lazza

I was going to purchase or lease a car through international autosource, but for a number of reasons, they were unable to come up with a solution that I was comfortable with. The major issue was my inability to get my head around the huge amount of money that I would be spending to lease a car (couldn't afford the two year finance rates). So now I am wandering aimlessly through the world of new car buying ErikK - I know you had some success with BMW, but I don't have a large amount to put down, so that's not something I can explore.

Sooo...

I feel like I have got a couple of options - one is to buy a car for around/not more than $5,000 and hope like hell it lasts for a while, for this I would need a recommendation for a mechanic - someone who will not take a single lady who knows nothing about motor vehicles for a ride (I can't stop the puns!)

The other option is to spend less, and get something that needs work. Something for a few hundred from ebay. My thoughts on this are that a) I must be mad to consider it, having read through the advice about not buying "as is" on the carbuyingtips website but also b) if someone's just trying to get a few hundred for a car that's seen better days, they're more likely to be honest about what needs doing, than a dealer who's trying to get a few thousand for a car that's still done a heap load of miles. If I went this way I would again need a recommendation for a trustworthy mechanic, and also some input from anyone out there who's tried it, and whether there are any success stories?

Also, general question to everyone, what's the most miles you would consider on a used car?

I guess the situation I am trying to replicate is my best friend at home's - she paid £550 for a renault clio at auction, and then paid around £1000 - £1200 on repairs. Six years later, the car is finally on it's last legs but has served its purpose well.

Finally - if anyone knows of a really cheap car for sale in the North East, that's drivable (but may need work doing) let me know!

Thanks!

lazza

Whoops - I should have said, the mechanic recommendation request is for someone not too far from Stamford, CT.

Noorah101

About 10,000 to 12,000 per year.

Rene

Octang Frye

It depends. A car with 100,000 highway miles will probably be in better shape than 40,000 from stop and go driving.

avanutria

I got a 2002 Sable (I specifically looked for this model) with about 68k miles on it for $6,300. I saw many others of similar vintage for much less money but a lot more miles*, and didn't want to risk the possibility of expensive repairs.

Make sure you have the dealership change all the fluids, including transmission fluid - I changed mine last week and it cost $130, and it was dirty enough to not have been done by the dealer before I bought it.

* For example, a few streets away from me there is a 2001 Sable for sale with 122k miles and a price of about $2,300.

retzie

I wouldn't do this unless I already had a mechanic I trusted. Anyone you approach will know you want them to do the work, so if they are dishonourable, who knows how far astray they will lead you?

You should be able to get a solid performer for around $5k. (I would not go above ~100k for that, as a very, very vague guide.) You will almost always get more for your dollar in a private sale, but keep in mind that the seller may be oblivious to existing problems, so the risk is not just their deliberately misleading you. Having said that, during my car search, a dealer swore blind that one specimen hadn't been in a smash, but you could see the entire rear axle was sitting about 6 inches to the left!

In either case, you already know to get it checked by a decent independent mechanic first, so you should be fairly safe

Some basic things to look out for:

• Always look at the car from all angles (you want symmetry). Don't be afraid to take your time, take several paces back, etc.
  
• Make sure all the joins line up (esp. around doors). If they don't, that's a telltale sign it has been in an accident.
  
• Check tyre wear (eg. inside edge vs outside edge) - if it is uneven, again, a big pointer to an accident.
  
• Bring a magnet and run it over the main body panels - if there are sections it doesn't stick, that is where it has a bunch of filler, so you are looking at a patch up after an accident, or worse, rust!
  
• Find out if anyone reports to Carfax (or similar) in your area/state before falling for any "It has a clean Carfax report" lines. Apparently my state does not!!
  
• Factor maintenance costs into the price. eg. Euro cars are almost always more expensive to service here.

By the way, an accident isn't a deal breaker in and of itself - the problems occur when things aren't fixed properly.

My final piece of advice is don't go into it feeling like a sitting duck! Attitude will get you a long way in this process (how many blokes don't really know anything about cars either ) Not to say you need to pretend, but be ballsy, ask questions and if you think they are talking nonsense, call them on it! (Being a foreign girlie who happens to know the odd thing about cars, I happily scared the crap out of them )

avanutria

Also, when it comes time for talking about price, the less you say the more nervous the salesman will get. By my not saying anything for about 15 seconds after he said the total price while in the office, he ended up knocking about $300 off the price (paid for the titling fees etc).

Poppy girl

This is the Queen of car buying matey

So 1st most dealerd ships will let you have a new car yep a spanking new one with no money down if you have credit above 720 so check your credit score!

2nd My 1st ever car in the US when I was broke was a $100 ford aspire from a towing yard and it lasted me about 16months and I sold it for $400 check out the towing yard in the area you will be very surprised what they have and can get a real bargin plus they have, most of them in house mechanics so you know who to use when and if it goes wrong!! Cheap

My buddy bought a great Cherokee for $900 2 years ago and driven the crap out of it and still running fine.

Bob

Depends on the car, I'd hate to get a pick up with loads of miles because it's probably been battered...I'd not get a Ford with 100K on it, but wouldn't worry about a Honda Accord with that kind of mileage.

Just get a cheap beater for now, but look into the states Lemon Laws, knowing those will help you not get shafted to badly, if they're any good.

Living in a cold state, you want to get the car jacked and look to see if it is a rust bucket underneath, mufflers and exhaust pipes can go quite regularly, well the hangers at least and potholes can knacker the struts so tyres take a beating. European cars, especially from colder countries, Swedish/German, they tend to hold up a lot better in winter.

If you go with a dealer, the car should come with a free carfax type of report, if they don't, it's not a good sign and they are pretty reliable, around here and I think down your way, any accident that looks to be about $1000 requires a police report, which will get reported.

Also, check to see what cars are popular in your area, makes a huge difference. Up in Maine, Saabs are really popular and cheap, can get a set of struts replaced all in for $200 but down in Mass, less so and it'll run you $600 but on the other hand, Honda's and Toyota's are much more popular and you can get a brake job done for a fraction of the cost here than up in Maine.

Don't get anything with low profile tyres, they're expensive and you'll go through more sets unless you get a spare set of wheels to put them on instead of swapping tyres around for winter, but even steel rims on 17" wheels cost a fortune.

TimNiceBut

The situation might be slight different in the NE, but out here in Nevada, pretty much anything for a few hundred should've been towed to the junk yard a few years ago.

I do a lot of work on my own vehicles, think I know my way around a car or a motorcycle, never had an issue finding something at least half-decent for a grand in the UK but out here, I'm looking at 2-3 grand and still have issues finding something worth my while.

OTOH being on the edge of the desert, even the heaps are refreshingly rust free compared to the UK.

Bomjeito

My dad is a mechanic and we are New Englanders (but not near Stamford!) -

His advice for our areas is:
1. Watch the rust situation. American cars are notorious rust buckets, go for VW on a budget, or Audi/BMW. Its in the paint and metal. Another idea is to talk to some mechanics and see if any have friends in the auction business. Given them a budget and see what they find in Florida, Carolinas, etc. This can add years to your car. (When I was living in Nevada, I'd find decent cars and ship them for $500 out to upstate NY where my dad now lives.)
2. Anything American and over 100k miles - give it a pass. In fact, anything over 75k miles. They simple aren't build to last. I know, I know, many will jump on here and say my 1998 Ford Taurus is 100,000 miles and still runs - but lets face it, are you happy with it???? All the knobs are broken, the rust is non-stoppable and the parts are getting harder to find.
3. No problem on a 75-100k VW, Audi, BMW, Toyota or Honda. If rust free or rust tolerable, then those will give you many more miles of life on them, if you have a good mechanic.

Look at Subarus as well, but Stamford doesn't exactly get the weather like NH mountains or Maine. Plus people are driving them, not selling them.

We all had cheap winter rat cars up there (well, at least us folks in mountains/hill country) - looks did not count, but ability to start without a heater was key piece for us in the Adirondacks. VWs surely started all the time (forget diesels, of course, they don't start in cold.)

Ozzidoc

You need to talk to the Tappit (?sp) brothers at
www.cartalk.com

TimNiceBut

While I'm not necessarily that big a fan of American cars, you're generalising far too much. Yes, the might not be wearing the miles quite that well but there are enough ones out here with 200k+ on the clock that are in decent nick provided the previous owner looked after them. There are also tons of grotty ones out there with a lot less than 100k.

A Jeep with the straight six in it will easily do 200k-300k if you look after it, provided the rattles don't drive you nuts. That said, a lot of them rust rather well.

I'd be very wary of Subarus as they have had enough expensive habits in the past - depending on the age and model, some of them like lunching slushboxes, others (later ones) like lunching their engine at what I'd consider unreasonable mileage, or blowing headgaskets.

So, how do the big rig drivers then deal with the cold, hmm? You also realise that people in other countries occasionally drive, say, VW diesels to places where the temperature drops below 50F?

avanutria

The ones I've seen on highway truck stops are generally plugged into heaters.

Bob

Jeeps are shit in the winter.

And big rigs, they drive on petrol...seriously, most of those log trucks and wood moving gear are petrol because the diesel slushes out in the woods when it gets that cold....plus it's next to impossible to find diesel in the NE area, apart from Hess and along the motorway, it's pretty hard to find on a regular basis.