What advice would you give someone looking to buy a used car? I'm going away in September so I only want something really cheap to buzz around in for the summer. I don't really care about looks or performance. My only concern is that it doesn't start to fall apart. Most of the used car dealers around here don't have anything in my price range, so my main sources will be ads in the local newspapers. I don't want to spend more than $1500 (less than $1000 if possible) so I'll be looking at older cars like a 1990 Honda Accord, 1990 Toyota Corolla, 1991 Caprice, etc... I have never done this before. Are there any critical questions I should be asking other than: - how many miles/km? - has there been any work done and/or new parts? - how long have you owned this car? - why are you selling now?
1) Don't waste money on Carfax. 2) There are 4 major auction auctions around town where you can get great deal on repos (I got a 00 Sunfire Convertible there for $4,500 (worth $12,500). Email me through the BBS if you want their phone #s. There is a $50 registration fee. 3) Ask for service records. When you are taking a chance on an older/high mileage vehicle, you want to make sure it has been maintained (people who maintain their vehicle's religiously always keep records). 4) Check out autotrader.com. You can find alot of good deals there. Ebaymotors.com is a good place too. 5) If you buy a vehicle from a dealer, get at least a 30 day warranty and have a mechanic check it out before you buy it. 6) Make sure and ask if the vehicle has been wrecked or in a flood. If people do not disclose this to you, its a violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices act and you can sue them for 3x the purchase price if they lie to you.
I second that. My dad got a car from an auction type thing like Crazy Joe is talking about. Got to have a mechanic check it out and if he didn't agree to buy it, they took it back. He got a 1 year old Lincoln for lower than blue book trade in value.
I have an 89 Camry that still runs very well that I want to sell. It sounds exactly like the kind of car you want to buy. Too bad I'm not in Houston.
If you can get to one I would try Carmax www.carmax.com I have bought two cars from them. Good prices and they are usually under Mfg. warranty.
Carmax seems to be a US only site. I'm not really looking for a site or anything. The local papers have tons of listings. I was more interested what I should be looking for and/or the types of questions I should be asking.
Newfoundland! Wow. Anyways, Consumer Report has some good advices for used car buying: http://www.consumerreports.org/main...5&FOLDER<>folder_id=25031&bmUID=1053672048602
If anyone cares.. There's a guy that lives 2 blocks from my house who's selling his 1998 Volvo S60. 90,000 miles. He's the second owner. COincidentally, he's from Houston and is selling the car cuz he's getting a new one and moving to Bellaire. He just got his law degree from here. My bro and I were test driving his car to see if we were interested (we weren't). Nice car tough. He's a HUGE Rockets fan, too. I kinda felt a little, umm, shy to tell him bout this place, but oh well. Johnson is his name (I think). Graduated from Kincaid in '95 or '96. I can get more info if anyone's interested, which I assume is nobody.
ebay - buy within your driving distance so you can check the car out before putting a dime down (most have a 3 day deposit rule) - worst case is to walk away with negative feedback but it will hurt the seller more than it will hurt the buyer - expecially if they are trying to unload a lemon. I picked up a sweet low miles Lexus (that was recently Lexus certified) with the remaining factory warrenty for $1k less than loan value.
I got my last 2 cars from carmax. Sometimes they have brand new cars with just a few hundred miles on them. Those are the best deals. We got a brand new Trooper a couple of years ago for just under 20k.
Took a 1990 Corolla out for a test drive today. Told her I would probably buy it but wanted to get it looked at by a mechanic first. I'm having second thoughts now, though. It was kinda rusty. She wants $900 Can. for it. Also just found out that my mother knows someone at work selling a 1995 Dodge Spirit (high mileage.. not sure HOW high yet) for $1000 Can. His brother works at a Toyota dealership so they get cars via trade-in, etc.. and fix them up. Going to look at it on Monday. It's a bit of a bonus buying from someone who fixes up cars because if something goes wrong, I can get him to repair it. He's also selling a 1996 Chevy Cavalier for $2500, which is about $1000 out of my preferred price range.
Easy, you near Austin? might be in the market for a car come october if you think you wont sell it before then.... lemme know. Brian
