I’m going to try and save up to buy a used car, and I’ve got some basics that I’m seeking out, but I want to know if anybody’s got sage advice for things to look for. Only thing I’ve been told is to look for cars with less than 100k miles on it, which makes sense to me.
What else you got? ;j (just had to put that smiley in b/c holy crap there’s a Jewish smiley?)
If you can let us know what kind of car you’re looking for, what’s important to you, what you’re going to do with it, and how much you want to spend, it would be helpful. Otherwise, it could be anything between an AMC Pacer (not that I’d recommend one no matter what) and a Ford F350 dually.
A well-maintained car with 105K miles is probably better than a poorly maintained one with only 85K, though.
Beyond that, just check the maintenance records for that model (Consumer Reports or suchlike) and have a good mechanic give the car a once-over (which’ll probably cost you about $75). Also, figure out what you absolutely need to have in a car and stick to that. For example: if you do a lot of city driving a manual transmission might drive you nuts, or if you live in Phoenix air conditioning is probably a requirement.
And if you’re just looking for genefral advice for buying a used car, I believe both www.edmunds.com and Consumer Reports offer very good advice in this regard.
Well, I absolutely need air conditioning and automatic transmission. I don’t need remote entry, I don’t need power windows, and I don’t need a CD player b/c I figure I won’t get one so I’ll just add one later.
As far as models, I’m looking into Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Volkswagen, Volvo, BMW (tho not really feasible). I’d like to spend about $2000. I’d be using it to get to and from school, and for some highway driving (definitely not city).
Now here’s my stupid question - if a car doesn’t have power brakes or power steering, what’s the opposite? I mean then what does it have?
Never buy a used car from me! 
Avoid dealers, you’ll pay too much. You may find some older BMW’s around $2k. Well worth it, if you ask me.
The “opposite” of power steering/brakes is “manual” steering or brakes. Depending on the size of the vehicle, not a real set-back.
I throw my vote to Nissan or BMW. Good Luck!
I don’t feel well. I ate a salad with tomatos and garmonbozia beans.
Look for something with relative minor but unfixed cosmetic problems. Kills the resale value, but does not affect the driveability or reliability.
Example. Just picked up a 94 Subaru Legacy (great little car). had AC, AT, PW, PL, PS, PB, Cruise, Cd Player, Alloys, Roof Rack, and two original OBEY stickers in the glove box. Price - $1500 Why so low? Someone had jumped on the hood in the middle of the night and the carpets needed cleaning. Also, they had been using cheap gas, so the engine wasn’t quite perfect (bottle of injector cleaner fixed that right up)
Oh, and ALWAYS take it to a mechanic before you buy. Preferably one that specializes in that make or model. Most dealers have a $60- $80 pre-sale checkup that is well worth it.
I’d look for the Japanese cars as they are overall more reliable. I would buy from a private party by looking in the classifieds. Don’t be in a rush, take cash and low ball on the asking price. Cash talks when making a deal.
Standard steering and standard brakes, or non-power steering and non-power brakes.
It’s wise to have the car thoroughly inspected by your mechanic/repair shop before buying it. Most sellers will accomodate your taking in for that. If the seller won’t allow it, you’re taking a substantial risk.
Actually, Toddly, I don’t mean to be argumentative, but leading with an extreme low ball offer will most of the put the seller on the defensive and reduce the chance that you can actually walk away with a good deal. The “take it or leave it” approach to price negotiation usually just leads to ultimatums, which completely kill the communication necessary for incremental price drops.
A better approach is more subtle. First, the easiest money you will ever save while bargaining comes when you say the magic words “Is that the best you can do?”. Right off the bat, you have the seller negotiating against himself without you ever having to throw out a figure. The longer you can hold off making an offer, the better your price will be.
After they have whittled away their asking price for you, take the car to a dealer. Use the list of mechanical problems (with estimates) he will give you to reduce the price. A good rule of thumb is to as them to reduce the price by between ½ and 1/3 of the estimated cost of urgent repairs. (oil leaks, CV boot, etc…) Always work from the last price they gave you, never restart from the original asking price.
Now, you’re almost there. Chances are, if the seller is motivated, you will have knocked off 10-25% of the vehicle price. Now, they are tired and stressed, and all they want is to get rid of the car. Time to play hardball. Let’s say you have gotten them to knock off $500 from the price. You’re happy, but you could always use that one last bonus. Make up a number, say $150, double it, and subtract that from their last price, and make the offer. If the refuse, try to meet them right in the middle between the two prices. Don’t be afraid to give a little extra, it will make them think they have the upper hand, and completely forget about the $500 they just gave you.
Go with an individual, not a dealer. An individual wants to get rid of a car, chances are they need the money. A dealer just wants to hustle you, most of the time.
Unless you wind up getting something in the last 2-3 years, go foreign (even then, I’d go foreign). I have heard that BMWs are expensive to fix, but that’s just scuttlebutt.
Honda and Toyota are probably the safest bets (no experience with Nissans).
You may want to check what kind of mechanics are around your area. If you need some specialty German part, and the guy who knows a lot about Volkswagens is 200 miles away, it’d suck. Ask yourself “When this thing breaks down at 2am on a rainy night, do I want to try to find a way home from here?” (The mechanic, that is).
When I say lowball I don’t mean to be unreasonable. I think though that asking someone to accept 2000.00 cash right at the moment for a car that is listed at 2500.00 to 2700.00 can be successful. Maybe even less because you can always increase your offer.You have to be willing to walk away from the deal and keep searching.
Contrary to what you’re hearing here, I’ve owned about 16 or 17 cars, and I’ve had far better luck with dealers than I have with private sellers.
This subject has come up enough in the last several months that I should have a complete reply ready; but I don’t, so I’ll soldier on through it again.
As suggested above, check with Edmunds, as well as NADA and Kelley Blue Book, to get a starting handle on what a particular car is worth. And then bear in mind that when I was shopping for a car a few months ago, those three universal references priced the car I bought at $8-10K above what I bought it for, from a dealer, and $3-5K above what his initial asking price was. The dealers know the market, while the private sellers may well believe the above references and be stuck on an unrealistic price.
Shop online. It exposes you to a lot without the travel, and you can winnow the field by checking just about any currently registered car’s VIN history through Autocheck or Carfax. While Carfax appears to be the more popular, I used Autocheck because a comparison of the two’s freebie reports showed Autocheck consistently coming up with more data. Their deal is check out one car for $14.95 or 20 cars within 90 days for $19.95. A VIN history will reveal any accident reports, water damage, insurance claims, liens, lease history, rental usage, taxicab/limo usage, police usage/ownership, emissions test history, etc. It’s worth it.
And a nice thing about the advent of researchable VIN histories is that the dealers know that’s available to you these days, so they stay away from the dogs.
Again, shop online. Autotrader found 32 BMWs for sale for $3500 or less within approximately 100 miles of you (I don’t know exactly where on Long Island you are - I used zip code 11803 to search). My previous car was the first one I found online, and I bought it from a dealer for 20% below his sticker price. As he explained it to me, when you come physically traipsing on to his lot and it’s apparent you’re out visiting the lots to find a car, he knows that you can probably only see a small segment of the market, and you’re seeing elsewhere the same thing he’s showing you. But if you’re doing your car shopping on the 'net he knows you’re seeing just about everything out there, so he’s listing a much more competitive price, much closer to his bottom line.
Small stuff. If the car passes the basic health test, a dealer is far better able than a private seller to deal with minor fixes. A lightbulb, a parking light lense - even a replacing a bum tire will likely not affect his selling price. He probably won’t put a new tire on, but he’ll gladly swap it out for one with ~75% of it’s tread life left, with little or no effect on what he’ll take for the car.
Negotiating. Most people in the U.S. don’t spend much of their lives doing this. Hence, they’re a little unsure of themselves when doing so. My own impression is that a negotiation conducted between two inexperienced parties is a much wilder ride than when at least one has some experience. As opposed to the one a private seller has, the dealer has 50-80 cars to sell, and he has no emotional involvement in either the individual cars or the negotiation.
In your market segment it’s unlikely you can get an extended warranty, but even then you may get a 30 to 90 day warranty from a dealer that you’d never get from a private seller.
Finally, on to the mundane. A dealer will be well versed in the tax, title and license part of it, so that should proceed smoothly.
Go with a make, such as BMW, Honda, Mercedes or Toyota, that has a reputation for solid engineering and reliability.
I recognize that people disagree with me, but that’s my best advice to you, saramamlana. Good luck!
Ringo, new car dealers don’t even sell cars in the $2000.00 range so that leaves the used car dealers. I would just as soon take my chances with a private party.
Toddly
Here’s the problem. Say you offer someone $2000 on a $2500 car. Most Americans will naturally move towards the mid point, if they are willing to negotiate at all. So, most of the time, that offer will get you close to $2250. 1 in 50 might get you $2000.
However, if you first ask them to lower the price (which they almost always will) and then ask them to lower it again for mechanical reasons (again, they almost always will) then when you do finally make them a lower offer you have two advantages. First, his price is already down $300-$500 without you ever giving out your price. Second, you have the seller emotionally involved with the sale. He doesn’t want to have to go through the whole process again, so he has greater motivation to lower the price even further just to get the ordeal over with.
Now, when you actually make your low offer, you could very well be starting at a $2000 ask and a $1600 offer, which is way more likely to get you a good price than a $2500 ask and a $1600 offer.
Another way to think about it is this. Lets say you offered some guy half the asking price of his car. He takes it. Did you really get a bargain? Why on earth would he be letting it go to the first “sucker” who made him an offer?
Also, Ringo dealers are professional negotiators. Throw a pro against an amateur in the same ring, and the pro will always come out on top. Also, they do know what the market value of the car is, which is a complete disadvantage for the buyer. Private sellers are never 100% sure what the value of their car is, and are sometimes easily convinced that they asked too much.
If you know basic negotiation techniques, then you have the same advantage the pros do with private sellers, but without the sleazy hairdos. J
My perspective is colored. I negotiate business regularly and I’d much rather swing a deal with somebody who’s down-to-earth than risk same with a cowboy.
YMMV
Down to earth used car dealers? Do you mind if I ask what line of work you are in? I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone refer to used car dealers as down to earth.
Wow.
What sort of used car dealers are you patronizing, tastycorn? You can do business with professionals, if you’d like.
The kind that have used car salesman working for them. 
They are professionals, that’s exactly the problem. Their job is to squeeze the absolute maximum amount of money from the buyer, not to help the buyer get the best car for their needs.
If they appear more “down to earth”, then it is because they are paid to appear that way. Salesmen are very good at being your friend and making you feel all warm and fuzzy. Makes it easier to get into your wallet.
Long but fascinating look behind the scenes at a dealership:
tastycorn
You make very good points and more than likely would do very well. It takes practice in these dealings and I certainly am not that good at it. I usually drive and evaluate the car before I make any offer. If the car is just what you have been looking for then I would offer more, if not then I keep looking and offer less. Its work and I sure don’t like to do it very often.