How to buy or not a used car

[Leahmom]

Hi Guys

Frabjulous joy...after a year we have purchased a (new to us) car. We had a volvo that has been sitting waiting for an expensive part that might or might not help it pass inspection. So...after our tax refund we took the plunge. Originally our budget was 4000. then went down to 2000. Than went down to 1500. Sigh.. well we didn't want to blow our wad and keeping the money in the bank is a big dose of keep away to the wolf at our door.
But what could we get?
I began looking at used volvo (you can get 400000. out of them with good care the bad is very expensive parts and service) We had a bit of a sweet deal 1500.00 talked to the owner and he had done alot of the work himself. Aha then I used my secret weapon. Yeah I laid out the big bucks 100+ for Lemon Busters. I have always used them when buying our cars. Yeah it could be a bust and then the money is wasted OR they save you 1000 from buying a bad car. and it turns out the volvo was indeed worked on but not so well. The block will have to be machined to be good.
Then my DH came up with craigslist used cars. We searched and I emailed tons of people. ALWAYS saying straight up I wanted to send a mechanic to check it out. If these people never got back to me either they had sold the car already OR we not willing to have the mechanic look it over. So either way good. We found a nice looking (pics only) Ad and did my email. Lemon busters went out and oddly enough we found a retiree car who had purchased it from another retiree. Great Satisfactory SOLID condition. So the price was 2000, however the blue book was 1100. Which sucked it was a nice car. I explained to the owner the few little things (repairable) that the mechanic had informed me off and then told him the kelly blue book value and offered either 1700 OR 1800. He took the 1700. Very decent guy. It kinda felt like chip and dale holding the door for each other..oh no you first or no please you first. LOL .. The upshot is we are the proud owners of a solid beautifully maintained gorgeous paint buick 88. Very very nice. cold air. huge room and radio. My DH took my daughter to a social function and drove right up without the windows down and the muffler blowing smoke. Sigh... Boy is it nice to own a car. Remember a year without and 3 kids- 2 of which are special needs. Can we talk about buses and transfers and 3 hours to go on a trip that by car is 20 min? Hmm?
So here our my freshy tips.
-Shop and be direct. Tell them up front you are sending a mechanic.
-USE a service- There has to be some form of used car inspections where you are.
-PAY the money to use a service. They have hookup machines that can give a clear mechanical pix moreso than a mechanic buddy taking a peek.
-Negotiate fairly and decently
-don't whine and beg. If you are shopping X amt cars you have to have x amt. It is possible they will neg but if not you have to have the base amt. Anything else is just rude and timewasting for them and you want to have a good rep if shopping for cars. Email talks both ways especially on car boards.
-Research your car. Look at epinions or some other car site. I actually never used consumer reports (you gotta pay online) but I used free opinion sites.
-Calculate total cost of car. Insurance, gas, TTX everything in your budget. and go to the meet with CASH in hand. You can always keep in your purse and pull out your negotiated amount instead of all of it.
-Even if the report from the mechanic isn't 100% think about what you can reasonably afford to fix. BTW the mechanic gave us a time est of first major repair (coming up in 2 years. something is seeping-not yet at the leak stage) So I can make a repair fund NOW.
-If you have a used car and can save a few $ consider a fund that contains an amount for 1 major repair. A car rental for a week and a yearly membership fee to triple A. This is our plan for the unexpected and if there is one thing I can guarantee to you is always expected the unexpected. It is coming.
Anyway good luck everyone. It is possible to buy a good secondhand car..for a little bit of money.
Happy frugaling

[jenloveschip2001]

Sounds like you got a great deal. Thanks for all the great advice on car shopping. It had never even dawned on me to send a mechanic to check a vehicle out before you buy it. Great tip!! Congrats and enjoy you new car.

[Edna_E]

Good advice here. I've often bought my cars from someone I know who was ready to get rid of one, including my current $1000 special, because I KNOW what condition I'm getting. I just gave away my last car (laughingly - a volvo) to someone who can work on it and who needed a running vehicle (it needed some work that I couldn't afford and I can't drive it all summer because the AC isn't working and I got stuck in the hospital last summer with allergic reactions)

[mikandmari]

My husband used to build race cars, and even with his knowledge purchasing a car is STILL a headache .

We will be looking for a $2500 car soon, for DD who will have her license within the year. We can only afford liability insurance, so I don't want to spend too much.

For ourselves, now that we are a bit older and buy nicer cars, we always purchase a 3 year old car, coming off of a lease. I've had good luck with this. The previous owners were required by the lease to have the oil changed and to keep the mileage low (other than this, they don't really have time to neglect the engine at this early stage). So there is usually a nice selection of cars in decent shape