Finding a "good" used car can drive you nuts

[David Freed]

Does anyone else know that selling a used car changes something inside your brain and turns you into a lying con artist?

I have been looking on Craigslist and several other places for 2 months trying to find a car in the up to $4000 range to replace the 93 New Yorker with 253,000 miles my wife is driving now. It is still dependable, but has several things wrong that would cost way more than it is worth to fix.

I have driven from 100 to 200 miles, 6 different times to look at over a dozen cars that are in "great, excellent, perfect, etc" condition, only to find a stuck thermostat, a/c not working, stop leak in the radiator, big dents conveniently hidden in the pics, etc.  >:(

I looked at a car at one business in Indy (not a car lot) that was in "excellent" condition, and found the front bumper zip tied on, other outside trim missing, stopleak in the radiator, and a few other problems. I told him there was stopleak in it, and his immediate response was "NO THERE ISN'T!" His response told me that he was the one that put it in.

A few days later I went to see another car in Indy only to find it was the same place selling a different car. I was a little mad at myself for not recognizing the directions, but more mad at them for trying to con people (including me). I told the guy that I was there to see the car. I also told him everything I had found on the other car and and asked him; "What are you trying to hide on this car". He went into another room, came out with someone else (bouncer?) and said " The car isn't for sale. You have a bad attitude. Leave now." They followed me to my car and stood there till I was on the road. He was right. I did have a bad attitude, but he gave it to me.  ;D

Another car I looked at was supposed to have a rebuilt transmission. I talked to him on the phone about it twice. After driving 120 miles to look at it, he tells me his nephew got the transmission from a junkyard, but he was sure it was rebuilt because he took the pan off and it was really clean.  lol All automatics "look" clean unless they have extremely severe problems. I smelled stopleak in it also. He said there wasn't and got a big straw to pull out a little water to prove it. When he pulled the straw out, an undisolved chunk came out with it. He then admitted that it was stopleak, but he didn't put it in.  :

I finally bought a 98 Bonneville with 185,000 miles last night for $3100. That was more miles than I wanted but at this point I decided to lower the standards I had set in my mind rather than spend twice as much as I originally intended. It is fairly common for a vehicle to go to 300,000+ miles these days, so it should last us a while. I saw an add for one full sized, American sedan with 375,000 miles for $2500. Even after all I've been through, I think that is a bit much.

I was going to post a picture, but I can't figure out how.

[beenthere]

As you have already said (quite well), you can't tell much from a picture.  ;D

But they are easy to post. Set up your own gallery, then go to the "Behind the Forum" board and read the easy tutorial.

[Warbird]

What does Stop Leak smell like?  You can sometimes see it in the radiator fluid but I never thought to smell for it.  Hope the car you ended up with turns out to be a great one.

[Brucer]

I have no trouble finding a good used vehicle. I just phone up my friend Don at McLachlan Automotive and tell him what I'm looking for. If he's got it on the lot, he'll tell me. He'll tell me what's good about it, what's wrong with it, and he'll give me a copy of the damage claim and accident report file for the vehicle. If there's stuff that could do with fixing, he'll tell me what it will cost in his shop -- usually a lot less than in other shops.

If he hasn't got what I want, he'll start looking at the fleet auctions. Might take him a week, might take him 4 months, but if it can be found, he'll find it.

Now I have to admit, Don is the first honest used car salesman that I've ever met. But he understands that a satisfied customer is one who will keep coming back ... and who will spread the word.

[SwampDonkey]

You guys sure pay a lot for >10 year old cars with high mileage. Those cars would do well to get $800 up here. Usually a 5 year old car is around $8,000 or less. A 5 year old car with low mileage you think might fetch $12000 with no snow miles, a dealer will sell it for $8,000. It's cut throat.

[ellmoe]

You guys sure pay a lot for >10 year old cars with high mileage. Those cars would do well to get $800 up here. .

   You right! Thank you cash for clunkers! >:(  All the affordable used cars went to the scrap yard. I'm currently looking for a older used car for my daughter. While the prices here are much less than David describe the prices are definitely higher and the selection is reduce as compared to life before C F C. Our brilliant gov'n in action.


Mark

[easymoney]

used cars and the mileage on them will only keep going up since the price of new cars keeps going up and so many people cant buy new any more. the new ones are made of so much plastic and loaded with gadgets that are expensive to repair when they go bad. sometimes the dealers do not know about problems with a car unless they drive it and check it over really close. i have a friend that runs a small used car lot. i bought a 97 buick riviera from him a couple of months ago. it had a cracked radiator that the person trading it to him failed to tell him about. it is the smoothest quitest running car i have ever owned. it will have to last me a long time i hope that it will last me till they will sell it at my estate sale and it will bring a premium price as a classic. ;)

[CLL]

 I have found the best way to buy cheap cars that are taken care of, is to watch local auctions.  Had a friend bought a
98 cadillac deville, with 76,000 on it, everything worked, for  $2300. The cars looks like new inside and out, it was really driven by an little old lady.  :D

[SwampDonkey]

Mom's uncle had a pickup for over 10 years that he only put 4500 km on, not miles. His grandson got it and wrecked it within a week in Toronto. He also had a Buick that he only drove to get groceries in town, mom's cousin got the car and it had hardly any miles on it.

Years ago, there was an old gal in town and her husband used to drive to work within town. One day she said to him, "you don't need no car to get to work, just park that in the garage and walk". :D :D

[Stutz]

Mid Feb I picked up a 96 MB SL500 with 38K miles for $4500. Bought it from
some 60+ yr old white lady. The car was like new. I am going to turn around
and sell it. I should get at least $9000 for it.

[Jeff]

So, what color are you, MAROON?  :-\

[Raider Bill]

So, what color are you, MAROON?  :-\

smiley_daisy

[Raider Bill]

Jeff FY bed wetting liberal!

Hey Stutz, No call for that man! :

[DouginUtah]

Bye, bye, Stutz.

Hope you enjoy Disneyland.

[Raider Bill]

swooosch........................................... and off he goes ;D

[SwampDonkey]

You fellers are hard on the membership. :D :D

Well, I gotta torment a little. ;)

[Raider Bill]

Just doing my part 8)

[Sprucegum]

  If you are going to be a bed wetter you might as well be liberal about it  ;D

My Grandma was one little old lady you should not buy a car from - that pedal was pressed tight against the floor all the time  

[D Hagens]

My rule of thumb throughout life when buying a used truck has always been the same and this might sound a bit odd but here it goes!
I always go buy the smell of the exhaust; no I don't get on my hands and knees and stuff my face in there! It's when I fire it up from a cold start, if things smell fine and it idles down and everything smells the same then I tend to buy that vehicle.
I've bought 5 or 6 trucks this way and have put on many kms without any problems.
I think the most I've ever had to replace was a water pump on the truck that I'm driving. I bought it with 60 k on it and now there's close to 300 k and never a problem.

[mdvaden]

Does anyone else know that selling a used car changes something inside your brain and turns you into a lying con artist?

Probably why I could only take 5 weeks of the work, when we moved to southern Oregon, then just went back into business again with pruning.

Was worth the education though about how the inside system works.

There was this one older salesman who didn't really need to lie, or say much at all. He handled sales almost effortlessly.

I thought it was interesting that if someone already tried wheeling and dealing at another auto sales lot earlier, it was evident in their credit check for round number 2. Our manager said it was not as critical to come down as much in the price, because statistically, folks usually buy at the second place they visit in the same day. Because they have already been through the wringer once, and put up little fight the next time. They are worn out, and just want to get it over with.

[Ianab]

Here in NZ there is a thriving trade in used cars from Japan. A 6-8 year old car in Japan is practically a junker, even if it's low mileage. So dealers buy them over there, get them shipped to NZ, certified and registed and sell them here, not necessarily cheap, but it's pushed down the price of used cars a LOT.

We just got home from picking a up new wagon for Lil, dealer had it advertised online, but it was still in Japan. Lil put a deposit on it, and we picked it up today. It wasn't exactly cheap, but it's a 2002 Toyota with 18,000 miles on the clock. I'm guessing the 200 mile run home today it the longest trip it's ever been on, and probably the fastest it's even been driven.



Only problem so far, the stereo seems to be something that they got suplus from the space shuttle or maybe a Transformers movie....

When you stick the car in reverse it turns into a reversing camera. other times it wants to be a televison, or a map of Japan, or a DVD player, or something else with Japanese instructions.  ??? We did figure out how tune in the local radio station, and to change the CD, you push one button, then tap the touch screen and the whole screen folds down and the CD ejects  :P

Apart from that, it drives like a 18,000 mile car should, plenty of pep for a 1.8l and we should get a good run out of it. Toyota still support them in NZ, and actually import the same model 2nd hand through their dealer network, but charge a couple of thousand more than the independant guys.

Ian

Ian

[SwampDonkey]

Japanese cars have high resale value here. Have for years and you don't see any Toyotas for sale at your local used car salesman's lot. Not in these parts anyway. Usually they will have Hyundai or Nissan and Korean made Kia.

[Texas Ranger]

Tough selling a good used car as well, the second question after how much, is "willyou take payments".

[Cedarman]

The last used car I sold on payments worked out real well.  I guaranteed I would keep the car until the last payment was made and then I would sign the title.  They made the 4 payments and I signed the title.  Worked for both of us.  No way that car was leaving with them owing.

[Ianab]

The last used car I sold on payments worked out real well.  I guaranteed I would keep the car until the last payment was made and then I would sign the title.  They made the 4 payments and I signed the title.  Worked for both of us.  No way that car was leaving with them owing.

Exactly.

If the bank wont lend them the money that's a sign you shouldn't either  ;)

[edwardj_]

I tend to buy older vehicles but i pay what they are worth. I am never looking for anything special just a mode of transportation.  My first car was an 11 year old Topas that I paid $1000.  was in good shape at the time...  had to park it for a while so my sister drove it for a year, then my dad did the same.  it had less than 150000km on it when i got it.  was a good deal to me...  only other four wheel type vehicle i bout was a 18 yr old chev pickup that had just over 350000km on it.  paid $1500 for it.  when i hit a dear 5 months later they apraised it at $2000 so i paid my deductable and bought it back and had $1505 in my pocket.  $300 plus my labour got it back on the road in less than a week.  still runs great...  the bit of blue smoke is to be expected with 418000 km on it now. 

If you are in a hurry to buy something you will be sorely dissapointed in the end.  if you are thinking of buying a used car avoid used car lots.  just keep your ear to the ground and tell people you are looking for x-type of vehicle with x-number of miles/km on it...  you will find something cheap enough within time...