nudda

im in Arizona and having a real hard time finding where I should be looking for used cars. Back home, I would just use autotrader or gumtree but here the decent cars (2-3 years old) seem to be with the dealers who I feel are trying to rip me off.

Any ideas pleass? Thanks!

Vimto

Have you tried CarMax?

nudda

thanks for replying.
I checked carFax but will check carmax now

sir_eccles

Don't expect good used cars to be cheap.

Pulaski

The US is the opposite of the UK. In the UK new cars are expensive, and used cars remarkably cheap, in the US new cars are cheap, and used cars are remarkably expensive.

IME Anything less than $5,000 is likely to be utter junk that is fit only for the scrapyard. ..... Keeping such a vehicle on the road is going to need a continuous stream of repairs.

Anian

Good cars hold their value so much that it is often better to buy new than one only a few years old. I bought my low-end model new but it was cheaper than a 3-year-old high-end version of the same model (and those didn't linger on the market for very long at all).

joto

Usually AAA can help with finding new cars, and they maybe able to help with used cars as well. Narrow down which cars are acceptable first, and then give them a call or email.

petitefrancaise

I just bought a car through carvana. An online company. If you know what you are looking for, they are very good and ended up with the best deal on the car I wanted.

civilservant

Agree with Pulaski - I am in the market for a new truck and a new F150 is cheaper than a 3 year old one with all the rebates.

Pulaski

That's undoubtedly true, but I still have no idea why?

civilservant

It's the rebates. $500 off here, $1000 off there. Total rebates on the truck I am looking at are $7800. Then add the fact that you pay no ad valorem tax on new cars in GA but you do on used and it soon adds up.

Pulaski

OK, yeah, I can see all the numbers, ..... but why doesn't the market price of used vehicles fall to a "fair" amount less than the price of a new vehicle? The "market" for used vehicles is, from a pure economics view point, a good approximation to a fair market - lots of equivalent "units" for sale with lots of competing sellers and many buyers. Assuming the buyers are aware of the price of a new vehicle, the price of a used vehicle should be lower.

In the case of Ford truck some people may be wary of the aluminum bed that they now come with, but didn't until very recently. I certainly would be if I was looking to buy now.

civilservant

The shortage of used cars stems from the deep plunge in new-car sales between 2008 and 2010, and the virtual disappearance of new-car leases during the financial crisis. As a result, three-year-old cars are now hard to find and even older models are holding their value.

Another factor is a change by the three Detroit U.S. auto makers. To keep factories humming, they once leased tens of thousands of new cars to rental car fleets and then moved them onto dealer lots as used models after a few months.

There are fewer of those vehicles because manufacturers cut excess production capacity in recent years. Cash-for-clunkers rebates also took many older vehicles off the road.

The scarcity pushed up used car prices, often to the point that consumers who finance a purchase with subsidized interest rates can get brand new vehicles for about the same as a monthly payment required for a late-model used car.

Look at my 2012 Fusion - I financed it when I had significantly newer credit then I do now. At the time I was willing to fork over a higher interest rate to get the car. Now I have been offered a clearly subsidized rate on a truck that is ALOT lower than what I am paying on a used car - through the same dealership! Now I realize that brings credit into it as a factor, but I do think it's part of the issue of keeping used car prices high.

Asg123

They pay you if your car fails the smog test, which should raise prices at the low end, in the UK you don't get anything if you fail the MOT. Maybe that's one of the reasons why I was easily able to sell my car which in the UK would have been scrapped for $700.

civilservant

Georgia doesn't have a smog test - so that bins that theory, at least in GA.