Whether you’re buying you first car or you’re just getting an additional one because you’re getting tired of sharing, buying a used car is great! There are endless options of cars to buy at just about every budget. You’re not going get a mint-condition Corvette for $500 (I mean, you might, who knows, you could get lucky), but you get the idea.
The downside of buying a used car is that it’s, well, used (someone else’s butt has spent many hours sitting in the driver’s seat, wearing it into the right shape for them). With a little planning and research, though, you can find a well cared for car that should give you many miles of enjoyment. It’s all a matter of knowing what to look for and when to walk away from a car, even if it’s your “dream car”.
Deciding on Your Base Criteria
Like shopping for anything else, buying a used car requires a little bit of research up front. You’ll need to know what kind of car you’re looking for, how many miles you’re willing to live with, and how much you’re willing to spend. Sometimes, if you have the luxury of being picky, you can choose a specific make and model that you’re looking for. If not, you’ll probably want to leave it a little more vague, something like “four-door” or “station wagon”. This will give you a bigger pool of potential cars to choose from.
You’ll want to keep in mind that things like budget and condition go hand in hand, for the most part. The lower your budget, the worse the condition or higher the mileage on the car. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but it’s a good guideline. If you’re looking sub $1,000 you can expect to find your fair share of rust, a high number of zeros on the odometer, or both.
Finding the Car
With a decent idea about what you’re looking for, its time to search the world of used cars. There are millions of them out there, all it takes is a little time and a willingness to deal with the poor time management of private sellers and the over-excitement of dealers.
There are tons of ways to buy used cars these days: the newspaper, craigslist, Autotrader, cars.com, and eBay are just a few. They’re each good at bringing together large numbers of used cars for sale.
Options like the newspaper, craigslist, and Autotrader help you deal locally. This way you’re able to look at a car in person, test drive it, and if you find the right one take it home.
Autotrader, along with cars.com and eBay, also give you the option to shopping nationwide, which greatly increases your options. The only downside is that if you decide you want a car, you don’t often have the option of test driving it without getting on a plane or convincing a friend to spend the weekend road tripping with you. Then, if you don’t like the car after all, you have to make the trip home empty handed.
This isn’t to say that buying a car from out of state is a bad idea, its just much easier, and usually cheaper, to buy locally.
Former Rental Cars
Sometimes you’ll notice that Hertz or Enterprise are selling off a car that’s only 2 years old for a steal. Unfortunately, the only one doing the stealing is the rental agency.
The cars they’re selling are cheap for a reason: rental cars get abused. Period.
Have you ever driven a rental?
Did you treat it nicely?
Of course you didn’t! It was a rental!
If you’re looking for a reliable car avoid former rental sales, sometimes called “fleet car” sales in an effort to hide their former life of abuse.
Lease cars aren’t much better off. Their “owners” know they’re going to give the car back in two or three years, so they use the car up in its entirety before having to give it back to the dealer. They’re not as bad as rentals, but they’re also nowhere near as good as a car that was lovingly owned.
There is one circumstance where buying a rental car could be advised: you’re buying your dream car and you’re willing to invest the money you saved buying the car into repairing and upgrading the broken and worn out parts. Why your dream car was something once offered as a rental, I’m not sure, but its your life—you do you.
Holy Grails
Sometimes you find exactly the car you’re looking for with an average amount of miles, and with immaculate maintenance records. There’s a reason for this: someone’s grandparents owned the car.
This is probably the best situation you can find yourself in: the car is cheap, in good condition, and it’s a decent car. It was owned by grandma and grandpa. Sure, they put 100,000 miles on their 1996 Honda Civic, but they drove it for 20 years and always changed their oil every 3,000 miles.
You’re probably not going to find aa Audi R8 or a Shelby Cobra like this, but you will find a good, sturdy compact, family sedan, or small pickup truck.
When to Walk Away
You found the perfect car. The ad said all the right things, the pictures looked great, the owner has a ton of maintenance records. It’s perfect! Except for one thing: they can’t keep it running. They say they’ve replaced almost everything, but can’t find the problem. The car is in great shape otherwise, and their mechanic says there isn’t much else that it could be.
This is usually a bad sign: a car that is constantly being repaired and is never really running well. These cars are called Lemons. They’re always in the shop and nobody can seem to figure out why they keep breaking down. And it’s not like the same part is failing every time either.
Lemons are a fact of car-buying life. Sometimes it’s an entire model of car. Other times, they just appear at random among otherwise reliable cars.
One thing is for sure – this car will never run properly. No matter how many parts have been replaced, the frustration will never end.
No matter how perfect the car is or how much you want it, just walk away.
The Perfect Car
No matter what you choose in the end, the important thing is that you get a car that fits your needs, your budget, and your timeframe. If you’re helping your kid choose her first car, its your duty as a parent to make sure they get not only something useful, but something they like (easier to do if you introduced her to cars early on in life). This will help ensure that your kid takes care of the car and, who knows, she might even like to work on it herself!
In the end, choosing the right used car is more about finding what you’re looking for within your budget than finding the perfect car. The perfect car doesn’t exist. Your perfect car is the one you choose and make your own.
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Image Credit: dave_7 on flickr