Yep, that’s approximately what I’m willing to pay. I can probably go a little higher than $6000, but not much higher.
I don’t really know much about buying used cars and I don’t know have any serious under-the-hood car friends; can a crash course using a book or online materials bring me up to speed? What should it cost to have it checked out by a mechanic? Is it common for the mechanic to give a crappy once-over and take your inspection cash?
Also, there’s the option of government and police auctions, but the online directories of such events all charge a fee (like $40) to access them! Is this actually worth it?
I’d appreciate any and all tips you guys might have!
Sure, there are a lot of good cars for that price or lower. I bought my used SUV at a dealer’s action for about that (I brought a dealer with me). Five years and 100k miles later, I still have it for a total of 160k miles. It was beautiful when I got it.
Get one of those free auto sales magazines and take a look. Only pay attention to the price in a general sense. If you see one in roughly your price range, make a take-it-or-leave it offer. They will probably take it.
I just bought a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria LX in good condition for $4000. Consumer Reports gave it a good rating as a used car. Full size, V8 engine, air conditioning, cruise control, dual front airbags, four-wheel ABS, and superior in crash tests (half of the Crown Victorias were sold to police fleets). The Kelly Blue Book value in excellent condition and just under 100K miles would be $5,525. Check it out.
Check around on Cars.com. There are lots of good cars there for under $6000. And for my own anecdote, I bought a '98 Olds Aurora 3 years ago for $5500. 25,000 miles later it is still running strong, with the only problems being my own fault - dented the front license plate & bumper a bit when a truck stopped suddenly in front of me and I hit the trailer hitch. And the front passenger door doesn’t open from the outside, but I was stupid and tried to force it open when it was frozen up. :smack:
There’s no information that these folks are selling you that isn’t available for free elsewhere. You may find some bargains at police auctions, but it would be better if you knew something about cars before buying something at one.
Right now you shouldn’t have a problem finding a decent set of wheels at a used car dealer for a reasonable price. Cars are sitting on the lot right now for a long time.
Coming at it from a totally different direction, but I’m planning on buying a Corvair (60-69) in the relatively short-term, and $6K would by you a FANTASTIC rust-free and solid-running example. In fact, you could get a really nice 4-door daily driver for 1/2 that.
Sure, it would be a 40-year old car lacking many modern safety devices, but the flipside is you can open the hood and actually see what looks like an engine that you can do basic maintenance on.
Just food for thought - but if an older car has made it 30+ years in pretty good shape, that might suggest it has been well-cared for at least somewhere along the line, compared to a 3-5 year old fleet vehicle that has been driven into the ground over its short life.
Both AutoTrader.com and cars.com have millions of cars for sale and a large percentage of their inventory is under $6000. They also both have guides to help you through the buying process.