New used car purchase help?

[piglet50]

We are in need of a new to us vehicle. Our previous purchases were new cars that are now 11 and 12 years old. Where do you start in finding a good pre-owned vehicle, hopefully with some warranty left? It seems like the dealerships don't offer this option like they used to or are we not looking in the right place? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

[My2Qtz0205]

We got two of our cars from Carmax. They came with 30 day warranties, and you had to buy additional warranty. My latest purchase had its a/c go out 3 weeks after purchase, and they replaced the compressor free of charge and gave me a loaner car. 12 hours after getting it back, the A/C broke again, this time the lines to the A/C cracked, and they replaced everything again free of charge, and gave me a very nice loaner car until my car was fixed.

 

[tvguy]

We are in need of a new to us vehicle. Our previous purchases were new cars that are now 11 and 12 years old. Where do you start in finding a good pre-owned vehicle, hopefully with some warranty left? It seems like the dealerships don't offer this option like they used to or are we not looking in the right place? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

My last 2 car purchases have been from Hertz. They keep the best, and wholesale off the rest to CarMax (where they sells them for $2,000 more than Hertz) and new car dealers. Usually the cars are still under factory warranty, then a Hertz warranty for a year, and of course you can buy an extended warranty. My 2006 was 1 year old and had 25,000 miles on it when I bought it in 2007. My 2007 was 1 year old and had 29,000 miles on it when I bought it in 2008.

 

[Evansvillegirl26]

It's best if you know what kind of car you want. I just bought a used Jeep Wrangler and I searched online for 2 months until I found exactly what I wanted. I emailed several places making offers and some places would not accept them. But some will. Do your research and know what a fair price is. I ended up driving 50 miles out of the way but they came down $3000 from their asking price and worked well with me. Once you know what you want check online everyday. Cars listings are constantly updated. Cars.com KBB.com and yahoo autos had the best listings.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

food for thought when buying a used car - there's been so many flash floods this year you should really look at the car's history.

I don't remember all of the details but a couple of years ago someone like 20/20 did a piece where they found cars for sale that had been in flooded conditions and there was NO mention of it in the paperwork. When the experts took them apart they showed where the problems were (engine and car interior behind the coverings etc)

 

[Gumbo4x4]

One othe thing to consider is rebates and discounts on 2013 models as the 14s show up. In some cases, it's less money to purchase a new 2013 than a comparable 2012.

 

[buckeev]

One othe thing to consider is rebates and discounts on 2013 models as the 14s show up. In some cases, it's less money to purchase a new 2013 than a comparable 2012.

This is true. Plus, with a new vehicle, you get full warranty, and financing terms are usually much better.
Another option, we bought a Certified VW Beetle from the dealer, and it had about 5K miles on it. They added a long extended warranty included with it.
"Great deals" are hard to come by, so be very careful. Buy from reputable folks!

Best of Luck!

 

[Judique]

We are in need of a new to us vehicle. Our previous purchases were new cars that are now 11 and 12 years old. Where do you start in finding a good pre-owned vehicle, hopefully with some warranty left? It seems like the dealerships don't offer this option like they used to or are we not looking in the right place? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

I have been looking for a good certified preowned car for my daughter for months. We didn't find anything we wanted and came to the conclusion that we were going to buy new. Previously we've purchased 3 certified preowned and all were good cars.

We bought new today. A Honda Civic and it is perfect for my daughter. She's ecstatic and got a great deal, including a .9% loan rate and a college grad discount.

So, mission accomplished!

 

[piglet50]

thanks for the replies. Also, thanks for the reminder about the flood damaged cars. I remember reading about this. We are trying to decide on what to buy, and will be sure to look into end of year incentives, interest rates, etc. I knew I would get some good info. here. Please keep any suggestions coming.

 

[emmababy]

Buy a certified used car from that manufacturer dealership. We just bought a 2012 certified Chevy Traverse. It has the remaining warranty plus an additional 12 month warranty.

 

[set1208]

We always buy from a private seller. No warranty but we save a ton of money, both in the final sale price because theres negotiating room, and by not having to carry full coverage on our insurance.

My DH is very handy and is extremely knowledgeable about cars, so that helps. We just bought an '05 Odyssey with 100k miles for $8k cash. It has a lot of extra features and its only one body style behind the newest version so it doesn't look old.

Hondas are notorious for lasting very long. I've had a prelude and two other Odyssey's and they all lasted for 250k miles.

Carmax sells mostly old rental cars so they're beat on a lot harder than a car that someone personally owns and cares about.

 

[Gorechick]

We're a Honda family and used Carmax to find a certified used one. I agree with finding a certified used car and not just buying used.

 

[HM]

I agree about being worried about flooded cars.

We were in the market for a used car after my son wrecked his car. We decided to go with the new-but-last-season route instead. We found two of the same type of car at two fairly close dealerships online and started working with both to come up with the best price we could (by email and phone). The car started with a $3000 discount from the manufacturer and we got a $500 discount for recent (or soon to be) graduate. Then he worked to see if we could save anything else. We ended up saving over $5000 on the car with a final purchase price before taxes and stuff at $16,999. Both dealerships were very good at bring down their initial prices and tried their best to get our business.

Plus we have the 3 year warranty and 2 years of oil changes which you won't get with a used car.

I'd suggest trying something like we did.

 

[seashoreCM]

(copied from another forum)

When test driving a used car, it should work perfectly and flawlessly. Do not accept any excuses from the seller if something does not seem right.

Try everything -- the power windows, the backup lights, the fold down seat latches, heater & air conditioner, to name a few.

 

[usd2bmd]

First let me say that we always buy pre-owned. Cars are one thing that I hate buying. We figure out what we want to pay and then we start looking.

Our last purchase was we bought from a local dealer after finding it on line. It was a former rental vehicle. it came with a carfax report and my husband knows his way around an engine so he looked it over.

It had less than 14,000 miles on it when we bought it and has never given us any trouble.

Just do your research and know what you want and what you're willing to pay.

 

[Golf4food]

Used car prices are at or near historic highs at the moment. With discounts, rebates, and special financing deals it is very likely you can get a brand new 2013 or 2014 model (or leftover 2012) for the same price or lower than you could get a 1-2 year old used model. Do you homework before pulling the trigger.

 

[MichelleinMaine]

We just bought at 2010 Rav4 from VW dealer. I am not sure if it was just that one or all VW's do- it came with a 12 month/12K mile warrantee. Most other places were just a month, unless you bought a "certified" used car. (Which essentially means you are buying a used Toyota from a Toyota dealer, a used Honda from a Honda dealer, etc.)

We used edmunds.com to scout out for cars ahead of time, but be aware not all dealers are listed in that (and I think some pay to get higher in the search engine.) All local dealers had their inventory on their webpages though, made things SO much easier to pre-search. We could then go into dealers saying we want to test drive this particular used car vs "well what does that one have on it, what is the mileage, etc."

We used Kelley Blue Book and Truecar.com to get ideas on reasonable pricing. We ran a Carfax on it and nothing remarkable. We did the bidding via email and then just went in to sign paperwork.

WHOLE other world shopping for a car than when we last did in 2002. Pleasant surprise!

 

[OklahomaTourist]

Buying a used car is, unfortunately, never more than a carefully calculated crapshoot. Hate to say it, but it is. Sometimes they work out wonderfully ,sometimes they don't, and often times there's just no way of predicting which is which.

We have been very fortunate in having purchased two used vehicles that have worked out fabulously for us. We purchased a used Mercury Villager in '01 and got seven years of terrific service from it. We picked up a one-owner '04 Ford Ranger with 40K original miles in absolutely mint condition for right at $2K below what most sources indicated we'd pay, so good deals are definitely out there to be had.

Like anything else, shortening the odds takes a bit of legwork. Pick up a copy of "Lemon Aid," a used-car guide that talks about which used cars to avoid like the plague, and which are better bets. Consumer Reports has a used car history for most vehicles, and can give you a good indication of which varieties are more reliable than others.

It is very difficult to guarantee that a used car isn't a flood damaged item, because floods happen everywhere and the "real" water damage can be very easy to conceal. For any prospective purchase, especially from a private party, insist on the opportunity to have the car evaluated and checked out by a mechanic. They can at least check out some conspicuous areas for rust that might be indicative of possible water-induced damage.

Used car warranties are very, very dicey propositions. Most use car dealers either don't offer them, or charge an exorbitant fee. And if they do offer them, they come with high deductibles and exclusions and are honored only at specific locations. I see an increasing market for third-party warranty companies that seem to be willing to warranty any car for a price, but I have no experience or information on their reliability. Bottom line - just be very, very careful.

The experience of buying new being almost as cheap as used bore out for us. I was looking for a used minivan in '08, and found the prices of most vans in decent condition to be within a stone's throw of full retail! I was flabbergasted. So we ended up going against instincts and buying a new Sienna, and we've loved it. So there's that consideration as well.

Buying new cars can, to a degree, fall back on a formula that helps you maximize the amount of car bought for the dollars spent. Buying used cars is much more black art than science, because there's a severe limit on how much you can know about any used car that someone else, for whatever reason, doesn't want anymore.