My car got wrecked. Any CAG Car shopping tips?

RabbitSuit

RabbitSuit

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Yeah, I'm not in a good place right now. Car was kinda just destroyed and now I'm finding myself more swamped than ever. I have finals shortly, 4 doctor appointments a week, and work. I know the whole "being desperate" thing is bad when car shopping, but I can't do much at this point.

What's worse is that I'm flat out broke and barely keeping up with my expenses. I have about 5,000 total to spend at the moment, can only afford about 100USD in monthly payments and need a car asap. I can't discuss my accident/suit filed, but obviously no sum of money can be expected until I recover and that can be a while. I'll live though :)

Looked at dealerships, and frankly, they're all pushing for me to go to a car above a cost level that's comfortable for me. And craigslist is sketchy to me as I've never purchased a second hand car.

Help. Please. D:
 
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Do you know anyone who is knowledgeable about cars? Hitting up craigslist (or other similar classified ads) for used cars is going to be your best bet for cars you can afford. Do your research and buying a 2nd hand car is going to be the way to go. Maybe if you find a different source of used car listings (like one that people have to pay to list on) you can sort out some of the lowest common denominators.

Can your car insurance rent you a car in the meantime? At least you'd be able to get through your tough scheduling without having to worry about picking up a car asap.
 
Regretfully, I don't know any car-savvy person well enough to ask. The only one I can think of is stationed in Iraq.

I'd like to go the craigslist route since its cheaper, but like I said before... the posts on http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cta/ just seem to scream be cautious. I'll try to look into it some more though, thanks. Would I be any safer buying a used car from a dealer?

My insurance refuses to pay for a rental car because the other driver was 100% at fault. And they've covered the minimum requirement for rental car days already since they've given me an offer on my wrecked car.

On a side note, how the hell do people so many miles on their car in so little time? My car was 12 years old and only had 40K on it. Latest one posted in my pricerange was from '05 and is at 110K.
 
My dad is a used car dealer and I have been around cars my whole life. I am currently driving a 97 Ford Escort I paid 900 for. 5k is more than enough for a kickass car. A lot of people have a misconception when it comes to cars....they want to spend 18k on one or something fucking retarded like that.

Best bet is to go a used carlot and pick a car you like. Ask them how much the total cost is. Ideally they say 3900 and you respond with this KEY question. How much if I pay all cash right now? That price will probably be 2900 or 3k. Have a mechanic check it out beforehand of course. The carlot will be fine with it. Test drive it etc...

You will be fine dude.
 
Since you don't put a ton of miles on your car I would suggest looking into a Lease. The required money down and monthly payments would fit your budget. Plus you would be driving a new car under warranty. Yes, you would not own the car but once your settlement is finalized you can hopefully do more.
 
[quote name='V Gundam']Since you don't put a ton of miles on your car I would suggest looking into a Lease. The required money down and monthly payments would fit your budget. Plus you would be driving a new car under warranty. Yes, you would not own the car but once your settlement is finalized you can hopefully do more.[/QUOTE]

Double up on this... your mileage is low too so leasing would be a good way to go.

You'd get a brand new gas efficient hybrid and save on gas too.
 
Go buy an old junker from some private seller to hold you over for a while. My 01 Stratus was 2k and its lasted me a year so far.
 
Yeah, you're not gonna find anything for under $200/month(let alone $100) for lease with nothing down.

OP, I'm assuming you're in college, so I would advise you to not get into any monthly payments. Take that $5k(or less) and just buy a car outright. Cars I'd look for would be late 90s to early 2000s Camry's or Accord's. Also, take a look at Civics and Corollas from that era. None of these cars are that exciting, but you don't sound like much of a car guy, so I assume that isn't much of a big deal. And to echo what others said, take whatever car you think suits you to a mechanic. Not to one the seller recommends, but one you find on your own.

[quote name='RabbitSuit']On a side note, how the hell do people so many miles on their car in so little time? My car was 12 years old and only had 40K on it. Latest one posted in my pricerange was from '05 and is at 110K.[/QUOTE]

Not to sound like an ass, but it's more like you don't drive much than that other person driving a lot. I mean, 40k mi in 12 years is like 3300 miles a year. That's nothing.
 
[quote name='Jdub_smooth']My dad is a used car dealer and I have been around cars my whole life. I am currently driving a 97 Ford Escort I paid 900 for. 5k is more than enough for a kickass car. A lot of people have a misconception when it comes to cars....they want to spend 18k on one or something fucking retarded like that.

Best bet is to go a used carlot and pick a car you like. Ask them how much the total cost is. Ideally they say 3900 and you respond with this KEY question. How much if I pay all cash right now? That price will probably be 2900 or 3k. Have a mechanic check it out beforehand of course. The carlot will be fine with it. Test drive it etc...

You will be fine dude.[/QUOTE]

This definitely works (at some places anyway). A couple years ago I needed a car, and I called up some dealerships (no one really had good online inventories at the time, as I recall using the Sunday newspaper) and said my price range $3500-$4000. I was told about some cars in that range, and then was told about this car they had that they were asking $5600 for (it was a '99 Chevy Lumina with like 80k miles on it, and this was in 2004). Well I went to check it out (along with their other cars), and I really liked the Lumina. I reminded the guy about what my price range was when we talked on the phone. He tried to get me to pay like $4,500 for it I think, but we were like if we pay cash can we get it for $4k out the door? He had to go talk to his manager, and then he came back with the paperwork. It was a lot easier than I expected, honestly.
 
Around $3k will get you a solid no-frills Nissan, Honda, or Mazda. Just be sure to have a mechanic you trust look at it first. And remember to trust your eyes, ears, and nose when looking at any car. Cash is always king as others have pointed out. Good luck.
 
Personally I think leasing is a big waste. It's the same as renting, throwing the money away with nothing to show for it. If you buy a used car, at least you can sell it when you're done with it. And since you have enough to buy a plenty good car outright, there's no reason not to. After the rapid initial depreciation, car values only decline relatively slowly. For example if you bought a ca. 2000 sedan now, it won't be worth that much less if you sell it in 5 years, provided you take good care of it.

One resource for looking up mechanics in your area is:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/mechanics-files
 
For $2000-3000 grand, you can buy a used car from the mid 90s. For example, our 96 Acura 3.2TL with 150K miles is only valued at $1400 on KBB, even though it runs like a champ still. Sure it's not pretty and it makes a few weird noises, but it starts every morning and gets home every night...

Don't be afraid to look at Acura, Lexus or Infiniti.. they're not valued like their parent companies because they don't have the same brand recognition but don't forget, they use many of the same basic components.

I think you can hire independent auto techs to go look at cars you're interested in, it might be worth considering.

[quote name='Ruahrc']Personally I think leasing is a big waste. It's the same as renting, throwing the money away with nothing to show for it. If you buy a used car, at least you can sell it when you're done with it. And since you have enough to buy a plenty good car outright, there's no reason not to. After the rapid initial depreciation, car values only decline relatively slowly. For example if you bought a ca. 2000 sedan now, it won't be worth that much less if you sell it in 5 years, provided you take good care of it.

One resource for looking up mechanics in your area is:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/mechanics-files[/QUOTE]

With most leases, you do get the option to buy.
 
Buying used is probably your best bet. I bought a 1998 Ford Escort around 2 years ago for $1600 and it had about 175k miles on it. The car was extremely clean and taken care of though. About 4 months ago I ended up burning the engine out since apparently my dad forgot to put oil in it. Had that not happened, I am sure it would still be running great right now. I ended up putting 25k miles in those 2 years and it worked out to less than $100 a month if you look at it that way. We were also able to sell it to the junkyard for $300 so it was ok I guess..
 
I heard you can get really good deals at an impound lot. As for Craigslist I've heard too many stories of people getting robbed when they go to pick up the car.
 
It's a pain in the ass shopping for a cheap used car. I know because I just did it this past week. If you're looking for cost efficient, check out Civics, Corollas, Golfs, etc. These models are rock-solid and get great gas mileage. I was partial to the Civics, but they hold their value so well that I couldn't justify spending over six thousand for a ten year old car with one hundred and twenty thousand plus miles. I did tons of research on reliability and mpg (I'm a poor college student ;)), and went with a 2nd generation Corolla. Can't beat it.

Basically though, just find out what YOU want, and then search for that particular car in your price range on craigslist areas around you. You'll have to weed through tons of junk, but it's the best way in my opinion. Good luck, and don't get too stressed out!
 
Hate car shopping. Hate spending large amounts of cash.

What I always have done is: Buy about a decade old reliable foreign. A Toyota, Honda, Nissan. Something like Civic, Accord, Camry, Corrolla, Altima, Maxima. If you crags list, look for old couple, original owners with records. That's what I have done and been okay so far.
 
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