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The Bunk posted:My sister is selling an 01 SC-2. And I'm still driving barebones 98 SL like Kefit's (which is why I've been reading this thread). Mine was made without a right side mirror, so my parents bought me one for my birthday. Saturn4life. Much saturn love itt! I drive a 99 SC2 with the weird third door.
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Mar 7, 2012 22:34
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IOwnCalculus posted:Anyone complaining that a base Mazda2 isn't "plush" doesn't understand just how stripped down a SOHC '95 Saturn really is. They really have nothing for features, and even the base 2 has everything he's looking for. My sister's first car was also a '95 SL1. Heh, I complained about the AC being lovely but in actuality I'm lucky to even have it, since it's not a standard feature. My tape deck radio wasn't standard either. Perhaps my standards lag behind the times, but I'm not interested in many modern car doodads. My cell phone can handle navigation duty just fine, and if I can plug my phone into the audio and hit shuffle then I'm set. On the other hand, modern safety features (ABS, stability control, etc) are important to me and the base Mazda2's got them. I guess the point is that, after ten years of driving a car that is nothing more than a car, I kind of want to drive a car that admits that it is in fact a car. The Honda Fit made me feel like I was driving a van and has a center console that looks and feels like a toy. The Fiesta's dash and center console appear to be designed for ricer kids who just graduated from spending all of their money on rad computer cases. The interior of the Mazda2, on the other hand, looks simple and appealing and I can immediately tell where all the controls are and what they do. I definitely get value out of that. skipdogg posted:A buddy of mine just bought a new Mazda2 and the same day he was kicking himself for not stepping up and spending the extra 1500 on the touring model. fog lights, spoiler, cruise, and the steering wheel audio controls are worth the 1500 bucks. If there's one thing I didn't like about the Mazda2, it was the cheap feeling steering wheel (I test drove a base Sport manual). I'm also a bit of an audiophile, so the better sound system is tempting. And while my financial gut is against the idea of a spoiler since it's a useless piece of metal, it does somehow go a long way towards making the car look a bit less ghetto. There's a 2012 Touring with only 4k miles going for $13,500 on Craigslist, and I'm definitely considering increasing my budget to accommodate that. And yeah, I know the Mazda2 certainly isn't "plush" by an objective car standard. I learned how to drive in my dad's Lexus, after all! Now I'd certainly love to sit in comfy heated leather seats every time I get into my car, but the reality is that I can't afford to purchase something truly plush while still getting a long-term, reliable, low-maintenance vehicle. Unless I get lucky with an older, larger, used car. While I'm looking into what's out there, a couple of things make this route unappealing. First, the used market is poo poo right now in terms of prices and I often find myself thinking "you know, I can get something a lot more reliable and/or less of a gamble if I spend just a bit more on a more modern hatchback." Second, and perhaps more importantly, I'm actively after the smallest but still quality vehicle I can get with four doors that reasonably seats four adults for short to medium length drives and has a useful cargo area when I've got fewer people inside. I do a lot of city driving and parking, and moreover really don't understand the fascination with large cars that most Americans seem to have. Unfortunately, sedans have become kind of big and bulky over the last decade, and as far as I know hatchbacks didn't start getting four doors until pretty recently. Speaking of selling Saturns, can I expect to get anything worthwhile for my '95 on Craigslist, seeing as it still runs mostly fine? Do I need to concern myself with assassins coming after me if that car dies completely on the new owner a few months after the sale? On the other hand, is a dealer likely to give me anything for it on trade-in? I haven't mentioned yet that the exterior of the car looks like poo poo because I haven't cared about it in years and because it's covered with giant scratches. I suppose cosmetics don't really matter on a vehicle this old, though. EDIT: You guys are right though, I think I'll see if I can find a used Mazda3 hatchback to take for a spin. EDIT 2: Wow, higher trim Mazda3s from ~4 years ago are decked out with some really nice creature comforts and might just be within my price range if I give myself a realistic budget increase. I'm definitely considering this route now. I'm sure I could live with a larger car and a bit lower gas mileage for the niceties of, say, a 2008 Mazda3 Grand Touring. Kefit fucked around with this message at 03:53 on Mar 8, 2012 |
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Mar 7, 2012 22:39
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A running car of any quality is worth something--if you look on your local craigslist I'm sure you'll see plenty of worse vehicles for sale. It'll be worth your while to sell it.
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Mar 7, 2012 23:28
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powderific posted:A running car of any quality is worth something--if you look on your local craigslist I'm sure you'll see plenty of worse vehicles for sale. It'll be worth your while to sell it. Just on a whim, I put in my car on Craigslist to see what people were selling similar cars for. 2005 Jeep Liberty, 104k miles. Dealers on CL were selling for $9000 and up. I had no idea it'd go for something that much, I expected like $5000 max.
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Mar 8, 2012 04:09
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Omne posted:Just on a whim, I put in my car on Craigslist to see what people were selling similar cars for. 2005 Jeep Liberty, 104k miles. Dealers on CL were selling for $9000 and up. I had no idea it'd go for something that much, I expected like $5000 max. I live in Colorado. If I saw a Liberty with 104k miles in anything resembling decent shape for $5k I'd buy it without hesitation and immediately re-list it on craigslist or wherever. Those things sell drat fast out here, too.
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Mar 8, 2012 05:16
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Kefit posted:Speaking of selling Saturns, can I expect to get anything worthwhile for my '95 on Craigslist, seeing as it still runs mostly fine? Do I need to concern myself with assassins coming after me if that car dies completely on the new owner a few months after the sale? On the other hand, is a dealer likely to give me anything for it on trade-in? I haven't mentioned yet that the exterior of the car looks like poo poo because I haven't cared about it in years and because it's covered with giant scratches. I suppose cosmetics don't really matter on a vehicle this old, though. You absolutely should sell it yourself. A dealer would probably take it as trade-in but they will not give you full value for it. You absolutely should wash and detail it first, and take good in-focus photos in good light and put them in the ad. It is amazing how much of a difference simply being clean makes when it comes to selling a car. Even with scratches and dings, the fact the car is carefully cleaned reflects "pride of ownership" which implies that you have been good with maintenance as well. A car is also just way more appealing when it is clean and tidy. You want someone who looks at the car to actually want that car. Yes, it's old, and to you, it's a piece of poo poo - but there's a lot of people out there who buy a $2k car every year or two because that's all the cash they can come up with and they have bad credit. You want them to pick your car over the myriad other horrible shitboxes on craigslist, and given that the vast majority of those other shitboxes are also filthy, badly-photographed, and advertised by someone who is functionally illiterate, you can stand out from the crowd and win the sale with just a couple hours' effort. Wash the outside thoroughly. Vacuum the inside. If there are stains, get a bottle of carpet cleaner and use it. Wipe down the console, scrub the accumulated filth off of the steering wheel. Get some good glass cleaner and clean the windows and mirrors (or white vinegar and newspaper does an amazing job). Open the hood and spray the engine with undiluted Simple Green and then pressure-hose it off. If there's still crusty filth on the engine, do it again. Your buyer will almost certainly look under the hood, and when they do, they will again see the appearance of pride of ownership and careful maintenance. A car that is worth $1000 in filthy condition is worth $1500 cleaned up. Two or three hours of cleaning is probably worth $500 to you, right? Advertise it for $1900 and settle for maybe $1500 if you get offers within a few days, or maybe drop to $1200 if it takes more than a week. Be ready for 80% of the people who tell you they are going to come see the car, to never show up. Be ready for 50% of the people who do show up, to come with half the money you are asking for and offer it cash on the spot. Politely dismiss these people and try not to get too angry about how awful craigslist car buyers are, because they are awful, but one of them will eventually pay you good money for your car. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 23:41 on Mar 8, 2012 |
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Mar 8, 2012 21:55
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Excellent advice, thank you very much. The interior of my car is nice and clean (and relatively intact), though there are some old stains that I'm not sure I'll be able to get out. I guess I'll at least give it a try. What's the proper way to factor the sale of my old car into my budget? Plan for $1000 from that (hoping for more), take out a larger loan than initially planned, and then pay proceeds from the car sale directly into the loan debt? I can't really sell it before I find a replacement because I use it to commute. I'm trying to better assess my budget - which is to say, I'm trying to eke out more cash for this purchase so that I can more realistically consider used cars that are a bit more expensive than what I was looking at previously, but are also substantially nicer vehicles. EDIT: Am I completely insane for considering a decked out Saturn Astra? It appears to have everything I'm looking for in a car at a nice price premium due to Saturn's death. Or will said death make maintenance a nightmare? A local dealer has one listed for $14k, and if what I've read in this thread holds true to real life that means I should be able to talk it down to comfortably within my price range. Kefit fucked around with this message at 09:11 on Mar 9, 2012 |
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Mar 9, 2012 04:22
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Nevermind the Saturn Astra idea. Research indicates that it's full of electrical gremlins and other reliability issues. A shame, since the rest of it seemed to be so in line with my needs/desires. I'm currently looking at a 2007 Mazda3 Grand Touring Sedan with 75k miles on it. Yes, my desires for a car have changed substantially, and I'm glad I took the time to think over and research my options. Anyway, my car knowledge says that this mileage is high, but not unreasonable if the car has been well maintained and if passes examination by a mechanic. While I don't mind driving a higher mileage car (I only drive ~8k a year, so it should last me a looong time yet), I am concerned about all the electronic doodads. I remember all the electronic stuff in my dad's Maxima breaking way back in the day, and I'm concerned the same thing could happen here, long before the useful life of the car runs its course. Has the quality of these kinds of accessories improved enough over the years that I don't need to worry about this? Also, my friend says to avoid Mazda3 sedans because the car was designed primarily for the hatchback body style and that the sedan might be lacking in safety and maneuverability. Can I safely ignore him? On another subject:  This might not be the proper place for this, but I figured I'd ask the question here since I'm just looking for a quick easy answer for the purpose of selling my vehicle. As you can see above one of the reflector thingies is hanging loose on the front right corner of my Saturn. Last summer I used some strong glue to glue it back into place, but it eventually wore off and the piece fell out again. I figure I'll glue it once again, perhaps with an adhesive that is more suitable to the task. But I don't know whether I should reveal this issue to a potential buyer. I wouldn't feel like I'm scamming anyone if I kept quiet since it doesn't affect the drivability of the car in any way, but I could see the buyer getting pretty irritated if it just falls out on them one day. Thoughts? Kefit fucked around with this message at 09:24 on Mar 10, 2012 |
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Mar 10, 2012 07:54
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Kefit posted:
Clean the area where you'll be reattaching the light and just put it back on using some epoxy. Should last a long drat time this way. Between this and something else I read in an earlier post you definitely need to realize when you sell a used car, especially a cheap/lovely one, as soon as the person buys the car it is 100% their problem. You should definitely disclose any real issues the car has, but small poo poo like reattaching a light that still works doesn't matter and if something breaks on them even hours after they buy the car from you that is their issue to deal with. You might get a nutjob from craigslist calling you up complaining when something breaks down the line but just ignore them. The guy I bought my current car from was deathly afraid I was gonna come back to him and complain after I bought the car and he made a big deal about writing down a spiel on the bill of sale about how there's no warranty implied and the car is sold as is and blah blah blah. Thing is it was a 90 Volvo station wagon he was selling for $600 because the brake lights wouldn't work. I knew it was going to have all kinds of problems and poo poo was gonna break, that's what happens when you buy a cheapass used car. I found all kinds of issues with the car he didn't know or didn't tell me about, and it was completely on me to deal with.
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Mar 10, 2012 12:35
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Kefit posted:Nevermind the Saturn Astra idea. Research indicates that it's full of electrical gremlins and other reliability issues. A shame, since the rest of it seemed to be so in line with my needs/desires. Unscrew the broken part off, repair it with 2part epoxy and screw it back in.
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Mar 10, 2012 16:00
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Kefit posted:I'm currently looking at a 2007 Mazda3 Grand Touring Sedan with 75k miles on it. Yes, my desires for a car have changed substantially, and I'm glad I took the time to think over and research my options. Anyway, my car knowledge says that this mileage is high, but not unreasonable if the car has been well maintained and if passes examination by a mechanic. While I don't mind driving a higher mileage car (I only drive ~8k a year, so it should last me a looong time yet), I am concerned about all the electronic doodads. I remember all the electronic stuff in my dad's Maxima breaking way back in the day, and I'm concerned the same thing could happen here, long before the useful life of the car runs its course. Has the quality of these kinds of accessories improved enough over the years that I don't need to worry about this? There's a MZR Megagthread in AI for a lot of discussion on the Mazda3 and other non-Miata, non-rotary Mazdas of recent vintage. I recently posted a list in there of absolutely everything I've had to do to my Mazdaspeed3 since I bought it with 24k on it in April '09, through now with 103k on it. Keep in mind that a regular 3 is a bit lighter and uses considerably cheaper, longer-lived tires. I wouldn't sweat the reliability of the in-the-car components, they're solid. Kefit posted:Also, my friend says to avoid Mazda3 sedans because the car was designed primarily for the hatchback body style and that the sedan might be lacking in safety and maneuverability. Can I safely ignore him? Yes, he's being dumb. That said, get the hatch anyway because hatchbacks own  Kefit posted:This might not be the proper place for this, but I figured I'd ask the question here since I'm just looking for a quick easy answer for the purpose of selling my vehicle. As you can see above one of the reflector thingies is hanging loose on the front right corner of my Saturn. Last summer I used some strong glue to glue it back into place, but it eventually wore off and the piece fell out again. I figure I'll glue it once again, perhaps with an adhesive that is more suitable to the task. But I don't know whether I should reveal this issue to a potential buyer. I wouldn't feel like I'm scamming anyone if I kept quiet since it doesn't affect the drivability of the car in any way, but I could see the buyer getting pretty irritated if it just falls out on them one day. Thoughts? A simple bill of sale will protect you legally, but nothing can stop people from being dumb. Another goon sold a Volvo 240 with major problems as a parts car, and the obnoxious fucks who bought it still complained up a storm about it.
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Mar 10, 2012 17:13
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shredswithpiks posted:I live in Colorado. If I saw a Liberty with 104k miles in anything resembling decent shape for $5k I'd buy it without hesitation and immediately re-list it on craigslist or wherever. Those things sell drat fast out here, too. This is very interesting...I had no idea there was such a big secondary market for Liberty's. That being said, what's the process for selling a car on Craigslist? I know I'd get more from a person than I would at a dealer, so that sounds like the more attractive route. Is it worth it to take care of minor repairs and stuff, or let the buyer take care of that?
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Mar 10, 2012 22:46
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Omne posted:This is very interesting...I had no idea there was such a big secondary market for Liberty's. Pretty much up to you, if you're willing to pay to make the sale, or discount it so they can do it themselves. Or you can tell them that it's your price, as is. I'm going to be downgrading my Mazdaspeed6 very shortly into something like a 04-08 Focus/Vibe/Xa/etc and curious about the process of making sure I do the deal properly. Do I need to do a cashier's check, or will cash suffice? What documentation do I need to make sure is handled. Just looking to dot all the Is so I don't make any mistakes in the bureaucratic aspect of it.
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Mar 11, 2012 02:45
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Omne posted:This is very interesting...I had no idea there was such a big secondary market for Liberty's. I have sold a bunch of cars on craigslist, and haven't really worried about minor repairs. I'll fix things up enough to get it to pass emissions... last car I sold via craigslist had a clicking CV axle so I replaced that (myself, car guy here) before selling it because I consider that to be a cheap major fix. It's pretty easy. Just post it for sale with pictures and be straight forward. Only meet during the day in public places. If you still owe money on the car, check with your bank for what their process is to release the title is when selling it off to someone who isn't a dealer.
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Mar 11, 2012 18:57
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I'm looking at buying a 2006 Nissan Sentra with 100k miles for about $6000. A mechanic has looked it recently and said that the thermostat is stuck open and needs to be replaced, but that there are no other issues and otherwise the car is in good shape. I have a pretty favorable opinion of Nissans, and this car is definitely in my price range (I can pay cash). But, it's hard not to be nervous about buying a car with 100k miles on it. My budget goes up to $8000. Should I hold out for something better, or is it worth it to act now while I've got something decent on the line?
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Mar 12, 2012 14:30
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Kefit posted:On another subject: It looks like the back portion of the light has broken and some remains screwed into the fender. A replacement light from a junkyard will almost certainly cost you less than a can of epoxy to put that one back on, honestly. They might charge you a dollar for that light. I know that's what I paid for some replacement lights for the Volvo (though to be fair those were smaller)
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Mar 12, 2012 14:46
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grass clacking posted:I'm looking at buying a 2006 Nissan Sentra with 100k miles for about $6000. A mechanic has looked it recently and said that the thermostat is stuck open and needs to be replaced, but that there are no other issues and otherwise the car is in good shape. On modern cars that magic 100K mileage number really isn't a big deal. A modern properly maintained engine can run for 250K+ pretty easily. I worry about transmissions more than I do engines these days. While cars can run forever have to be taken care of though. I would look up the factory maintenance schedule for that car (timing belt, fluid changes, transmission service) and see if they've been done or not. If they can't show proper maintenance has been done, walk away and find a better car to look at. 100K is a time where major maintenance costs usually come into play. 100K is close to the interval for a new timing belt (~800 bucks), transmission fluid change, cooling system change, etc. You don't want to buy a 6K car that needs 1500 in maintenance. I like looking at tires on used cars as an idea of how they have been taken care of. If it's rolling on 4 almost bald pep boy specials walk away, that means they definitely didn't pay to maintain the car except to the bare minimum.
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Mar 12, 2012 17:54
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skipdogg posted:I like looking at tires on used cars as an idea of how they have been taken care of. If it's rolling on 4 almost bald pep boy specials walk away, that means they definitely didn't pay to maintain the car except to the bare minimum. I also like this test. Generally, the people who go to the big chain tire shop and buy the cheapest tires they can and run them until the belts are showing are not the kind of person you want to buy a used car from. Crap tires often a dead giveaway for the type of owner/maintenance the car had. Those 4 little rubber contact patches are quite literally the only things keeping your car on the road. Tires are far and away the most important safety and routine maintenance item on your vehicle, and yet most people on the road utterly neglect their tires. lovely/cheap tires, over/under inflated, bad alignment causing uneven wear and bad handling, bald tires, and tires so old the rubber compound is worthless are all pretty much par for the course, and it's terrifying to think about. It doesn't matter how well your brakes work, how much power you have, or how hard your car can corner if your tires aren't up to the task of gripping the road, especially in wet or snowy weather. Tires are the very last thing you should skimp on for your car. You don't have to spend a fortune on tires, but the difference between cheap no-name tires and respectable mid-range tires is a night and day difference, in all road conditions. And if you're really meticulous about it (and live in a place that warrants it), having two sets of wheels is really the best way to go. One set mounted with winter/snow tires, and one set with summer/performance tires. Then you get the best of all worlds without having to run jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none all seasons. Now that's a guy I want to buy a used car from. Doesn't apply in all situations, of course. It'd be overkill for an economy car in California where you can just run summer tires all year long. Guinness fucked around with this message at 19:40 on Mar 12, 2012 |
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Mar 12, 2012 19:25
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Last September I paid cash for a new 2012 Kia Forte 5 Door. It's got about 6k miles on it. Now it looks like, come August, I'm going to be moving abroad for at least one year, probably two. What do I do in this situation? The car is currently registered and insured in California. My parents in Tennessee would be willing to keep it and drive it occasionally. Would that be a better option that trying to sell it? I'm worried that, due to the make, it has depreciated so quickly that selling might not be a good idea. Any thoughts?
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Mar 13, 2012 14:16
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erobadapazzi posted:Last September I paid cash for a new 2012 Kia Forte 5 Door. It's got about 6k miles on it. Now it looks like, come August, I'm going to be moving abroad for at least one year, probably two. What do I do in this situation? The car is currently registered and insured in California. My parents in Tennessee would be willing to keep it and drive it occasionally. Would that be a better option that trying to sell it? I'm worried that, due to the make, it has depreciated so quickly that selling might not be a good idea. Any thoughts? I think you'd be better off letting your parents keep it and drive it. I think you'd take a big hit selling it, anyone shopping for a kia would probably want to buy new for the warranty. This is just a guess, however.
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Mar 13, 2012 20:41
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erobadapazzi posted:Last September I paid cash for a new 2012 Kia Forte 5 Door. It's got about 6k miles on it. Now it looks like, come August, I'm going to be moving abroad for at least one year, probably two. What do I do in this situation? The car is currently registered and insured in California. My parents in Tennessee would be willing to keep it and drive it occasionally. Would that be a better option that trying to sell it? I'm worried that, due to the make, it has depreciated so quickly that selling might not be a good idea. Any thoughts? I'd find out what you'd get for it private party and from carmax, it might end up proving you should keep it, but used cars are holding their value so well right now it's worth checking.
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Mar 13, 2012 21:07
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Carmax will give you decent money on the Kia. See the investing or forex thread on how to turn that cash into loss carryforwards.
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Mar 14, 2012 14:56
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Don Lapre posted:Unscrew the broken part off, repair it with 2part epoxy and screw it back in. Why can't he just buy a new/used part and fix it the right way?
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Mar 14, 2012 23:52
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Elephanthead posted:Carmax will give you decent money on the Kia. See the investing or forex thread on how to turn that cash into loss carryforwards. After some Googling, I'm still not clear on what this means. I don't make enough money to owe any taxes (and I especially won't considering I will get the foreign income exclusion for the next two years). Is this still relevant for me? Thanks to those of you who mentioned Carmax. What's a good way to go about figuring out how much I could get for the car in a private sale?
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Mar 15, 2012 00:49
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erobadapazzi posted:Thanks to those of you who mentioned Carmax. What's a good way to go about figuring out how much I could get for the car in a private sale? https://www.edmunds.com https://www.kbb.com https://www.nada.com
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Mar 15, 2012 13:38
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Nocheez posted:https://www.edmunds.com I'll throw in autotrader and cars.com as well. Of course, what they're listed for and what they're actually selling for are different, but you can see what twenty cars identical to your are listed for both privately and at dealerships. Should give you a lot of useful information since prices are sometimes different than KBB.
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Mar 16, 2012 14:01
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erobadapazzi posted:Thanks to those of you who mentioned Carmax. What's a good way to go about figuring out how much I could get for the car in a private sale? Ebay motors "completed listings" has actual hard data instead of just estimates.
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Mar 16, 2012 16:15
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Realjones posted:Ebay motors "completed listings" has actual hard data instead of just estimates. Really? holy poo poo I need to keep that in mind.
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Mar 16, 2012 16:20
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CornHolio posted:Really? holy poo poo I need to keep that in mind. He just means you can see what cars sold for (minus ones where the buyer reneged). Though depending on what your selling, you might not have a lot of data points on ebay. truecar.com has a carmax-like we buy from you type service. I tried it out on my Corvette, and it gave me an ok rock bottom price. Better than the "I have 1/2 of what you want, in cash, tonight." offers from Craigslist.
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Mar 16, 2012 16:40
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TraderStav posted:Pretty much up to you, if you're willing to pay to make the sale, or discount it so they can do it themselves. Or you can tell them that it's your price, as is. I posted this earlier and was really hoping to gain some insight into this as I now have cash in hand to start finding a nice little manual hatchback. What I think would be ideal (but perhaps not realistic) would be to have the cash in hand for the seller (always more enticing!) and take the car when the deal is done. But, what I don't know is if there is any bill of sale, or reciepts, or other documentation that I need to have to protect myself later. Maybe the seller is a dick and claims I never paid him, or whatever. Anyone care to weigh in? I'm in Michigan, by the way. Also, totally only speaking about the documentation aspect, I'll have an inspection and such done before I decide to buy!
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Mar 16, 2012 19:36
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Thanks for all the tips. The problem I'm having, though, is that I can't really find any cars identical to mine up for sale on those websites. I'm starting to think I'll keep it just to avoid the hassle of selling it and then buying something else later.
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Mar 17, 2012 17:39
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Everyone says avoid car payments, but I don't like commitment and I like switching cars a lot. Is a lease really that bad of a financial decision? What's the alternative? buy a new car with cash and sell it three years later?
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Mar 20, 2012 03:20
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Doesn't a lease lock you in to a 2-4 year commitment? It's just a rental. Do the math out and see if you're OK with spending $10,000 to borrow a car for a few years.
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Mar 20, 2012 03:27
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Lolcano Eruption posted:Everyone says avoid car payments, but I don't like commitment and I like switching cars a lot. Is a lease really that bad of a financial decision? How often do you switch cars? If you switch every 3 years, and you like to have a brand new car leasing can work out for you. Shorter 24 month leases are available, but those can be expensive as you're packing in 40% depreciation into 24 months, where most leases are in the 50 to 56% range over 3 years. An alternative is pay cash for a 5 or 6 year old well taken car of mid/high end car, drive it for a year or so then sell it. You can swap cars more often, and probably break even when selling them. The downside is your driving a 5 or 6 year old car instead of a brand new one. This is what my mom does. She changes cars every 6 to 12 months. She buys a car cash in the 12 to 20 thousand dollar range, usually a 5 to 7 year old car with 80 to 100 thousand miles on it that had an MSRP in the 30 to 40K range when new. She drives it until she gets tired of it, sells it for what she paid for it or close to it and goes out and finds a new one to drive. I'm currently leasing my wife's SUV. It made sense for us as she hasn't kept a car longer for 3 years ever, and we enjoy having one brand new vehicle in the family. If we like it at the end of the lease we can buy it, if we get sick of it at 33 months we can have the lease bought out and trade it in. It's like an option. If it's worth less than the lease end purchase amount we agreed on, I can turn the car in and they eat the loss. If it's worth 25K and my lease purchase price is 19.5K, I can buy it, then sell it myself and make a few grand on it. We get the best 36 months of the cars life, and we only pay for what we use.
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Mar 20, 2012 04:29
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I've always said I'd drive my 2001 Saturn into the ground, and I think that time is fast approaching. So it's not worth much, but I'd like to wring as much value as I can when I dump it. Would a dealer give me the most out of pity/attempt to get my business?
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Mar 20, 2012 05:40
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No, a dealer is going to give the lowest value short of a scrap yard. Clean it up, take some nice pictures, gather all the maintenance records, write up a good ad, and put it on craigslist. A running car that is in one piece and gets okay gas mileage is worth about $1000 minimum. Typically, when dealers give you "good" or even "great" trade in value, they will just not come down on the sale price of the new car. If you must trade it in, negotiate the price of the new car first, then talk trade in.
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Mar 20, 2012 05:49
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Definitely sell it yourself. A running vehicle is worth at least 1,000 bucks to the right person on craigslist. I gave away a car a few years ago. 98 Dodge Neon, paint was trashed, lovely tint, total beater. Valve stem seals were shot so it burned a little oil, but other than that was mechanically sound. I literally gave the car and title to someone for nothing because I didn't want to deal with the hassle of selling it, or having the guilt of selling a non perfect car to someone. Long story short, he put a 20 dollar set of hubcaps from Walmart on it, washed the outside and spent 30 minutes cleaning out the inside and sold it in less than 48 hours for 1600 bucks cash.
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Mar 20, 2012 17:05
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Back in the day, I would take my beater and donate it to charity for what ever the best KBB value was and kept the printout as documentation...they don't let you do that anymore, but it was nice writing off $8K for a BMW I paid $750 for.
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Mar 20, 2012 17:23
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LorneReams posted:Back in the day, I would take my beater and donate it to charity for what ever the best KBB value was and kept the printout as documentation...they don't let you do that anymore, but it was nice writing off $8K for a BMW I paid $750 for. I was set to donate my wife's Saturn to NPR, then I found out that what they do is sell the car at an auction and give you a tax write-off equal to that amount. I decided to sell it and will donate half to NPR. That'll probably be more than they would get for the car at auction.
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Mar 20, 2012 18:37
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I've been pondering buying a car, but have never put any real thought into it. Providence has now forced my hand and I need one suddenly. Everyone I know also seems to be insane about car advice; saying never buy used even though this thread says otherwise and they always seem to have regrets with their purchases so I will probably discount their advice. I have no idea where to start. I've never having made a loan/credit card I don't know any of the processes. The car would probably do 30-60mi a weekday(3o being the avg), and I know next to nothing of car maintenance. This thread seems to recommend mostly Altima, Mazda3, Civic,Corolla and Camry models which is what I've started searching for. How fast is too fast though because I need a car soon: was sharing rides with family,3 cars, and due to negligence they're down to 1 until the other 2 are fixed. http://tiny.cc/85khbw would this be a good car for example? I can afford to put 7k upfront.
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Mar 20, 2012 21:48
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