Need Help - Used Cars!

[aidan80 9]

I'm sure this is a question that has come up before for new immigrants. Well I been here for about 18 months or there abouts so far, Got my driving license a number of months ago and I'm badly in need of a used car. I've found ton's of cars, lots of prices and plenty of hidden charges from dealerships and private sellers.. tons of information along with the usual misinformation.

The problem I have is.. I'm not sure what to go for.. I still don't really have much of a credit score over here, doubt I could even get a credit card without being turned down.. so credit is not an option. I'm in Florida, I've got no car at the minute I work everyday and arrive quite hot at work.. unless it's raining then I arrive wet and it's beyond hot here most of the time! My budget would be around max of $2,000 or $2,500 at most.

Any advice on models, brands would be most welcome. Also any stories good or bad form experience buying cars here in the US or in Florida.

Thanks!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

At those prices, don't buy American.

[aidan80 9]

At those prices, don't buy American.

Well we already have an American car (although it could have been mostly made in China ) and it's running well. In fact I thought it should have died long ago... but it's like the ever ready bunny .. just keeps going and going and going! Anyway.. I only need to get something to take me to work and back each day!

[cshell 0]

I just got for my husband a 94 Honda Accord with only 83K. We got it cheap - a little over $2000. We need to get new tires and a radio. We looked on www.craigslist.org. I did a search for honda priced $500-$3100. Looked at many cars on the internet (also www.cars.com and www.autotraders.com) and got a feel for what the dollar would buy, then shopped around. When we saw the car I ended up buying I asked the person for their lowest price and they dropped the price by $300! So I suggest craigslist. We started out by considering Toyota - camry and Honda - civic and accord. Additionally, I would think that in FL because a good part of the population is older there are many cars with low milage in good shape that a family member may need to sell if someone passes on - those would have a flexable price probably. We purchased our car by a lady who's Mom was placed in a nursing home.

[Nanusia & Lukaszek 0]

We got my husbands car off of www.craigslist.org too! We got a 96 honda civic with all the bells & whistles for $3000. They guy wanted 4400, but we haggled him down The car was in excellect condition, even gave us the service record of when he had everything done (first owner)

I don't like used car dealerships, not only do they rip you off on price, but you arent sure what the real state of the car is. Everyone says its in "perfect working condition" but since they have no warranty, this only guarantees you that you will be able to drive out of the lot!

My first suggestion would be to sign up with carfax.com for $30 I think they let you check as many VIN #s as you want. I used to say this was a waste of money, but it saved us from buying a couple junk cars. One car we were interested in had 35 records on it, 18 were accidents! Who the heck wants a car like that? So this saved us

I say stick with honda or toyota, because for $2-3000 you will get an american car that needs A LOT of work & more $$$ to put into it.

[Brad&Meera 0]

Buy Japanese. They're by far the most reliable, and have been for years, especially Toyota and Honda. I'd suggest getting a subscription to Consumer Reports if you want check the reliability of specific makes/models. It's well worth it for other large purchases, as well.

As for actually buying, you can check classifieds in the paper (look at the online edition too), and local convenience stores probably carry an auto trader magazine. Craigslist or similar online sources are good if you live in a good sized city. You can usually haggle the seller down a bit, let the better haggler deal with the seller. In our case, that's my fiancee

Oh, and while you're taking the car for a test drive, have a mechanic you trust check it out.

Good luck!

~Brad

[cshell 0]

I remembered seeing this post a few days ago:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...p;#entry1082957

post #40 by Mr fancypants:

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/us...t-406/index.htm

Consumer Reports - Best and Worst Bets for used car purchases. They're pretty reliable.

These vehicles showed multiple Used Car Verdicts that were much worse than average, according to our survey respondents. They consistently had more problems than other models overall.

BMW 7 Series

BMW X5 (V8)

Chevrolet Astro

Chevrolet Blazer

Chevrolet Express

Chevrolet S-10 (4WD)

Chevrolet Venture

Chevrolet Uplander

Chrysler

Town & Country (AWD)

Dodge

Grand Caravan (AWD)

GMC Jimmy

GMC Sonoma (4WD)

GMC Safari

GMC Savana

Infiniti QX56

Jaguar S-Type

Jaguar X-Type

Jeep Grand Cherokee

Kia Sedona

(except ‘06)

Land Rover Discovery

Land Rover LR3

Lincoln Aviator

Lincoln Navigator

Mercedes-Benz CLK

Mercedes-Benz

M-Class (V8)

Mercedes-Benz

S-Class (V8)

Mercedes-Benz SL

Nissan Armada

Nissan Titan

Oldsmobile Bravada

Oldsmobile Cutlass

Oldsmobile Silhouette

Pontiac Aztek

Pontiac Trans Sport

Pontiac Montana

Pontiac Montana SV6

Volkswagen Cabrio

Volkswagen Jetta

(turbo, gas)

Volkswagen Jetta (V6)

Volkswagen

New Beetle (4-cyl.)

Volkswagen Touareg

Volvo XC90 (6-cyl.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

If you click on the consumer reports address it pulls up an article on The best and worst used cars.

Good luck

[zetku 0]

thanks so much everyone for the info and advice. i'm looking to buy a used car too in that exact price range. this will be my first car so i need all the informed input i can get. i've been checking out craigslist regularly and its good to know folks have found good cars at an affordable price though that listing. and thanks Aidan80 for the thread.

[aidan80 9]

No problem.. this is a question I had to ask! Thanks to all who have responded!

I've been looking at the local press, reading reviews and checking auto trader and of course cars.com and a few others. I've a half decent idea of what's out there, what it should cost. I wanted to see what people thought or had been through themselves when buying a used car.

I have been aiming for a Toyota or a Honda or even a Volkswagen but what I found has been few and far between. Lots of early - mid 90's selling for too much money. Although I've seen quite a few 1999 - 2001 KIA's around for about $1,800 - $2,200 with less than 100k on them . I've also seen a few 97 - 99 Saturn SL and SL2 around for the same money in good or decent condition. Another car I've seen around a lot is the Dodge Neon I've seen a 1999 model with around 80k miles on it selling for $2,300.

What do you all think of the Doge's, KIA's (I hear they are really bad), Saturn's (we own one, never had a problem) or even the Chevrolet?

[Ephesia 0]

I drive a 2001 Kia Rio. Love it. Bought it last year for $1,000 from my mother-in-law's colleague's daughter, who had to sell the car because she had put money down for a new car at the credit union and needed to get rid of the Kia fast. What makes the deal even sweeter is there was only 53k miles on it when I took over.

It's a good, reliable car. I have not had any problems with it. Mine's an automatic and gets approximately 31 mpg. Because I only drive it to and from work (and to church some Sundays), I only need to fill her up once a week.

My original plan was to drive my Kia for a couple of years and then trade it in for a brand new Honda Fit sport model (my dream car). But my little Kia has been doing so awesome that I told my husband a month ago that I think I want to drive her till she can't go any more. It doesn't bother me that she doesn't have power windows or automatic locks. She does what she needs to do. Besides, I like not having a car payment.

And her BRIGHT green color doesn't exactly hurt either.

[RaspberrySwirl 20]

I drive a 2001 Kia Rio. Love it. Bought it last year for $1,000 from my mother-in-law's colleague's daughter, who had to sell the car because she had put money down for a new car at the credit union and needed to get rid of the Kia fast. What makes the deal even sweeter is there was only 53k miles on it when I took over.

It's a good, reliable car. I have not had any problems with it. Mine's an automatic and gets approximately 31 mpg. Because I only drive it to and from work (and to church some Sundays), I only need to fill her up once a week.

My original plan was to drive my Kia for a couple of years and then trade it in for a brand new Honda Fit sport model (my dream car). But my little Kia has been doing so awesome that I told my husband a month ago that I think I want to drive her till she can't go any more. It doesn't bother me that she doesn't have power windows or automatic locks. She does what she needs to do. Besides, I like not having a car payment.

And her BRIGHT green color doesn't exactly hurt either.

The Mountain Dew car!

[ChristinaM 0]

I have a Kia also, which came from craigslist. Mine is a 2000 Sephia, with about 56K on her when I bought her. The biggest recommendation seems to be that you make sure you get the timing belt done at 60K for Kias, although I believe that's recommended maintenance on any car. I paid $2200 for my car, but she is not cosmetically perfect and is the base model (no AC - OMG I'm melting right now!).

You may also be surprised what you can do with credit - I have a friend whose ex-husband screwed her over royally, and she still keeps discovering debts she didn't know about or thought were paid. She managed to finance a brand new Ford Focus earlier this year. Of course, the interest rate is not the best, but she's planning on using it for a year to build her credit rating so that she can refinance after the first year. If you could use that $2500 as a deposit against a new or "gently used" car, you might be pleasantly surprised.

[Ephesia 0]

The Mountain Dew car!

Precisely!

When I got the car, I christened her Pookie. I dunno why that name hit me between the eyes when I first laid eyes on her. When I told my colleagues about the name, one of them said, "You should have named her Dewkie instead."

[randolady 1]

I was in a similar predicament until recently! I know nothing about cars, so I was pretty terrified to buy one. This was a pretty useful website for me, as well as carsurvey.org.

I ended up buying a '97 Nissan Sentra with 77,000 miles on it. I paid $4950 at a dealership for it, which was a decent price according to kbb.com and a high price according to some other website. But whatever, it runs well and is supposed to be a reliable car. Ooh, and it gets really good gas mileage! Like, 37 mpg on the highway (but I drive like a grandma and I don't usually use the AC).

[aidan80 9]

The hunt for a used car continues! So far I've discovered I'm probably not buying from a dealer unless I want to pay extra and get lied to!

I just looked (online) at a Saturn SL 1997 with 112k on it, looks to be in decent shape minus the dirt on the seats and floors. The paper advert said this car was selling for $3995 but would go for less online... I was sent there by a work colleague who said I'd get a decent deal there! On the online advert it stated this car had side airbags, power steering, remote trunk lid and remote fuel lid along with a techometer, sports mirrors.. and a bunch of other stuff I'm sure isn't standard on a 97 SL. Online it's selling for $2948. I did check some sites online with that millage and the age, that thing cant really be worth anymore than $2000 at most?

I could very well be mistaken (I'm far from an expert or even a novice) here but.. our first car a Saturn SL 1998 we got 2 years ago for (a good deal at the time) $2,500 had 80k on it and none of the above, clean inside and out! It came with the bare essentials! it was the most basic model they made, no power steering, locks no side airbags (where they even on Saturn's in 97 - 98?) and I'm sure the rest of the above didn't come with it?

I'm just shocked that they have lied so blantenly or havent checked the specs or just guessed. Thats insane.. can car dealerships really lie outright like that on the side of the road and online?