With all the upgrades going on in the SxS world, you might be better off picking up a used rig. You might find a nice car with a roll cage, lights stereo and more installed and ready to go. But you might find a SxS that has been hammered, with no maintenance. When you are ready to buy, you need to pay close attention to rebates in your local market, along with out the door pricing, so you can determine if buying used will stretch your dollar the most.

It’s very difficult to figure out what a good deal is, there’s always a lot less interest based on the season of the year, but hopefully these tips help you if you are looking to buy a SxS that has already been upgraded. There’s always a group of people that have to have the latest and greatest, so they are selling and upgrading, which is an opportunity to snag a killer deal.

A used YXZ1000 is a whole lot of fun for $11k! Each vehicle has a price that would make it a great deal, just make sure you know it’s been taken care of before you buy.

Transcription:

What’s happened everybody Nick Olson chupacabra off-road and today we’re talking about buying a you’l side-by-side got some tips and pointers things I’ve learned over the years it’s the things to think about if you’re purchasing used there’s a lot of vehicles out there where guys have already spent a lot of money on their accessories so now might be a better route for you you could end up saving a lot of money if you find a unit that hasn’t been hammered or ridden too hard so here’s some of my top suggestions on things you should consider before you go buy a you side-by-side so let’s talk about where you should be looking to find the best deals my personal experience starting off with my favorite website of all time is race desert calm there’s a lot of cool off-road vehicles on that website in the classified section and the UTV section is pretty robust there’s a lot of really nice style vehicles on there and then furthermore obviously the biggest thing that people have really taken over as Facebook marketplace now for years and years of course is always Craigslist always harder to deal with Craigslist people they’re anonymous you never know what they are but now with Facebook marketplace you kind of see the guy’s profile I get a little bit more information about feeling the person that you’ll be potentially buying from the search engines gotten so good on Facebook that it works really well I do think Craigslist is a place to look a lot of dealers are still advertising heavy on Craigslist and if you are looking to finance a use unit and potentially pick up an extended warranty that still might be your best option definitely check out a lot of those dealers a lot of dealers love taken in use side by sides on trades because they know they’re gonna get a lot of attention draw somebody in and they might try to slip on a new unit so check out all three of those and that’s where I think you’re gonna have the best success that’s finding what could be your next time.bye sign alright so starting off here’s some questions I want to ask the seller either before you went to go look at it or where you go to check it out so first off has it been in a crash you know there could be something where it’s a mild tip over a couple scratch plastics not that big of a deal there could have been something that’s more major depending on the crash they could result in having to have the frame replace potentially be totaled have a salvage title it’s really important and a lot of these things they do get tipped over you guys probably following UTV fails on Instagram I mean it happens so definitely ask if there’s been a tip over at all or any type of crash I always like to ask where it’s been driven is that a vehicle that’s been mainly in the sand dunes that’s good and bad good because it’s plain that can have a lot of scratches or a lot of interference with rocks and brush but it also is harder on the drive line particularly if you’re running paddles and you’re not getting any wheel spin so that always gives you kind of a good feel of what the vehicles conditions gonna be like I like to ask what air filters do people use coming from the dirt bike world especially once the dirt bike world went from two-stroke or four-stroke we really had to learn how to be on top of our air filters if you didn’t if you didn’t change the mount if it was all Tim and a lot of expensive motor damage so it’s really important that you keep your motor breathing fresh air I run the higher quality donaldson air filters that Polaris makes as an accessory I think the standard OEM paper filters work well can-am Polaris and what not now there’s definitely been some debate in the community about paper filters versus oil filters like you can and from what I heard and research I’m a big fan of paper I’d prefer to see if I was buying something news that the owner use only paper filters particularly OEM or something a little higher quality like the Donalds and stuff that I run a couple of things ask is do they use a wheel bearing grease sir do they desert the fittings like on the sway bar here of my razor turbo and what type of oils and lubricants do they use you can just kind of feel somebody out and see if they’re thinking carefully about these type of things I just purchased my first wheel bearing grease er sold many vehicles without ever using one just you know trying to step my game up and get better with that maintenance and those other things that people are thinking about or using or doing it just kind of shows you what type of owner it is and how much care was safe into the unit beyond just maybe checking the bell changing the fluids and then change in the air filter alright guy step two there’s some visual checks or probably even smarter get some photos of these detail shots before you even go take time out of your day to go check it out this is gonna give you a really good reference on how you the vehicle has been and if it’s worth your time to even drive out and look at it let alone make a serious offer on it so starting off definitely make sure you’re looking under the transmission at the rear skid plate now me loading a lot of forest heaters over the years you’re kind of always hitting those things on rocks off-roading in general it just happens particularly when I was running tire smaller than thirty tillage and now that I’ve run taller tires now I’m running 33 s I hardly ever drag the bottom or hitting on rocks all different types of situations it’s just a wear item it’s the first thing when the vehicles gonna hit I can tell you firsthand if you look at our racecar the bottom the back of the car when you’re hitting stuff hard really going fast that’s where you’re gonna hit the ground whether it’s whoops rocks high speed low speed in general so make sure you ask for some detail shots before you go check it out if you don’t see them in the product listing which you’re probably not another thing while you’re looking at the back of the vehicle make sure you check out the rear training arms now I’ve owned mainly Polaris’s that paint comes off without even trying I’ve since invested into some mud flaps but they’re really designed for me in the desert to keep rocks from getting inside of my rear wheels potentially scratching breaking the rear wheel that’s definitely a tip for you guys a tonne X threes especially those OAM wheels they’re really soft but it’s not gonna ride with my buddies x3 and we need to hit anything hard but we ended up flatting the tire because we got a rock inside of the rear wheel so that’s something when you’re going fast for taking I heard the Danzer a rocking kick up from the four-wheel drive giving your rear wheel effect your back brake but then look at all that type of stuff as you’re paying attention to the rear trailing arms Canon Polaris the paint just comes right off really easily make sure if a guy has touched up and we powder-coated them see how they look and that’s something that you might not been deal with this much if you look at a side by side that’s mainly been in the dunes so this tip might be the most important and that is to look at the accessories check out the wiring definitely pop the hood and see how good the wiring job is or isn’t with the accessories most of these side by side use you’re going to see some type of additional lighting maybe seat heaters more switches more accessories of course so see how good the guy was hopefully all the wires have been hidden you definitely don’t want to look we’re guys kind of thrown stuff together and zip tying up the roll cage particularly got an aftermarket roll cage like guys gonna spend the money you know on a nice roll cage take the time to have it wired correctly myself I’ve done some basic wiring with the Polaris it’s pretty easy you got the bus bar up front so you can easily run your lights and drill them a few holes or even the OEM cage you kind of go right through them without too much hassle so I have paid to have vehicles wired have my buddy and you helped me wire guys like hammer just really detail and that’s type of guy you always want to buy a unit from just because you know there’s a less chance of having a rat’s nest having something that can start a potential fire I mean that there’s guys and I think you’re really really Genki with some of their wiring stuff they’re using doorbell wire and whatnot so double-check those items all these newer side-by-sides pop the hood on the Polaris make sure on the next three the especially the RAM that you see that they’re fused they’ve got quality wire they’re protected and there’s nothing that can lead to any issues the tires that’s definitely good wear indicator you get a good idea what the percentage of is left on those and double-check and make sure there aren’t any plugs in the tires and when you take it on a test drive make sure you get it up to 30 or 40 miles an hour not just to make sure you can see what the motor feels like of course but from there you tend to feel a little more vibration now my vehicle’s got some 33 inch tires on v-loc wheels we haven’t had imbalance but when you get on a highway and particularly you get going faster or 60 miles an hour you can feel more vibration so it’s important that you’re feeling vibration and hopefully you can feel is that coming from the wheels being out of balance or is it from the driveline what are you feeling but you’re not gonna feel that unless you at least get above 40 miles an hour so hopefully I get the person’s mable ready to go and check it out and we’ll let you open it up you can see what she sounds like see what the belt feels like and most important to see if there’s a potentially a bigger problem hopefully not with the driveline vibration and finally since we brought up fluids make sure you pull the dipstick the fluid should be at the right level and of course the oil should be a light brown always like to ask one time the service is done hopefully anybody selling one of these is gonna do a nice fresh service on it before they go to post it and get rid of it all right guys let’s talk about a few red flags that would definitely be concerning starting off when you go to check out the vehicle is the guy’s garage messy and disorganized you know I’ve been there myself but I always try to make sure I’m somewhat clean and organized I’ve gotten more organized over the years that’s just kind of an indicator of how much TLC he’s putting into this vehicle versus guys are just going out and romping it all the time the tip over thing for me guys is kind of a deal-breaker I think there’s just so many out there unless it was just a really mild tip over they were really honest about it and it wasn’t anything that required you know a frame change or even changing out a arms that type of stuff because even if a guy did rip the corner off of a vehicle chances are he might have tweaked a sway bar that he may or may not have replaced or done some other damage that type of thing so that’s that’s a little concerning for me I don’t know if I would I would commit to something unless it was a really really cheap deal and finally one thing it’s a pet peeve of mine as guys that use wheel spacers I don’t know why people do sometimes they keep running a big tire like on a 64 inch x3 and they’re trying that can fill in the stock trailing arms I’m really not a fan of the wheel bearings again I think you should be picky about that if they have used wheel spacers I might avoid the vehicle altogether one quick thing to consider this vehicles got about 1,200 miles on it I’m a little over 60 hours the average miles per hour you break it down is under 20 miles an hour so you know I’ve run this stuff and more high speed environments the versatile all you guys across the country undergoing doing some slow or rock crawling stuff you know just kind of helps you fill it in if you’re thinking about something with a little bit higher mileage from me high mileage I think is different across the country like in Arizona we’re pretty street-legal so there’s guys that have easily put three four thousand five thousand miles plus on them and more the use market tends to be that versus like when I lived in Southern California you know it’s just harder to put that money because every time you take it out you’ve got a trailer it so in general you’re probably gonna see in Southern California other parts of the country vehicles with lower miles just because that’s how it is so the mile doesn’t really tell everything a lot of those highway miles these Arizona guys could be running could be you know low-stress miles so just something to think about as it pertains to what I would consider high mileage I would try to stay under 1,500 myself just depends on your budget what you’re looking for I think there’s a lot of people that since this side by side markets exploding they had the friends have one they get into it they think it’s cool they try it a couple times they don’t like eating dust you know this isn’t acquired taste sport and you know they’re like dust it’s too hot you know someone and so forth and they want to get out of it or there’s maybe the grandpa unit which is the Holy Grail you know a guy who takes it slow it doesn’t beat on of these meticulous about as maintenance but even some of those grant policy in Arizona they’re retired they put on some some serious hardcore miles so you got to feel that each guy and each odor but you know mileage is something obviously consider in terms of relating on the price and you definitely see the prices come down quite a bit of guys have over 2,000 miles on them from what I’ve seen all right so thanks for watching hope you guys got some value out of this video hopefully gives you a couple things to think about when you’re looking on the use market like I say a lot of good deals out there a lot of different versions of different models it’s getting really confusing a Canon X 3x RS has multiple different models now similar with Polaris it’s really hard to pinpoint what the value is I would look for higher quality name-brand accessories those type of things or stuff that’s really expensive like a baja designs light Madigan cage I get a lot of compliments on these type of products people love those they tend to pay more for them and I would too if I was looking for a used vehicle you know I don’t want a lot of these high-dollar accessories that’s where you can really save your money you know high quality tires things that are important to me like all the items I just mentioned maybe you’re a stereo guy who’s got a you know stage by Rockford Fosgate those aren’t cheap and if it’s already installed and you like it you know that might be what you want so this gives you guys some some things that think about so please like it subscribe if you guys like the content thanks for watching they’ve got a lot more coming your way.