My inner cheap bastard is starting to come out again. I would make UncleMick proud. I have a VW and it has been fine so far. I own it and it is probably worth around $7000-7500 book value.
I really don't care to hold onto the car anymore and I would rather just have a little 4 cylinder car to get around + bike more often (my new bike just arrived ). The proceeds from the sale of the car will go into some mutual funds. I plan on paying cash for the beater and in the future I will hold enough $$ in an ING account if the car dies in the next few years I will be able to replace it.
So I have been looking around on the net for a Honda/Toyota $3000-3500 - Volvos seem to last a long time but I worry about the repair costs. Funny story, Volvo has a high mileage club I checked out and some guy on Long Island has 2 mil on his Volvo from the 1960s - ha!
I, as expected, have seen a lot of those shady small car lots on my net searches and some private sellers. I am not a car savy person and don't really know a good mechanic who would be willing to ride along with me to inspect some cars.
What I have gathered thus far: I think Carfax and Autocheck are so-so but a lot slips through the cracks with them. I have found and searched the Hurricane Flood damaged car database. I thought about using Carchex --- they send a mechanic over to your selected car to do a 150+ point inspection and take for a test drive.
Anyone have some good advice? Should I definitely stay away from the small car lots and stick with private sellers? Any other resources that would help me avoid a lemon?
I really don't care to hold onto the car anymore and I would rather just have a little 4 cylinder car to get around + bike more often (my new bike just arrived ). The proceeds from the sale of the car will go into some mutual funds. I plan on paying cash for the beater and in the future I will hold enough $$ in an ING account if the car dies in the next few years I will be able to replace it.
So I have been looking around on the net for a Honda/Toyota $3000-3500 - Volvos seem to last a long time but I worry about the repair costs. Funny story, Volvo has a high mileage club I checked out and some guy on Long Island has 2 mil on his Volvo from the 1960s - ha!
I, as expected, have seen a lot of those shady small car lots on my net searches and some private sellers. I am not a car savy person and don't really know a good mechanic who would be willing to ride along with me to inspect some cars.
What I have gathered thus far: I think Carfax and Autocheck are so-so but a lot slips through the cracks with them. I have found and searched the Hurricane Flood damaged car database. I thought about using Carchex --- they send a mechanic over to your selected car to do a 150+ point inspection and take for a test drive.
Anyone have some good advice? Should I definitely stay away from the small car lots and stick with private sellers? Any other resources that would help me avoid a lemon?