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I was in the process of buying a used car and when I closed the deal the seller told me they have a lien on the car from the bank. Now they want me to meet them at the bank to settle the lien so I can get the title. Does this sound sketchy at all? Also is there a way I can make sure I actually get the car when the loan is paid? I am uncomfortable with the idea writing a check to the bank before getting the car, but I'm not really sure what to expect here.
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Aug 15, 2010 20:09
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:22 |
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moana posted:I did this when buying our last used car from a private seller, it's necessary because the bank holds the title to the car (in our case - and maybe in most cases - it was collateral on the loan that he had). I think we wrote the check to him and then he just wrote another check to the bank, but we still had to go to the bank with him to get the car title. He came with another person who could drive him back so we just took the car after the bank gave us the title, I guess you could do that if you're worried about getting the car right away. Don Lapre posted:This is perfectly normal when buying a used car with a loan still on it. Just make sure you have a good receipt like you should anyway. Ok thanks for the help. So I should be getting the car and the title when I give the bank the check (I am using a cashier's check) and not at some later date, is that correct? Do we then need to go to the DMV for more paperwork?
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Aug 15, 2010 22:06
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I have a 2001 Toyota Celica w/ about 110,000 miles on it that I am thinking about selling. I paid $5200 for it but I see ones in my area with more miles on them on Craigslist and they are asking $7,000 to $9,000 for them, though if I could get ~$6000 I would be happy. I have been considering selling it and paying cash for a new Focus or Corolla to use as a daily driver for, at bare minimum, the next 10 years, but I have some questions. 1: I think I saw truecar.com recommended in this thread, is that a good guide for what I should be paying for a new car? I assume I would pay sales tax on top of the price they list, but are there any other hidden fees I should look out for? Is it reasonable to expect to be out the door with a new Corolla for ~$17,000? 2: What's the deal with American cars? I've heard that the Focus is pretty drat good these days, but I am really worried because all of the used American cars I have owned (usually mid-late 90s models) have been complete poo poo that fell apart. Have they really improved? Can you trust these to perform for 150,000+ miles like the Toyotas/Hondas? 3: Does the dealer pay at all whether or not you pay cash? Should I expect a better deal or do they not care? 4: Anyone have some other cheap cars to recommend besides the Corolla or the Focus? I am looking for something affordable that gets good gas mileage and will last a long time.
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Feb 7, 2012 17:07
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CornHolio posted:Don't mention how you're paying until the very end. Don't lie, but if they ask if you're planning on financing just give a noncommital "maybe" or "we'll see." Make it clear that you don't want to talk about paying until you're ready, and then after you've settled on a price, whip out the Benjamins. I'll do that, thanks. LorneReams posted:I would recommend not even loving around. Grab the invoice TruPrice or whatever it's called from edmunds, call 5 different dealers and pick the one that will give you that price (or close to it) out the door. Make sure you say OUT THE DOOR. Then when you get there, understand you are going to be paying for tax and registration fees (know this ahead of time so you don't get hosed), and then refuse to pay any other bullshit fee that they love to put on the P&S agreement. Like physically cross them off (VIN etching, doc fees, etc.). They make it look like you can't do this, but you can. If they give any resistance, just leave, someone else will give you what you want. Well first I want to test drive a few, but I'll do this once I've decided and I'm ready to buy. Thwomp posted:2: American cars began an upswing in quality around 2006-7 and are now almost completely filled with non-terrible lineups. GM was a major abuser until about 2008 when they redesigned the Malibu. Since then, they phased out poo poo cars like the HHR, Cobalt, and Aveo and replaced them with really nice models (Cruze and Sonic). So how do they know the reliability of the American brands improved if it started in 2005-06? It seems like you would have to wait until they have been on the roads for a decade or so before you can really tell if they are built to last. Do they do actual road tests where they drive them that far? I'm fairly sold on the Fords being good, but I think I'll steer clear of GM for now. Thanks for the advice everyone, I am totally new at this and I definitely needed the help.
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Feb 9, 2012 17:26
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I have a 2001 Toyota Celica with about 105,000 miles on it. I bought it ~18 months ago for $5,200. It has been burning oil for a while and it died the other day, though now I can start it and drive it again. I took it to the dealer for a diagnosis and they said that it isn't worth putting any money into and the engine is about to go. I can get a rebuilt engine with a 3 year warranty installed for $3,800. It is in pretty good shape otherwise, aside from some scrapes and dents on the rear bumper that were there when I bought it. My gut instinct is to go ahead and spend the money, but I'm not sure if there are other options I should look at.
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Apr 18, 2012 21:45
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Don Lapre posted:You should be able to find a used engine and get it installed way cheaper than that. Here is a reman on ebay for $1600 shipped Yeah, I hadn't really thought much about installing it myself. The place I went to wanted $695 for labor and the engine it came with had a 3 year warranty, so I'd have to weigh that against this. I've never taken an engine out before, but there's a first time for anything I guess. If I screwed it up and couldn't finish I could haul it to the shop and have them put it in if worst came to worst. I have a GT. Leperflesh posted:There are only two situations where anyone should take their car to a dealer for service: It was $90 at the dealership vs $50 elsewhere though so not a huge deal just to have it looked at. My worry wasn't so much whether the mechanics would be familiar with it so much as when I asked around most people had had bad experiences with the independent shops I asked about. quote:Having said that: I'm surprised that a Celica engine is ready to be scrapped at just 105k. I agree with Don Lapre that you can get a reasonable used engine in for a lot less. I'd also get a second opinion from a non-dealership mechanic before writing off your current engine: it may be that at non-assrape labor and parts costs, fixing the problem that's causing oil burning could be cheaper than replacing the engine. The $3800 is from a non-dealer mechanic, the dealer wanted $7000. I'm actually kind of doubting whether the guy who told me that has any idea what he is talking about. I don't know that much about cars but between: 1. Low power 2. Copious white smoke 3. Burning oil It seems to match up with a damaged/blown head gasket. I'm going to pull the spark plugs out and check for gunk and maybe look into replacing the head gasket, which looks tough but not as bad as pulling the whole engine.
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Apr 19, 2012 18:59
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Ok I stopped by the shop today and talked to the guy who worked on it. First here is his writeup of the problem:quote:Low compression in cylinder 4. Inspected engine and found large amount of oil running down the cylinder block mostly coming from the head gasket area due to possible warpage. Ran a compression test found cyl 4 to be low, added small amount of engine (oil?) and retested. Found compression to come back up meaning piston rings or cyl wall damage is present. That sounds bad to me. Clearly the head gasket is bad but if the cylinder wall is damaged my impression is that means a new engine. I guess I could have the holes rebored and put bigger piston rings in, but I don't really wouldn't want to spend that much money on a gamble. I'm really don't feel comfortable ordering an engine online, but maybe that is silly. The ones Autozone is selling here: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Engine/_/N-9enw6 are $2800 though, which isn't much cheaper than the shop. And if I was gonna put it in myself I would pay a couple hundred bucks to one of my friends who is good with cars to come help. Then again it would be a good learning experience. Hmmmm. Anybody know how long it usually takes to pull out an engine and put the new one in? I can borrow a hoist for free. I appreciate the responses I've been getting, it's tough to weigh all of these options.
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Apr 20, 2012 06:07
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Anybody have an opinion on the Doge Neon? Specifically I'm looking at a 2005 with ~100k miles for $4000. Edmunds didn't list any major reliability problems for that model but other review sites seem to give it a bad ranking in reliability, and I'm not sure which I should trust. I'm basically just looking for a driving appliance for the next few years and don't care too much about it being fun to drive or looking cool.
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Jun 23, 2012 06:57
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nm posted:Jesus, why? Ah, well glad I asked then, thanks. It never even occurred to me to look at the crash test results for some reason, but it is pretty important. I'm about to go take a look at a 2011 Focus, that seems like a fairly solid bet.
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Jun 23, 2012 17:22
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Ramrod Hotshot posted:About how much should I be paying for a 2005 Civic with 100k miles? It's listed at 7,500, but my cousin has some leverage with the dealer and might be able to bump it down some. I've been looking at used cars in this price range for a while now. That isn't wildly overpriced but it isn't a great deal either. If you pass it up I doubt you would have a problem finding a better deal fairly quickly if you watch Craigslist like a hawk. The way I think about is that I could buy a brand new Civic for $17,000. A well built car probably has a total lifespan of about 200k miles if you take care of it well. $7.5k is a little under half the cost of the car, which has about half its lifespan left. But the second half of the cars life is going to be much more expensive than the first half and it won't have any resale value left at the end, so compared to buying new I don't know that this is a great deal. I'm not saying go buy a new car (I don't), it's just a metric I use to see whether I'm getting a good deal.
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Jul 12, 2012 21:06
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Does anybody have any experience with buying a rebuilt car? I've been watching Craigslist like a hawk for a while and I'm getting down to either buying a new 2012 Civic for ~$14000 or going for rebuilt. All of the used cars I see are 100k+ miles and they want insane amounts of money for what you're getting. Rebuilt you can get a lot cheaper. I know it's a gamble, but I'm interested in just how much of a gamble it is.
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Feb 13, 2013 04:11
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I would consider buying a salvage titled car in two circumstances. Bovril Delight posted:If you arent familiar with cars buying a salvage title is going to only end in disaster. Point taken. I may go with an older car and just be ready to stick a rebuilt engine in it at some point.
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Feb 14, 2013 23:42
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IOwnCalculus posted:Unless you're buying a $14k 996-generation Porsche 911, no reasonable $14k car will need a "rebuilt engine" at any time in the remotely near future if you follow basic maintenance schedules. And if $10-14k is only finding you "100k mile" cars, you either seriously need to expand your search in terms of make/model/location, or work on your search skills. Of course, as discussed in the thread repeatedly, having 100k miles is not the death knell people thought it was. The lowest-mile car I own has 120k, and it's only six years old. Sorry that was a confusing sentence. The $14k would be for a brand new car (2012 model), or about $16k w/ taxes and fees. If I'm going with a car to stick an engine in I would be looking in the ~$2k range. The lowest mileage car I've ever owned had 97k on it and the one I drive now has 120k, it works but it burns oil like mad and I have to replace something every few months. One junkyard near me has the same model and if it weren't for being able to strip that thing I probably would have given up. I'm know that there are cars out there that do fine with very high miles but they are hard to find and I just hate the thought of putting down $5-7k on a gamble like that. I think I'm just longing for the good old days when you actually could get a decent little car for a few thousand bucks but the market isn't like that anymore.
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Feb 15, 2013 05:33
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TheManWithNoName posted:What's a decent offer to make on this car, assuming the test drive/inspection goes okay? $1000 if it runs. Unless it has some sort of hobbyist value I'm not aware of.
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Feb 16, 2013 16:02
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I'm looking at a $5000 2005 Focus w/ ~85k miles on it. It seems to stack up fairly well compared to everything else I see on Craigslist. It is in pretty immaculate shape from what I can tell, though I would have it checked out by a dealer before I bought it. Anyone have any thoughts on whether that is a good deal?
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Feb 19, 2013 04:29
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Since this thread was birthed in BFC I feel like I have the obligation to say that if it takes you five years of debt to pay for the purchase of a luxury item then you flat out cannot afford that luxury item.
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Feb 20, 2013 04:14
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So is the opinion on mid-2000s (2005 specifically) Focuses (Foci?) generally positive? Edmunds gave them top marks in reliability which is what I'm mainly concerned with. But from asking people I know I'm getting a lot of complaints.
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Feb 21, 2013 02:56
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Saltin posted:Since we're being financially prudent, it makes no sense to hurry and pay off a loan that is on a note @ 1.9% APR. It's free money Actually a guaranteed 2% isn't bad at all right now. I guess borrowing isn't AS bad as if you have the money and want to take a loan anyway to invest with. But really, borrowing money just to invest is still not the best idea in the world. And 99.99% of the people who go out and borrow money for a car aren't doing it because they think they can do better in the stock market, they're doing it because they can't afford a $35,000 car.
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Feb 23, 2013 15:31
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So if you agree to sell a car, but don't get a deposit or anything, and then get an offer better than the asking price, how much of a dick move is it to go with the second offer? Is that something that happens and people deal with it or is it really horrible?
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Jun 5, 2013 01:46
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Guinness posted:Craigslist I assume? Given how easily people flake out on craigslist - even after "agreeing" to buy/sell, I wouldn't worry about it too much especially if it's an all-cash deal. I might tell the original person that you got a better offer and give them a chance to beat it. KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:I'd keep my word, but in all honesty if you don't have cash in hand deposit-wise, it's within reason to go back on the deal. Yeah, Craigslist is correct. Thanks for chiming in. both of you. I did end up going back on the deal and took the money. I did feel bad about it but he took it ridiculously personally and insulted me so that made me feel less bad. I don't know, I think next time I will start with a high price I don't think I can sell it at and then slowly bring it down if it doesn't sell. This one probably went too cheap but I'm glad to be done with it. Also in the future I will make sure to park the car out on the street and have them meet me there so they don't know my address, gently caress that.
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Jun 6, 2013 05:08
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Does $13,000 for a 2014 Ford Focus hatchback with ~20,000 miles seem like a reasonable deal? It sounds like the right ballpark but I've never bought a car this new before. Is Kelly Blue Book a good source for this stuff?
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Apr 6, 2016 17:04
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KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:Location, trim, and options matter but my gut says not great. You can get a brand new 2016 without negotiating with $2500 on the hood these days. Edmunds suggests a $12,000 dealer ceiling on a '14 SE hatch. uninterrupted posted:If it's automatic then no. 2014 Focus had the same dumpster transmission the Fiesta had. Thanks for the response, I'll probably pass on this one. I had no idea about the Focus transmission problems, that's a real shame as I really like the older Focus I'm driving now. Since the Focus is probably off the table for me due to the transmission thing, are there any similar cars in that price range I should try? Proposed Budget: $9000-$13000 New or Used: Used Body Style: 4 door, hatchback preferred but sedan also acceptable How will you be using the car?: I drive around 8,000 miles/yr split between highway and city. Don't need a luxury car or a lot of options. What aspects are most important to you? (e.g. reliability, cost of ownership/maintenance, import/domestic, MPG, size, style) Reliability is my top concern, being at least moderately fun to drive is nice (I enjoy my old Focus, something like that is great). I'm in the US.
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Apr 7, 2016 04:45
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This thread loves the Prius, any love for the Prius C?
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Apr 9, 2016 15:34
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| # ¿ Apr 25, 2024 02:22 |
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berzerkmonkey posted:Ok, I was reading on some posts saying that people were seeing drops down to the low 40s (which is obviously still good mpg,) but there were also hypermileing maniacs in the mix, so I didn't know how much information was true, and how much was "I heard from a friend who saw a spreadsheet..." I took a 10 hour road trip in a rented Prius C and averaged a hair over 49 mpg going between 65 and 75 mph most of the way.
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Nov 5, 2016 17:54
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