What's your used car hunt been like lately?

[randomlinh]

For those of you who have recently bought a used car, how long did it take you? Pricing what you expected it to be, lower, higher?

Sadly, my car was totaled, and I'm not entirely interested in using what I got for insurance as a down payment. So I went looking for something similar to mine.

So far, I've found kbb to be mostly useless. Everyone wants higher, refuses to budge lower than "excellent" when clearly, their car is not excellent. Maybe my expectations are too high.

Ok, so I'm a little stubborn with what I'm looking for (basically a mazda 3 hatch, stick, would settle for a tC, or mazda 3 sdn, either engine). But it seems "great condition" has no meaning anymore. I've wasted a lot of time, and hesitant to make any more near 1hr trips (w/ little traffic) to look at a car.

For the record, I'm looking for nothing older than 5yrs. I've yet to find one that is as clean as mine (specifically on the interior). I'm sure they exist, but they aren't sellin =/

Mostly trying to gauge if I'm even more stubborn/unrealistic than I realize.

 

[BassBomb]

Looked for a used car in 2008, took forever.. but we finally found a great condition Accord... surprisingly it was our last used car we were going to look at before just giving up and buying new

 

[HarryLui]

Ask the right questions and ask for detail quality pictures.

To look for the right used car, you have to spend time, lots of time.

 

[woodie1]

I've been looking for over a year. For both myself and a grand daughter. Since the CFC program the used car market is terrible. I bought a used Corolla in good shape for another grand daughter over a year ago and it is worth more now than what I paid for it then. Everything I see now is just not worth the asking price IMHO. Someday maybe things will return to normal but I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[exdeath]

I'm looking daily at 01-05 M3s, 94-98 Supra TTs, and 03-04 Cobras. Or when I'm bored I'll hit up autotrader or ebay with "turbo or supercharged <make>" just to see what kind of crazy stuff is out there. Never know when you'll come across a bargain with an unfinished project in this economy.

 

[satyajitmenon]

OP, see if you can find someone in your area who has access to the dealer auctions. Thats how I got mine - at almost trade-in value.

 

[angry hampster]

Six months. LOL ...Wound up finding an '08 Ford Focus for $7900.

 

[MotF Bane]

I've been doing most of my looking at dealerships; I haven't narrowed down what I want so precisely. Inventory is very low all over the place.

 

[SearchMaster]

Yes, looking for a used car sucks hard. It took me 7 months but I ended up with a '98 Accord for $2000 (185K miles but well maintained). It has its quirks but so far has been a great car, should hit 200K miles toward the end of this month.

OP, see if you can find someone in your area who has access to the dealer auctions. Thats how I got mine - at almost trade-in value.

My father used to work for an auction, I picked up a <2 year old Mazda 6 for $11K a few years ago, sold it a year and a half later for $11.5K

 

[mvbighead]

Buying used definitely takes time, but it is all in how much you want to look, and how flexible you are on cost.

For me, I looked over the course of a few months not needing anything, and once I had an idea on what pricing was realistic, my wife and I started looking more seriously. Drove out after work one day to look at one that had an excellent price, but was something of an hour plus trip one way. Got there to look at it, and the bumper was held on by a screw, the oil hadn't been changed in 10000 miles, and it had significant scratches all over the place. Said nope, and walked away. Then looked at another one which had touch-up paint all over the bumper (half of the bumper was painted with touch-up paint). Test drove it anyway, and the breaks pulsated, and car shifted funny, etc. Walked away again. And, at this point, my wife was thinking I was being too picky and was wondering if I was ever going to actually buy something.

Last car we looked out was mostly pristine on the outside and inside. Test drove it, and knew we found the right one. That, and the dealer wasn't some slick asshole like we ran into at another place. He immediately knocked $500 if we didn't finance through him, and also immediately knocked off another $300 for tires. Put the price at just a hair above the amounts on the other two we looked at.

Granted, I was looking for much older vehicle than you, but if you simply look around for a while, you'll figure out what fair market value is, and then just find one that is as nice as you'd like it to be, and priced where you think it should be. If you're having difficulty, you might be pricing too low. KBB is a good place to get started assessing value, but you really need to look around locally to see what the costs will really be. Autotrader is probably a good bet to get a more realistic idea of local costs.

 

[jlee]

I bought my Forester XT in July after..maybe a week or two of looking. It was priced about $4k under book (little body dings all over). I got lucky - was the cheapest one in the country on Autotrader with less than 110k miles.

 

[satyajitmenon]

Oh. Also, searching online isn't going to tell you a lot. You need to actually go visit the stealerships/sellers. You'd be surprised how much they're willing to negotiate when they have a buyer with cash in front of them.

 

[JCH13]

^that

Having cash-in-hand (or at least a fat check book) and the ability to walk away will be your two greatest assets.

 

[jlee]

Oh. Also, searching online isn't going to tell you a lot. You need to actually go visit the stealerships/sellers. You'd be surprised how much they're willing to negotiate when they have a buyer with cash in front of them.

This is also true. Mine was listed at $7995 and I left at $7390 (NADA $11k).

 

[GTaudiophile]

Interesting. I don't have a car and am not shopping for one, so this is news to me, but I imagine you have two phenomenon going on these days:

1) Sellers are strapped for cash and have the mindset, "Shit, I am upside down on my mortgage, so there is no way in hell I am letting my beloved car sell for less than KBB value X."

Combined with...

2) People are strapped for cash in general and are keeping their cars longer.


But there is no excuse for "excellent condition" being anything less than such.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Man, I don't know where all of you live but there are tons of used cars for sale around here. I think the luxury cars are probably the greatest value as they've taken the big depreciation hit already. Used Mercedes-Benz and BMWs are everywhere. I could also easily find a couple hundred used 2008-2010 Vettes within 75 miles of me.

I confess that I haven't really been looking for more mundane cars though.

 

[RU482]

I've been looking for over a year. For both myself and a grand daughter. Since the CFC program the used car market is terrible. I bought a used Corolla in good shape for another grand daughter over a year ago and it is worth more now than what I paid for it then. Everything I see now is just not worth the asking price IMHO. Someday maybe things will return to normal but I wouldn't hold my breath.

CFC was pretty minor compared to a 5-6 million unit drop in production

 

[randomlinh]

Oh. Also, searching online isn't going to tell you a lot. You need to actually go visit the stealerships/sellers. You'd be surprised how much they're willing to negotiate when they have a buyer with cash in front of them.

Oh, I have. But seems my expectations of how low they're willing to go on a 2-3 yr old car might be unrealistic. They generally are willing to do $3-500 off, but then on top of TTT, reconditioning fees from $3-700. A couple have sold after I left. 1 is still on the lot, but they never answered my "what was the CEL for?" so I left it.

Man, I don't know where all of you live but there are tons of used cars for sale around here. I think the luxury cars are probably the greatest value as they've taken the big depreciation hit already. Used Mercedes-Benz and BMWs are everywhere. I could also easily find a couple hundred used 2008-2010 Vettes within 75 miles of me.

I confess that I haven't really been looking for more mundane cars though.

There are tons of automatics. Still not priced where I thought they'd be, but many more choices. Not looking for luxury sedans either, 7-10yr BMW's frighten me on cost, heh. Not to mention premium gas.

 

[randomlinh]

Ask the right questions and ask for detail quality pictures.

To look for the right used car, you have to spend time, lots of time.

sometimes, people won't provide more detailed pics than they have. I could just not go, but I really do need a car w/in a couple of weeks ideally. So I've been checking out most of my leads.

 

[jlee]

sometimes, people won't provide more detailed pics than they have. I could just not go, but I really do need a car w/in a couple of weeks ideally. So I've been checking out most of my leads.

Too bad you want a car, because I'd give you a hell of a deal on my truck and I'd even deliver it...

 

[JCH13]

Internet sales at used car dealers are usually a win. My girlfriend picked up a 2009 Civic for a few grand under the dealer KBB through their internet sales department.

 

[compman25]

Just bought an 08 R350, didn't take long to find exactly what we wanted. Helps when you have family working for MB.

 

[Tristicus]

I've been looking for a month and probably wont buy until March..takes a while for picky people like me to get the right one.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Oh, I have. But seems my expectations of how low they're willing to go on a 2-3 yr old car might be unrealistic. They generally are willing to do $3-500 off, but then on top of TTT, reconditioning fees from $3-700. A couple have sold after I left. 1 is still on the lot, but they never answered my "what was the CEL for?" so I left it.



There are tons of automatics. Still not priced where I thought they'd be, but many more choices. Not looking for luxury sedans either, 7-10yr BMW's frighten me on cost, heh. Not to mention premium gas.

I'm talking about 2007-2008 MB and BMWs. There are tons of low mileage E350s and 335i for sale in the mid to low $30k range. Yeah, manual will be harder to find though. No way I'd touch a 7-10 year old BMW.

 

[Dirigible]

I was in the market for a car last year. I've always bought used cars for cheap from private parties in the past. This time everyone was wanting what I thought was far too much for their used cars.

I ended up buying my first ever new car.