Ultimate Guide: Buying a Used Car 2021

Buying a Used Car. Private or Authorized Dealer. The Choice and Requirements to Make When Buying a Used Car. Buying Guide 2021.

Are you planning to change your old car without spending a fortune? Are you an insecure new driver and don't feel like making a major investment to buy a brand new car? The answer seems simple: buy a used car!

However, questions arise spontaneously and multiply in your mind: “where to start?” “what documents do I need to avoid being scammed?” “how to choose a used car?”.

Don't panic! This guide will provide you with the main information you need to proceed with the purchase of a used car with complete peace of mind. If you want to know the answer to these questions, continue reading the article.

Who to contact to buy a used car: a private individual or an authorized dealer?

The first step to take when buying a used car is choosing a seller. This is a complex decision, which raises the question: is it more convenient to go to a private individual or a professional seller?

Although the idea of ​​dealing directly with a private individual may seem more economically advantageous, resorting to a professional is, in fact, far preferable for one fundamental reason: the possibility of enjoying a legal guarantee of conformity. According to the provisions of Consumer Code (art. 128 et seq.) , in fact, places the obligation on the professional seller alone to provide a minimum 12-month guarantee, by virtue of which, in the event that the purchased vehicle should present defects of conformity or malfunctions, you will have the right to the repair or replacement of the defective car, or, alternatively, to the granting of a reduction in the price of the vehicle or to the termination of the contract.

In light of what has just been highlighted, it therefore appears evident that purchasing a used car from a professional constitutes, in terms of protection of your purchase, the most advantageous choice.

How to choose the right used car?

Once you have selected the dealer you intend to contact, you can: evaluate the models offered to you carefully and analyze their features, price, maintenance status in search of any signs of repairs; ask to see the registration document and service receipts to verify the accuracy of the information provided by the seller.

An important fact to remember if you are a new driver interested in purchasing a used car: according to Article 117 of the Highway Code , " holders of a category B driving license are not permitted to drive motor vehicles with a specific power, in relation to the tare, greater than 55 kW/t, for the first year after issue ". Before proceeding with the purchase, in addition to carrying out the checks suggested above, you must therefore also verify that the used car you have selected falls within the limit just identified.

What documents are required to purchase a used car?

Once we have chosen the dealer to contact and selected the car of our dreams, we can proceed with the purchase. A strictly bureaucratic phase begins, aimed at acquiring all the documentation necessary to complete the purchase of our car.

The first thing to do is to request a PRA Certificate: this is a document freely accessible to any citizen certifying the personal data of the owner of a vehicle, the technical data and any encumbrances of the same resulting in the Public Automobile Registry ( request and quickly obtain the PRA Certificate of your interest here) . To obtain the Certificate, it is sufficient to know the license plate number of the car of interest, a piece of information that can be acquired once the used car that we intend to purchase has been chosen: once the Certificate has been obtained, you will have all the data necessary to verify the correctness of the information concerning the owner of the car and the possible existence of mortgages or encumbrances that prevent the circulation of the same and to proceed, therefore, with the purchase.

To obtain even more detailed information on the vehicle data, the registrations, the personal data of all the possible owners of the vehicle (names, addresses) and the annotations from the date of registration to the present time and, above all, to have a certificate having legal value as proof, you can also request a Chronological Certificate ( request the Chronological Certificate).

In addition to the documentation just listed, you can read our guide to reading the pra inspections , it seems useful to remember that, before proceeding with the purchase of a used car, it is important to verify that the chassis number actually corresponds to the number indicated on the registration document and on the ownership certificate.

Once the purchase has been made, how does the transfer of ownership take place?

In the event that you purchase your used car from a professional dealer, all bureaucratic requirements and requirements will be resolved directly by the latter. A reason, to be added to the previous ones, for which contacting a professional is usually much more convenient than interfacing with a private individual.

However, if you purchased the used car from a private dealer, once you have carried out all the checks mentioned above, you will have to carry out a series of activities to formalize the transfer of ownership of your used car.

Once the contract has been signed, you will first need to authenticate the seller's signature on the deed of sale, a procedure that the seller himself is responsible for exclusively. Within sixty days of the authentication, you will then have to register the transfer of ownership and request the Single Circulation and Ownership Document (DU), which from 1 January 2020 officially replaces the old vehicle registration document and the digital ownership certificate.

You can submit the request for transfer of ownership at a Telematic Motorist Desk, present at the territorial offices of the ACI (PRA), at those of the Civil Motorization (UMC) as well as at the delegations of the Automobile Club and the automotive consultancy firms (car practice agencies) authorized to provide the service.

Subsequently, you will need to submit the Unified Application, downloadable from the ACI website; the paper ownership certificate (CdP) or Digital Ownership Certificate (CDPD); the bill of sale; a photocopy of the buyer's valid identity document/recognition; a photocopy of the buyer's Tax Code; a copy of the valid residence permit (only if you are a non-EU citizen residing in Italy).

In addition to the documents listed above, you can proceed with filling out the documentation that will be provided to you directly at the selected office, as well as paying the costs required by law (if you contact the STA of the provincial office of the Civil Motorization (UMC), the payments of the amounts due must, however, be made via PagoPA from the ACI website). To obtain further information on the procedure and specific costs, you can directly consult the documentation on the ACI website.

In conclusion, buying a used car requires the adoption of a series of precautions and the fulfillment of various bureaucratic requirements that have been briefly discussed in this way. If you liked this article, share it, if you want to contribute to the discussion, leave a comment.