Why this site exists

I'm Jon. I'm an electrician, carpenter, and mechanic by trade, and an electrical engineer by training. I've been buying, fixing, and selling used cars for years — my own, and plenty for other people.

Every time a friend asked “should I buy this one?”, the answer was the same research routine: what fails on this model, what to check, what a bad one actually costs you. I got tired of doing it from scratch each time. So I started writing it down.

BeforeYouBuyAuto is that research, packaged as a short, specific buyer's guide for one model generation at a time. Every fault known to hit that car. What it looks like. How to check for it. What it costs to fix. Written so a non-mechanic can walk onto a dealer's forecourt with the guide open on their phone and not get caught out.

The guides started on Etsy. This site is the new home for the catalogue — and the place where future model guides will land first.

Questions? support@beforeyoubuyauto.com