Price

Check out one of the online auto "blue-books" or price guides to see what used cars are selling for. The accuracy of these may be suspect, but they do give you a good idea of the relative values, so you can compare various models.

Repair costs

Any library will have the latest Consumer Reports auto edition. They have ratings for all the major systems and parts of different models, and usually an average annual repair cost for them as well.

Mileage

You can always ask the owner about the mileage he or she gets, and decide if they are honest or not. Alternately, there are websites like fueleconomy.gov where you can find fuel economy figures for used cars. If you drive 20,000 miles per year, the difference between 20 miles-per-gallon versus 34 MPG is an extra 412 gallons per year, or $1,240 at $3 per gallon.

Insurance

Some cars cost more to insure. Ask your insurance agent about the cars you are considering, to see if there is a big difference in costs.

Resale Value

If you intend to drive the car for just a few years, you have to consider what you will lose in value. Two cars may cost $8,000 each used, but one may be worth $6,000 a couple years later while the other is only worth $4,000. You can research resale value online, or study a used-car price guide to see which models have retained the most value over the years.

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