Buying A Car In Pennsylvania: What To Know
Photo by Heidi Kaden on Unsplash
Shopping for a new or used car can be an exciting journey, but it isn’t always fun. Buying a car in Pennsylvania may be a little bit more tricky than in other states, so here is a rundown of buying a car in Pennsylvania: what to know.
Finding and buying from a dealership
Most people have a dealership they’re loyal to and even a salesperson they’re loyal to. If you don’t, do a little shopping around before you deadlock yourself into a place or a person because these could become long-lasting relationships. It’s not uncommon to be on a first-name basis with your favorite salesperson for years even decades. They will even keep you in mind and give you a call if something comes in that they think you will like.
Buying a car from a private owner means you have to deal with all the titling and deal with the PennDOT yourself, but going to a dealership means the only thing you really have to do is bring a picture ID and pick out the car you like the most.
If you’re a first-time buyer at the dealership, make sure that no matter what, before you sign any papers when buying a car in Pennsylvania, the car is exactly what you want. You should also at least get the latest CarFax or AutoCheck report on the car. And although the sales staff is sure to take care of all your paperwork correctly, you want to make sure you get a copy of every piece of paperwork you sign.
You have to have insurance on any car before it can be registered in the state of Pennsylvania. But this is also something the sales staff can help you with to a point. A lot of buyers already have a company they go with, the company just has to be alerted to what VIN# you want to put insurance on. The salesperson can call the company and get that taken care of for you as well. This just helps them get the car registered without any problems.
OTHER CAR SHOPPING APPS ARE OUTDATED
You won’t realize how outdated other car searching apps are until you try the CoPilot car shopping app. CoPilot does the hard work for you by searching all of the listings in your area and intelligently creating a personalized list of the best buys in the area that match what you’re looking for.
Buying a car used from a private owner in Pennsylvania
Buying a car in Pennsylvania from a private owner can be a bit trickier. One you have to understand that selling cars is not what that person does for a living so there’s no incentive for them to be truthful or forthcoming with you, sad but it’s true. So here is a little help on buying a car in Pennsylvania: what to know.
The first thing you want to do is get a CarFax or an AutoCheck report. You can get one of these from the Internet if the owner hasn’t already. This will tell you everything you need to know about the car from how many owners it has had to how many accidents it has been in.
It will also tell you how many miles should be on the odometer, where the car originates from, where it has been registered in the U.S., and what kind of car it was in the past: private, fleet, salvage, flood, fire, etc.
Although CarFax and AutoCheck reports are usually pretty accurate, the car you are thinking about buying should be visually inspected and test-driven by you. Even if you don’t think you know very much about cars, you probably know more than you think.
THE BEST USED LUXURY CARS ON THE MARKET
Buying a used or CPO luxury car is one of the smartest buys you can make - you can get a lot of car for not much money. You can pick up a three-year-old luxury car for about half of what you’d pay new. Check out this list of the best used luxury cars on the market to find the best deals.
Visual Inspection: Take a walk around the car and just see if anything seems out of place. Next, check the interior, smell for any funky smells, check for any type of water damage, check the storage compartments and spaces for any anomalies, look for headliner damage, and anything else that looks out of place.
Mechanical and Test Drive: This part is very important. The owner should have no problem with letting you start the car up and taking it for a test drive. When you do this, you want to make sure that the car sounds smooth and drives smooth. You also want to make sure the vehicle fits you well. Ask yourself, “can you see yourself driving in this every day comfortably”?
You also want to ask yourself, does this car accelerate the way you think it should, does it brake, handle, ride the way you think it should? If it doesn’t, the car might have some major mechanical problems you don’t want to deal with.
Title and Registration: First and foremost, you want to make sure the owner of the car has a valid title where the VIN# on the title matches the VIN# on the car. If the numbers don’t match, walk away, it’s probably stolen.
IS GAP INSURANCE WORTH IT?
Gap insurance can prevent you from making payments on an already-totalled car, but is gap insurance worth it? We break down what gap insurance is, if it’s worth it, and more - simply and with plenty of examples.
Notary Public or Tag Service Office: If everything is okay with the title, before the seller hands it over, make sure they fill out all the sections on the back correctly. You will have to fill out the front side when you receive it. You may as well do this at a notary public or at a tag service office with the seller because at one point or another the vehicle title has to have both names printed out onto the title in front of one of these establishments. A $55 transfer fee will have to be paid at that time.
Insurance: When it’s time to obtain registration and plates for the car, you can only do this once you have properly insured it. Talk to your insurance company and they will let you know exactly what you need to do to at least get the vehicle registered.
DMV or PennDOT: You will need to bring with you a photo ID, the completed title, and proof of insurance. A sales tax of at least 6 percent of the purchase price of the car will be required, a copy of your registration application form MV-4ST will need to be presented, and a $38 registration fee will be due. If you have all these things in order, the plates and registration process will go a lot smoother.
One last thing you have to do is within ten days, you have to have the car inspected by a professional auto technician. Then have the required Safety and Emission Inspection stickers placed on your car.
Get a curated list of the best used cars near you
The CoPilot car shopping app is the easiest way to buy a car. Tell us what you’re looking for and we’ll search the inventories of every dealership in your area to make you a personalized list of the best car listings in your area.
Only looking for newer models? CoPilot Compare is the search engine for nearly-new cars. Only see cars five years or newer with low mileage — CoPilot Compare is the best way to find off-lease, early trade-in, and CPO cars.
The best part? CoPilot is built using the same technology that dealerships use to buy and sell their inventories, so we have more info on each vehicle than competitors. CoPilot doesn’t work with dealerships, so there are no sponsored posts or other shady practices — just the most info on the best cars. Check out our About Us page to see how CoPilot works.
