What's your used car hunt been like lately?

[alkemyst]

Took me a while to find my 98 240SX SE back in 2004. About 6 months of serious looking. I wanted it to be mint and most were beat to hell and back or they were asking insane amounts (at the time $10-12k was average, 15k getting near the high end).

I found mine 4 hours away from the owner of Enjuku Racing. Price was cheaper than I thought it would be at $8800, 6x,000 miles on it.

Still love the car, just turned 118,000 miles this last fill up.

Debating now dropping $10k into it or selling and finding another ride.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Took me a while to find my 98 240SX SE back in 2004. About 6 months of serious looking. I wanted it to be mint and most were beat to hell and back or they were asking insane amounts (at the time $10-12k was average, 15k getting near the high end).

I found mine 4 hours away from the owner of Enjuku Racing. Price was cheaper than I thought it would be at $8800, 6x,000 miles on it.

Still love the car, just turned 118,000 miles this last fill up.

Debating now dropping $10k into it or selling and finding another ride.

So, you've thrashed it then I take it?

 

[randomlinh]

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.

oh, heh.. yeah.. that's a bit out of my budget =)

 

[drbrock]

I just bought a used acura tl. You should not pay anything higher than rough book. That is what most dealerships pay out for trade in. Rough book= "fair" trade in value. It took me about 2 months but I found my 2004 tl for 11800.

The stealerships never really work with you. Always go private. People need money and are def ready to be flexible. My seller told me he was not willing to budge over the internet but when I met him in person he came down a lot.

Good luck

 

[CraigRT]

Sad.. Buying a new car around here is so easy.. Everything is cheap and everything is available unless you are looking for something rare. Lowballers are plentiful in the classifieds and selling a car here is hard if you truly think its worth a good buck. You will get beat to death on it until you sell for less.

 

[speedy2]

Last time I really shopped was a few years ago. I was looking for a truck. Private owner. I looked for what seemed like forever. All I found was worn out trucks and prices that were insane. People asking $5000+ for mid-late 80's Full size pickups. And not budging on price. Needless to say, I didn't end up with a truck.

 

[SilentRavens]

Yeah the market does seem to be pretty bad, but it can also depend on what you're looking for...

I actually just bought a used audi for 3k under KBB, but it was a stick that the dealer had on lot for 4+ months (according to Carfax...)

 

[alkemyst]

So, you've thrashed it then I take it?

Not sure what you mean? Mechanically it's great at 118k miles. Compression is fine.

I don't buy sportscars so I can just brag about them on the internet. I play with them and drive them the way I want.

Even my 97 GTI VR6 I bought new went to a race shop (ran by Stu Brumer called BSI) that first week voiding much of my warranty and then to Goodroads next door for wheels and tires.

Most here would break down and cry about losing their warranty. My thoughts are why wait until the car isn't new anymore to fully enjoy it and how much does that warranty really save you in the first 3 years/30k miles anyway (my VW was 10/100k even).

 

[exdeath]

Warranty lol.

 

[jlee]

Warranty lol.

I know not of what you speak.

 

[MotF Bane]

War ran tee? *confused*

 

[cheesehead]

Last year I paid $4k for an immaculate '97 Honda Civic EX.

It would have been $6k, but nobody seems to want manual transmissions.They're not as common as slushboxes, but stickshifts are a major bargain.

 

[CraigRT]

Not sure what you mean? Mechanically it's great at 118k miles. Compression is fine.

I don't buy sportscars so I can just brag about them on the internet. I play with them and drive them the way I want.

Even my 97 GTI VR6 I bought new went to a race shop (ran by Stu Brumer called BSI) that first week voiding much of my warranty and then to Goodroads next door for wheels and tires.

Most here would break down and cry about losing their warranty. My thoughts are why wait until the car isn't new anymore to fully enjoy it and how much does that warranty really save you in the first 3 years/30k miles anyway (my VW was 10/100k even).

I feel the same way. I've taken most of my cars in my past car history to the dragstrip for test and tune nights and never once gave a crap about the warranty then. I barely ever used those anyways. Now I am not dumb enough to buy a new car with warranty. I don't like losing a ridiculous amount of value driving a car off the lot. Off lease is as new as I'd ever buy.

 

[AMCRambler]

Yeah picture is worth a thousand words. If you see shit in a picture that makes you say the price is to high, try and negotiate over the phone. If they aren't willing to budge leave them your number in case they change their mind and move on to the next one. Enough calls and those people you talked to will realize they're asking too much.

That said, what are you looking to spend? I'm finding Craigslist is a pretty great place to look for cars around here. Another good place is a Mazda or Scion forum. You tend to find cars for sale on one of those forums are really well taken care of as their owners care enough to join a forum and find out how to maintain their car. I bought my last two cars from people advertising them on forums for that model.

 

[randomlinh]

Yeah picture is worth a thousand words. If you see shit in a picture that makes you say the price is to high, try and negotiate over the phone. If they aren't willing to budge leave them your number in case they change their mind and move on to the next one. Enough calls and those people you talked to will realize they're asking too much.

That said, what are you looking to spend? I'm finding Craigslist is a pretty great place to look for cars around here. Another good place is a Mazda or Scion forum. You tend to find cars for sale on one of those forums are really well taken care of as their owners care enough to join a forum and find out how to maintain their car. I bought my last two cars from people advertising them on forums for that model.

craigslist is disappointing, 70% of the time it's dealers that are listed on cars.com too. And difficult to filter by manual transmission.

the mazda boards seem to have pulled the car sales sections, it's all parts only it seems. or dealer inventories.