Give me a Car Buying 101 guide! - NOW need help w/ offer

[SplashMo]

What price do they want? You should go lower....

 

[mrodgers]

Well, not sure never is completely accurate. There are hard heads out there like me who buy new and driver them forever (my family car turned 26 in October).

I read once the 2 least expensive ways to own a car are:

1) Buy a new car and drive it forever.

2) Buy a 2 year old used car, keep it 2 years, and trade it in on another 2 year old used car.


Both are pretty close in netting you the lowest cost per mile driven.

Why buy 2 years old and only keep it 2 years. Why not buy 2 years old and keep it forever? BTW, forever for me is about 10 years. By then it has well over 200,000 miles on it and I am doing far too much body work that I get sick of it. Thus, we buy 2 years old which basically means it has about a years worth of our mileage on it and drive for 8 or 10 years.

Or, buy something for $8,000 and drive it for 5 years. Saving a lot of money that way. I figure it this way...

New car $25,000 every 10 years. In 40 years, that is $100,000

2 year old $15,000 every 8 years. In 40 years, that is $75,000

5 year old $8000 car every 5 years. In 40 years, that is $64,000.

How is buying a brand new car the cheapest option?

 

[tvguy]

Why buy 2 years old and only keep it 2 years. Why not buy 2 years old and keep it forever?

How is buying a brand new car the cheapest option?

You could certainly keep a 2 year old car longer.
I'm just saying that the numbers show the cheapest car ownership routines are a 2 year old used car every 2 years, or a new car kept forever.
Thinking as I recall was a 2 year old car was new enough to still be under warranty, and should be trouble free , and someone else took the biggest hit on depreciation.
With a new car, if kept up and run forever, the cost is spread over years.
My family car is 26 years old, so that's a lot of years to spread the purchase price over. I save probably $700 a year on insurance and registration because of it's age, but spend about $700 a year on repairs.
But, I haven't had a car payment in 26 years.
Yes, you have to keep your car up, but my commute car is just over 10 years old, and it is my new car.
Certainly a collision may not be worth fixing. And you have to be a bit proactive. Rust isn't much of an issue these days, especially if you Ziebart a car. My FIL lives in Texas, and as long as you keep it inspected, it if rusts, they fix it for free.

 

[Hisgirl]

We just bought a new Ford Focus ST. Great mileage and crazy fun to drive.

I learned a few things.

1. Test drive the cars you are thinking of.Take a whole Saturday and drive the whole list. That Mazda3 is very uncomfortable IMO. My son just got one and after riding in it, I'm so glad we didn't get one, as we had considered it.

2. Subarus constantly get on consumer's reports as do Hondas. We love ours. They give us two full years of free service for EVERYTHING on a new car and also give a 500 dollar coupon for another new subaru. I kept my 2010 for 2 years, and put on 33K miles. Traded it in because they gave me every dime I paid for it minus $700. Hardly anyone trades in their subaru. There's a reason they keep them.

3. Go to a forum about the car you're interested in. Read what the gear heads have to say. We considered a Hyundai till we read SEVENTY FIVE PAGES on a forum of folks complaining about their transmissions failing. We had heard nothing about this model having these issues.

4. Go to a forum about your intended car and check for coupons, deals. I found out about a deal offered by Ford regarding your employer. We got an amazing deal. Amazing. Using some code I had never heard of. But all the forum guys had. Also...the forum guys said Ford would include a 500 coupon when you ordered a generic brochure on Ford cars. Wish I had done thta!

5. If you buy new, you'll have 36K of a warranty. If you want to extend it, google and find a dealership offering the manufacturer warranties. Ford has an exended warranty my dealer was selling for 1200. I found a Ford dealer in Florida selling the same Ford extended warranty for 800. Same warranty. And I can wait till I have 35K on the car and get it for 800 then too. You can wait.

6. Pay the 14 or 15 dollars to consumer reports and find out the exact price the dealership paid...then offer to pay them 200-500 more. Period. If they say no...walk out. And do it. They'll call you to come back.

 

[Imhere]

Well, not sure never is completely accurate. There are hard heads out there like me who buy new and driver them forever (my family car turned 26 in October).

I read once the 2 least expensive ways to own a car are:

1) Buy a new car and drive it forever.

2) Buy a 2 year old used car, keep it 2 years, and trade it in on another 2 year old used car.


Both are pretty close in netting you the lowest cost per mile driven.

Look at fleets, the last time I used the Blue Van Shuttle to the airport, the van had 450,000 miles on it.

I guess I just have trouble understanding how buying a 2 year old car for $15K and driving it for 100,000 miles will cost the same as buying a new $25K car and driving it for 100,000 miles.

 

[tvguy]

I guess I just have trouble understanding how buying a 2 year old car for $15K and driving it for 100,000 miles will cost the same as buying a new $25K car and driving it for 100,000 miles.

I think assumption is you buy a 2 year old car, drive it 2 years and 24,000 miles (which is above average) , and not spend anything on the car other than oil changes.