Best Place to Buy a Used Car

[jazz4cash]

This purchase through a dealer, right? That is awesome. Wonder why only 20.3K miles. It makes me think they turned the miles back, I'm suspicious of deals that are too good. But the 2 year warranty works. Buying used takes time. Buying new is so simple once you decide on the car you want. Our neighbor is obsessed about car engines. Maybe he'll help.

Nearly impossible to turn back odo now days due to fancy electronics and also easy to detect via carfax. Buying a used car these days is nothinglike it was years ago for a variety of reasons.

I think a lot of people buy or lease vehicles (especially nicer models) and just don't put many miles on them, but it never hurts to be suspicious! I was indeed surprised how many low mileage cars were available when I was looking a few months back.

 

[Dash man]

Makes me wonder, why has the reliability of cars gotten better over the years, while in another thread there is a discussion on how unreliable appliances have gotten?

 

[jazz4cash]

Makes me wonder, why has the reliability of cars gotten better over the years, while in another thread there is a discussion on how unreliable appliances have gotten?

The cost of cars has gone way up. There is a lot more competition. Govt mandates for emissions and fuel economy forced autos to use more electronics which improve reliability. Yeah they're expensive to replace but generally last a long time without maintenance. My first new car in '74 needed tuneup at 3k miles. Bias ply tires and rear drum brakes at 20k. Muffler/exhaust every 5 yrs. Spark plugs in new cars go 100k or more.

Appliances are fancier with more bells and whistles but haven't changed as much as autos.

 

[braumeister]

the cars were not of the mechanical quality that we have today.

When I was a kid, breakdowns on our family vacations were quite common, and our cars weren't old. The experience of my friends was the same. Now, cars are so much more reliable that you just see fewer cars by the road with hoods up.

This is so true. Even just a standard item like tires. I was constantly changing flat tires on the road when I was young -- it was just expected.

Then there's my favorite story. The father of one of my friends was driving across the Queensboro Bridge in NYC in a Corvair when he felt and heard a loud noise and the car started slowing down. He looked in the rear view mirror and saw his transmission back there on the roadway.

 

[travelover]

..........
Then there's my favorite story. The father of one of my friends was driving across the Queensboro Bridge in NYC in a Corvair when he felt and heard a loud noise and the car started slowing down. He looked in the rear view mirror and saw his transmission back there on the roadway.

I doubt it in a Corvair. They had a transaxle and the engine hung off the back. I guess he could have lost an engine.....


I did lose the battery out of 64 VW onto the roadway and didn't realize it until I tried to restart it.

 

[braumeister]

I doubt it in a Corvair. They had a transaxle and the engine hung off the back. I guess he could have lost an engine.....

Could be. He wasn't the most tech-savvy guy and I wasn't there at the time. Just heard him tell the story. Over and over and over.

 

[athena53]

Makes me wonder, why has the reliability of cars gotten better over the years, while in another thread there is a discussion on how unreliable appliances have gotten?

Competition. My Dad, Grandfather and Uncles made their livings working for a major US steel company. You bought American. After having 3 POS American cars (1973 Hornet, 1979 Mustang, 1985 (?) Olds Cutlass Ciera) that all turned into junk way too early, I bought a Japanese import. It was heresy in my family but it lasted over 200,000 miles and then I donated it to a charity.

Now other members of my family have imports but I hear that American-made cars are much more reliable. My guess is that replacing a car is a lot more painful financially than replacing a toaster, so people gravitated to cars that were more reliable and had better resale value because they weren't junk after 85,000 miles. American manufacturers had to catch up or die.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I thought this post was about The best place "WHERE ONE COULD BUY A USED CAR"

 

[calmloki]

So - where did I read that Hertz or the other large rental car places aren't required to report accidents on Carfax? Something to do with them doing there own repairs? Which means - if true - a clean Carfax report on a nice low mile rental for sale at the Avis or Dollar or Budget lot may not mean anything.

Of course if Joe Schmoe has a fender bender and a pot of putty and the skills his private party used car might show as clean as well.

 

[jazz4cash]

Well I didn't think anyone is REQUIRED to report to CARFAX, but usually you can at least see it was registered as rental vehicle. CARFAX is very useful but not definitive in all cases.

 

[jollystomper]

We have bought certified 2 year old used Toyotas with under 20K miles from both Carmax and a "no haggle, price posted" dealer that has many locations on the east coast. In both cases the prices were below book value and the cars have lasted very well. I use their posted prices to measure against other locations.

I may give myself a car as a retirement "present", and will likely stick with a used 2 year old car again.

 

[GTFan]

Well I didn't think anyone is REQUIRED to report to CARFAX, but usually you can at least see it was registered as rental vehicle. CARFAX is very useful but not definitive in all cases.

You can definitely see it was a rental but can't see any of the maintenance history while it was one, in my experience.

 

[jazz4cash]

You can definitely see it was a rental but can't see any of the maintenance history while it was one, in my experience.

The maintenance history is hit or miss in my experience. The stuff you can rely on is what's reported to the govt. In service date, state registrations, number of owners, mileage accumulated, etc.