Research the kind of vehicle you’re interested in before you walk onto
a lot or answer a classified ad. It could save you money later on. Some resources to check out:

Safercar.gov is a comprehensive site from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration that provides safety ratings on every car made since 1990, as well as crash-test results and detailed information on how to buy the safest possible car for child passengers.

Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com) and edmunds.com provide the prices of new and used cars.

Carfax.com will tell you the specific car’s accident records. This costs $20, and you’ll need the vehicle identification number (VIN) of the car you’re interested in.

If you’re buying from a dealer, federal regulations state that the car must have a buyer’s guide inside. This document will tell you whether the car is being sold with a warranty and, if so, how much of the repair costs the dealer would have to pay. (Most warranties do not provide full coverage.) The guide also contains a few valuable cautions:

Get all promises in writing and have the car inspected by an independent mechanic (you should also be prepared to pay the inspection fee).

Once the inspection is done, the mechanic should give you a written report, complete with the vehicle’s make, model and VIN, which describes what repairs are needed and how much they’ll cost. If the car needs some repairs and you still want to buy it, you can use the inspection report as leverage to get a lower price.

Note: If you’re buying a car from an individual owner, you’re not nearly as well protected. The owner doesn’t have to include a buyer’s guide, and the car probably won’t be covered by a warranty. But you can, and should, have the car inspected by a mechanic.

Appliances

Visit neighborhood repair shops and see if they have any refrigerators, stoves, washers or dryers that are unclaimed. Be sure, though, not to buy any items that are more than five years old; even if they work well now, they’ll be difficult to repair later on because parts for that model will be harder to find.

You can also search on ebay.com and amazon.com for reconditioned appliances, but exercise extreme caution — there are no uniform federal regulations governing e-commerce, and problems are very difficult to resolve from a long distance.

Furniture

Some good spots to search include consignment shops, estate sales and furniture-rental companies that want to sell off last year’s models.

Look for solid construction in any piece you’re thinking of buying. Sit on the bed, see if the sofa legs wiggle, open and close dresser drawers. Don’t buy the piece if it’s less than 100 percent sturdy.