Buying a used car

get the blue book value of any vehicle you find. my dad runs a small credit union and gets them every month, when you find a car you can shoot me an email through the board and i will give you the value. i think you have to pay for the service on the internet.

remember one thing, a used car salesman may be making any kind of profit margin on the car, you don't know what they bought they car for. just some info i think you should always keep in mind.

i personally had a decent experience with gulf fwy chevy, its part of autonation

 

Clutch, for $15K you could get a new car - Honda Civic or similar if you are willing to forgo most of the options and bargain a bit. A new Honda 2012 is about $16k. You probably could get that down to $13-14k I'd imagine.

Also American cars are a lot better now in quality.

 

I bought my wife a used 2007 Audi A4 with 70k miles for 15k and it gets 30 miles per gallon or better. It's safe, has airbags all around. 2.0 turbo also so it has some pep. I recommend this.

 

Love me some Audi. I've gotten to drive both a 2007(?) A4 (ex GF) and a 2009 S3 and I always enjoyed driving in them. Never had a bad expirience myself and never heard any complaints from friends who owe an Audi themselves.

That's about as much car advice/expertise as I can offer, though.

 

15k would get you a nice car on ebay. You might have to take a road trip to get it though. I've bought cars from many states. Normally you'd want to stay away from nothern states but a car like that would be pretty new.

One thing you might want to consider when shoppiing is many times you can get the upscale brand for the same or even less. My first internet car I was looking for was a V6 Camry. I ended up getting a Lexus ES cheaper. The same thing happened when looking for a Suburban. I ended up with a near new Escalade ESV (Platinum Edition no less which comes with DVDs on every row and heated/cooled seats AND cup holders) certified to 100k miles (bumper-to-bumper not just powertrain). We drove to IA (16 hours) in a winter snowstorm, signed the papers (1 hour) and drove home (16 hours). The family still talks about that trip. To most, that's a major hassle. To me, that is a life story. So you might want to check out Acura, Lexus and Infinity.

 

Note: at that price range for a Japanese car (agree with your choices, btw) you might need to immediately change the timing belts are those cars. You can often mention that in negotiation and subtract it from the asking price. Use timing belts, plus new tires and brakes as a reason to lower the price.

re: timing belts...Depending upon the year and model, many Japanese cars are designed with no clearance between piston and valve (called "interference"), which can cause a disaster if/when the timing belt breaks -- the pistons will slam into the valve requiring a complete head job. Most belts have a 70K warranty.

 

Good read. Thanks for posting.

 

What yr is that Corolla? Just curious, because I dont think the newer Corollas can last that long..

 

I believe they CAN last that long (that's what SHE said), but you and I won't take care as well of them as old peeps will.

It is a green 1994 Toyota Corolla like this here one:


The paint on the hood and the roof has come off it worse than this one:
, but it's still running like a champ.

 

Here is a little sampler:
Well maintained... great gas mileage...timing chain instead of belt and an engine that won't quit but a 100k power train warranty in case.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007..._Cars_Trucks&hash=item2574feb0ff#ht_500wt_948

 

I bought my Accord through elderly couple off Craigslist. It takes time though searching for days and going out to see the vehicles/test driving etc. You can just call and get the VIN number of the vehicle and look up the history report through Carfax and ask owner for maintenance records if any without driving out. Sometimes your insurance agent/company will get you the Carfax report for free just tell them you are buying the vehicle.

 

some tips:

1. for carfax/autocheck, find someone (usually in a car forum) who will do a check for 1-2 bucks, so for both reports on the same car would cost less than 5 dollars.
2. Edmunds is fairly decent to gauge market value. Reviews are very biased though, so the reviews can skew your impressions
3. Dealers are willing to bargain at certain periods of the year. Will even go as far as posting them on eBay. The online sales division is cheaper. Can be a little pricier but you get piece of mind.
4. Do extensive research on hybrids if you want one of them. They are a hit or miss in reliability though the quality should improve as time goes by.

When I bought my car last year, Edmunds was my best friend. Took me 18 months to search because of my cash flow, so it was interesting to see how models progressed. One instance I came in to test drive a Nissan Versa, almost came out with a Nissan Altima. Felt like I was being manipulated with the salesman so I just left with all the paperwork on the floor. While the used Altima was a decent model with an adequate price (I was looking for a steal since I was paying cash), also recertified, it wasn't the car I wanted, and the warranty guy started to play into my doubts even when I said the car was certified. Started to tell me stories about parts failures.

Pretty slimy people.

The next car I saw on eBay (I knew what car I wanted then), it was 3k below Edmunds value. They backed out the price on phone, and said the used cars with lesser trim on the lot were fleet cars that rentals companies abused the crap out of. Again, revealing negotiating tactic, but I bought the car I wanted anyways because of the value. It was pretty much a 1 yr old car with some nice customizations.

 

I had a Corolla til 18 months ago. And thats true, the interior of the car fell apart more than the drivetrain.

But to YOUNG SINGLE GUYS - STAY AWAY from Corollas.

Its POONTANG REPELLANT.

Get a fancier less dependable ride and eat the extra costs.

 

^

You DO know Señor Clutch isn't looking to pick up chicks in this car, don't you? Read his OP again, yo. He's not SpaceCityKid93 needing to wash stuff in sinks.

 

I say get a Honda, very good resale and reliability.
i've had good luck on autotrader.

 

But because they have very good resale, buying a used Honda doesn't give you much of a break from buying a new one. I've seen some people ask as much for a used honda as I could get a new honda after I beat down the salesman.

 

Agree with tinman, Honda is good in that price range.

My brother bought an used Accord four years ago and never had a problem. No rust or technical problems, interior looked as good as new even after the car was like 15 years old. Engine runnin smooth as ever.

Sold it this year to buy a new Audi A4 but he never regretted buying the Accord.

 

I bought a used car recently. A 2011 Toyota Camry. It had 35K miles on it, but its carfax looked pretty clean to me.

Is it worth it to buy the 6-year warranty that was offered with it ($50 deductible, applies for part failure but not "maintenance")? I've read in various places that its not worth it.

 

One final plug for the ole Pontiac Vibe.

Same vehicle as the Toyota Matrix - which means mechanically the same as the Corolla.

Since Pontiac is no more the resale value is typically substantially less than the Matrix counterpart.

You can find a nice one with 30-45,000 miles for 10-12k and invest the leftovers. Reviews are unanimously and overwhelmingly positive.