find out if your vehicle has any accident history is to check the lights. Open the hood, see if the stickers / brand names in the lights match. Stanley is the original headlight brand used in Mitsubishi Lancers. If the stickers match, you have a clean car. See picture for examples of the same.
Body check - This is more based on your intellect. Do a thorough body check for dents, colour shade changes, scratches etc. A best way to deal this is to go check out the vehicle during day time, sun light is the best method to find any such problems. Small scratches and dents are ok to have since you can easily get them rectified from any other body shop for minimal amount. My car had a major scratch in its bumper when I purchased it. I fixed the same for under INR 2000. See picture below for reference.
Under the Hood
Under the hood is a little complicated, but some observations and little bit of common sense can help you find the right car.
The ODO - For Lancers in particular, the figure in ODO says a lot about the vehicle. Since the lancers have been discontinued for the past 5+ years now, finding a vehicle driven for less than 1 Lakh kms will be very difficult. Personally I couldn't find any in Kerala market. Even if you find one, be very careful about it. Lancer has a major service at 1 lakh kms, a lot of stuff under the hood needs to be changed or overhauled during this service. So if you find a Lancer which is driven for less than 1 lakh kms, be prepared to pay for the 1 lakh service which is surely gonna cost you a 5 digit figure. If the one you find is above 1 lakh in its ODO make sure you ask for the service history. The service history will tell you if parts such as engine belt, suspension etc has been changed for the 1 lakh service. If not, you will end up crying sooner or later after your buy. To give you a small idea, each suspension alone will cost you 8k+!
The suspensions - This is a tricky part of any car. Be very careful when you are going for a used car. Now, finding a faulty suspension is again pure intellect. If you have driven enough cars before, you know how the suspension will function through various surfaces. Use the same knowledge here too, take the vehicle for a test drive, take an uneven road. Go at a medium speed and see how each suspension responds to the potholes or unevenness. If you feel any uneasiness or hear any off sounds, I suggest to get a mechanic to do a better inspection before finalising the deal. In my case, all suspensions were newly changed and there was proper service records which added to the credibility, but a small odd sound was there from the rear right side, took it to a mechanic and he asked me to change the wheel bearing. Entire thing cost me INR 2000 including labour. That was thus taken care of.
Engine basics - None of us are pros in checking how good the engine et all is. An easy way to see if there has been any tampering is to check if the sealants around engine. This will give us some idea if it has been opened or not. Also there is a covering on the bonnet. See how is it maintained. Some of them might be in bad shape, this will tell you if the engine had any heating issues or any other problems. See the pictures attached for better understanding.
Battery - Try and see how new / old the battery is. If it's a new one, make sure you get the warranty card from the owner as well if you narrowed down on your purchase.
Air Conditioning - This is the most important part I would say. For a good Lancer, the AC should work pretty well on a moderately hot day with setting put at point two. While you take the vehicle for a test drive, make sure you thoroughly test the AC cooling. Try all levels, see if the cooling is coming from all vents, see if the cooling is reaching for the rear passengers as well. Having an AC problem could again put a hole in your pocket. So if everything else looks good for the vehicle you choose but the AC is faulty, I would advise you to avoid the vehicle. I guess that gives you an idea on how important that component is.
End note
I hope this write-up has given you a fairly good insight into how to go about with your Lancer buy. If you think I have missed out on some crucial points, do let me know, I would be happy to add that here. I wish you the best on your quest to find the car of your dreams. It took me a good amount of time to find mine, but by the end of it, it was totally worth it.