What To Do When You Buy A Car With A Completely Unknown History

Sometimes you need a car badly enough and you may make hasty decisions. If the car runs well, has lower mileage than what you are looking for, and is the right price, you may see it as a good buy. The possible issues may only set in only after you become the official owner of the vehicle. There can be big problems when you purchase a vehicle that has no service records at all that you can pull immediately. If you are unable to access the records of your new-to-you car, there are a few things that you can do to cover yourself and make sure that you are safe, such as:

Get a complete tune-up

Not knowing the last time that the car had a tune-up can be a serious issue if you plan to begin driving your car immediately. Take the car in for a tune-up after you have signed the bill of sale. A good mechanic will go through the system to detect any abnormalities and can present them to you after the tune-up is completed. After the tune up ask for the printed record of the service and a report of anything that the mechanic found that needs to be repaired with the tune-up. 

A wheel alignment

Even the best vehicles can be knocked out of alignment. It is especially possible, given that there were unknown drivers before you, that other drivers could have been speeders or reckless with the vehicle. Getting a wheel alignment will help ensure your safety while you are on the road. It will also take away any guesswork if you feel that the vehicle tends to drive to one side and must be overcorrected via the steering wheel. 

Parking ticket check

One of the reasons why it is good to know the history of the vehicle is figuring out if the vehicle may have issues when you register them at the DMV. Parking tickets can be a pain and they are even more painful to your wallet when you didn't accuse them. Typically, parking tickets must be paid before the vehicle can be properly registered by the new owner. if you purchased the car on a whim, you should check with the DMV to determine if there are parking tickets that are registered to the vehicle's vehicle identification number. Getting a shock of several hundred dollars when registering a new vehicle is not something that you may want to deal with. Check with the DMV for tickets as soon as you own the car so that you are aware if there is money owed prior to running out of time to register the vehicle. 

Contact a company like D Wells Automotive Service for more information and assistance.