Car buying decision

**Michelle68** · 11-11-2007, 08:32 PM

My DH and I both drive quite a bit for our jobs. Because I'm a home health nurse, I put around 30,000 miles a year on my vehicle. We buy our vehicles with cash because A. I refuse to go into debt for a vehicle, and B. I put way too many miles on a car to have the car die before we even get it paid off. Right now I'm driving a little Mazda that we bought about 4 years ago for $4800. My DH drives a 1986 Toyota truck which has about 236,000 miles on it, a big oil leak and a worn driver's seat. He bought this truck about 4 years ago for $1100 so we've gotten our money's worth out of it. He really doesn't want to spend the $800 or so it will cost to get the oil leak fixed.

Here's our dilemma-- my car now has around 160,000 miles on it. It's been very dependable (knock on wood!) with the amount of driving I do, but I also see some patient's up to 60 miles outside of our city. I don't want to run this car into the ground to the point where I get stranded somewhere out in the middle of nowhere. Our plan is to buy another car with less miles for me to drive, have my DH drive the Mazda (since he delivers pizzas in a small area near work) and sell his poor decrepit Toyota for around $500. We are using our EF fund as a car replacement fund also. (That's the reason for the $12000 goal--we figure $5000 or less for a vehicle and the rest for a 3 month EF).

We only have $2694 in the EF right now since we had to use $3000 to pay for my surgery in July, but we were thinking that in 6 months we should have $7000 there--that'll give us $5000 or so for a car and leave $2000 to keep building upon. We just found a very nice 1999 Ford Taurus for sell for $2200 with VERY low miles. We're trying decide whether we should buy it now which would totally deplete our EF for now, or should we pass it up and wait 6 months until our EF has sufficiently grown and hopefully find another good deal?

Sorry this is so long! Thanks in advance for any opinions!

--Michelle

**Momof4cats** · 11-11-2007, 09:00 PM

I assume the vehicle has been thoroughly inspected by a mechanic, you've checked the Kelley blue book value and a Carfax report? Since it's less than 1/2 the price you were willing to spend, and presumably in a few months you'll have the EF looking nice again, I would say go for it. Don't forget about any gas savings and/or insurance changes.

**wulong32** · 11-11-2007, 09:05 PM

Originally Posted by Momof4cats

I assume the vehicle has been thoroughly inspected by a mechanic, you've checked the Kelley blue book value and a Carfax report? Since it's less than 1/2 the price you were willing to spend, and presumably in a few months you'll have the EF looking nice again, I would say go for it. Don't forget about any gas savings and/or insurance changes.

I agree! If its in good condition, I would go for it. I was put in the same position about six months ago, I was offered a car that was too good to pass up. Im so glad I took it!

**Michelle68** · 11-11-2007, 09:52 PM

The only thing I'm concerned about is the fuel cost factor. This car has a V-6 engine which will be using more gas than my 4 cylinder. As far as having a mechanic look at it and checking Carfax--we haven't gotten to that point yet. I wanted to get some opinions before we took the time to take it to our mechanic. Thanks for the reminders, though and the opinions. I just really hate depleting our EF to zero. You just know that as soon as we did that, some emergency would come knocking and we wouldn't have the money to cover it.

-Michelle

**dianne9106** · 11-11-2007, 10:31 PM

I would wait. I speak from experience of buying a vehicle this year and I would recommend shopping around more. We purchased a used SUV for an excellent price, the dealership was happy to see us leave, but I was up at 2 am with buyer's remorse. Needless to say we did go into debt to buy it

. Though you are planning to pay cash, I think I would wait until you atleast had more EF money or the signs of the car failing were strong. I hope this helps and I hope your car doesn't give up on you. Besides car shopping can be fun and once you buy one then the search is over. Take care and Best Wishes!
Dianne

**nodmicks** · 11-11-2007, 10:35 PM

Michelle if the car deal is as good as it sounds I'd buy it. I have a 2001 Taurus (flex fuel v6). When driving on our long distance vacation this summer we were astounded to average 27-28 mpg on the freeway at 70-75 mph. In 106,000 miles I have only had 1 repair besides maintance. The 1100 seal on vacation.

**Michelle68** · 11-11-2007, 11:35 PM

Originally Posted by nodmicks

Michelle if the car deal is as good as it sounds I'd buy it. I have a 2001 Taurus (flex fuel v6). When driving on our long distance vacation this summer we were astounded to average 27-28 mpg on the freeway at 70-75 mph. In 106,000 miles I have only had 1 repair besides maintance. The 1100 seal on vacation.

That is why my DH is really thinking we should buy it. The Tauruses seem to be good cars.Like Dianne9106, I tend to be more on the cautious side. Thanks again for y'all's opinions! We'll go see it again tomorrow and we'll decide if we should let the mechanic look at it.

--Michelle

**Preston** · 11-12-2007, 01:05 AM

I don't know the specs on the taurus you are looking for but I'm guessing it's around 60000 miles or so for it's age. That's what I would consider to be a low amount of miles. I'm guessing good condition and the v6 engine. The private party bluebook on these factors is around $3800 in Texas.

Now, here is the thing. I am currently an owner of a 98 Ford Taurus 180,000 miles on it. Don't think that high mileage turnout was the result of a reliable vehicle. I've had to replace the transmission (Fords are known for that) and then there was the time the entire front suspension gave out. Also, the way the car is designed makes all labor on it excessive (for example, when the alternator went they had to take the front suspension apart to get access adding a ton of labor to what on other cars was a job I could do myself.) The reason I've fixed it was I was travelling excessively for my last job and it was an emergency.

The value of the car doesn't hold and I get about 22 mpg right now. When I had it on the highway I was getting around 27 mpg. I like the car, and I've been a lot of places in it...as I've been to 43 of the lower 48 states.

There is also the check engine light that can't decide whether or not it wants to stay on or not. I've spent money trying to fix it, but it doesn't matter. I've talked to other Taurus owners who have the same problem and they gave up fixing it.

I'd also be suspicious of really low miles. What's the car's maintenance history? Why low miles? Possible flood damage? Accident? Also if the car sat too much there is a whole slew of problems that comes with that too.

What I would honestly do would be looking into getting a car at an auction.. but if you do you MUST DO YOUR HOMEWORK. A lot of the auctions up here in Ohio will post the list of cars that are for sale the week of the auction. I take the list of what seems interesting to me, and CARFAX them and get their Blue book values.

Do not buy from a dealership. They are a rip off. An old friend of mine owned his own car lot for a while. The markup they put on the cars is more than double what they pay for it.

When I got my car I got it for $2700 when the bluebook was $6500.

I found the same kind of car on a used car lot a few months later asking price of $7100.

**powerfm1** · 11-12-2007, 05:53 AM

I used to sell cars. Preston gave you excellent advice. I will repeat about buying used cars from dealers. Always buy from private owners. A lot of private owners sell on their own to get a better price than if they traded it in.

Also, when you are ready, ask your mechanic if he has, or knows of anyone selling a car. Mechanics usually know about a lot of available vehicles and their maintenance history.

High miles is something to look out for, but it also depends on the car. From what I've seen, you can buy anything with a Chrysler, Toyota or Honda engine with high miles and still get a lot of use out of it.

Good luck and I hope your car holds up until you have some extra cash stashed away.

**nodmicks** · 11-12-2007, 07:36 AM

Preston~ I had the same light issue. For me thankfully it was a sensor.

Michelle get consumer reports auto edition and look up the 99 Taurus for reliability. I forgot to mention that before!

**Nightshade** · 11-12-2007, 01:37 PM

Unless you like repair bill skip the Taurus......no kidding.

Look for another Toyota,Mazda,or Honda if you want mechanical reliablity.

**Michelle68** · 11-12-2007, 06:47 PM

Thanks for all the advice. I've looked at Hondas and Toyotas even in the $5000 price range and they all seem to have about a million miles on them. (Okay, exaggeration--maybe half a million

) We have bought a lot of cars over the years of our marriage (I've been doing home health for 15 years or so), but we've never tried buying one at auction. That's something we'll have to look into. I know the dealers REALLY jack up the prices, so we've been planning on going private owner as we almost always have done. I'm actually wanting to find another Mazda just because my little Mazda Protege has done so well for me over the past few years. (Even though my little Mazda also has the mysterious check engine light on permanently now.)And I think we have decided to save up for a few more months. That way we really have a larger sum of money to work with and we won't deplete the EF. All your opinions and advice were awesome!

--Michelle

**Nightshade** · 11-12-2007, 09:57 PM

Check the oxygen sensor to get the check light to turn off if the
Mazda is running ok. Often they either burn out or quit working
and the light comes on. Due to the miles on the mazda good bet
the O2 sensor is fried.

**nodmicks** · 11-13-2007, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by Nightshade

Unless you like repair bill skip the Taurus......no kidding.

Look for another Toyota,Mazda,or Honda if you want mechanical reliablity.

Seriously? I've had mine since 2001 and had 2 repairs. was I think thats pretty good odds. I'll count my blessings!

**Libby** · 11-14-2007, 12:53 AM

I say WAIT until you have your EF where you need/want it and feel comfortable with buying a new car - besides, who knows what will pop up later when you're ready to look again. Why buy it now when you dont really need it asap? Not saying you should wait until dire straights but pushing it off a lil bit longer may actually help you in the long run: peace of mind, more stable finances and plenty more time to do your research.