Those of you who have purchased a used car

[Anonymous]

Please tell me your success story
I am so distressed. So far I have trimmed the acceptable make list to Honda, Toyota, Subaru and Jeep

I was hoping to find something about 5 to 10 years old, that has not been in an accident or a fleet vehicle and mileage of not more than 80k

I almost purchased a Subaru that had alms 80k miles, but it was priced higher than the blue book value and the total with dealer junk fees and registration would have been the same as it’s original msrp

I really would like to buy used instead of new, but have not been able to find any that are a reasonable quality, price

Is the availability of cars that low or has the price just gone up?

[Anonymous]

I bought mine before the pandemic, in 2019. It's a 2016. New it would've been $45K, mine was $17K with 34K miles, a sedan. It most likely was a fleet vehicle with some cosmetic wear and tear, but acceptable. It runs great, has never had any issues, and it was in a front-end collision. No issues noted. Bought from a used car dealer. I just got new tires all around, and new front breaks. No regrets.

[Anonymous]

Forget what KBB says. It's a lot like real estate - it all depends on the current, local market conditions.

I'm in New England and just bought a 2017 Subaru. I had been studying the local used Subaru market for a while and felt it was a good price. High mileage and under $20K.

I'm sure a lot of people would've tried to haggle but this car would've been sold to someone at the price the dealer wanted within a day or two. I knew that so I didn't even bother.

Just get the car that's right for you right now. With many models in the brands you mention, the difference between 80K miles and 110K miles may help you with price and likely won't hurt you much otherwise.

[Anonymous]

I have a success story. But not in one of your listed makes.

In April, I purchased a 2017 Chevrolet Volt, 73K miles. I checked carfax and apparently it's not been in an accident and has always been registered in my local area (which is warm and has no snow therefore no roadsalt). I paid just under 18K for it. It's also eligible for the 4K used hybrid tax credit, and I qualify with my particular income.

I got it at CarMax, they actually shipped it from another store for me for free (they do charge if farther away). Their fees are much lower than other car dealers, in fact they were about $600 compared to 2 other local dealers for same model car that were closer to 3K! Plus with them you get 7 days to try it out, and 30 day warantee (nothing went wrong though). And 3 months Sirius radio free lol, I don't care about that.

The car has been awesome and it was closer to 40K new I think six years ago. I also was looking at new cars, but I was able to pay cash for this one and the 4k tax credit next year will be nice. My last car was also a Chevy and it's still running at 260K miles!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Please tell me your success story
I am so distressed. So far I have trimmed the acceptable make list to Honda, Toyota, Subaru and Jeep

I was hoping to find something about 5 to 10 years old, that has not been in an accident or a fleet vehicle and mileage of not more than 80k

I almost purchased a Subaru that had alms 80k miles, but it was priced higher than the blue book value and the total with dealer junk fees and registration would have been the same as it’s original msrp

I really would like to buy used instead of new, but have not been able to find any that are a reasonable quality, price

Is the availability of cars that low or has the price just gone up?

Use the Penfed True car buying tool which is free and you can use it anonymously.

You can plug in make, model, mileage, year, price limit, etc. and get pulled up all cars in area dealerships fitting criteria. I got what I thought was a very good deal for my son.

[Anonymous]

Why on Earth is Jeep on your list? It's one of the least reliable brands in the US. Definitely not a good choice for a used purchase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bought mine before the pandemic, in 2019. It's a 2016. New it would've been $45K, mine was $17K with 34K miles, a sedan. It most likely was a fleet vehicle with some cosmetic wear and tear, but acceptable. It runs great, has never had any issues, and it was in a front-end collision. No issues noted. Bought from a used car dealer. I just got new tires all around, and new front breaks. No regrets.

So nothing you posted matters. It’s been a different market for years.

[Anonymous]

I walked into CarMax out near Dulles all set to find myself a Honda. My eyes fell onto a purple PTCruiser convertible. It had only like 4k miles on it, and was less than a year old. It cost less than the Hondas I'd wanted to look at. I bought it and loved it for years. Only sold it because it was a two seater and I needed a car with more room.

But that walk onto the CarMax lot worked out great for me. It's a great idea to know what you want, but it's not a terrible idea to be open to whatever inventory there is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I walked into CarMax out near Dulles all set to find myself a Honda. My eyes fell onto a purple PTCruiser convertible. It had only like 4k miles on it, and was less than a year old. It cost less than the Hondas I'd wanted to look at. I bought it and loved it for years. Only sold it because it was a two seater and I needed a car with more room.

But that walk onto the CarMax lot worked out great for me. It's a great idea to know what you want, but it's not a terrible idea to be open to whatever inventory there is.

I’ve been to CarMax a couple times and their prices always seem really high. We had sticker shock in 2022 when looking at new cars and decided to look at used cars. The CarMax prices made our decision easy and we bought new. Glad it worked out for you though.

[Anonymous]

Have bought 2 cars from dealers through listings on cars.com. In both cases I was already familiar with the car/make/model. One car was just off lease--3 or 4 years old. CarFax records were available. Other car was a bit older but CarFax records were also available. So far so good with both cars.

But yes-prices are still elevated. Agree with PP that there's something to be said for just looking and seeing what's available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why on Earth is Jeep on your list? It's one of the least reliable brands in the US. Definitely not a good choice for a used purchase.

Plus they are silly vehicles.

[Anonymous]

OP, I posted before about my great experience buying a used Honda Fit. Get the CoPilot app. It is a game changer. Dealers are rated and you can see a rating for the price of the car too. I told the dealer ahead of time that I was taking the car to a mechanic to be checked out. It was easy-peasy and I had never bought used before.

[Anonymous]

Don’t buy at a dealer.
Buy an odd duck.

My Wrangler I bought with only 4k miles was a 4 cylinder stick shifts. Got it out of storage facility whose daughter sold it as inherited from dad for “pay off” amount of loan cash. She put gift on transfer as I paid bank dire that to release lien.

Or a weird color. Try to get then still under factory warranty when buy from owner.

Also accident cars can be great. I bought a Mercury sable once 9k miles that was in two collisions with other vehicles on car fax. Was an old lady and low speed accidents. Car was repairs but those two accidents really distorted resale on a car with 9 k miles. Also the color was a black station wagon looked like a hearse.

Also older Buick and Cadillac 10-20 years old owned by elderly people always garaged are great.

[Anonymous]

I have bought 2 used CRVs in the past 18m

1. At a small used car lot. 2007 EX with 109k miles for 12k. Was a one owner car with all of the service records, impeccably clean, and no accidents. This is a car DS.

2. At a large dealership. 2018 EX-L with 24k miles for 27k. No accidents. It had been traded in the day before by an older couple with did very little driving.

Both were more than I wanted to spend - but all used cars are $$$$ right now. It took me about 6m of daily searching to find them. I looked at cars.com, carfax.com, carmax.com, and truecar.com every day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why on Earth is Jeep on your list? It's one of the least reliable brands in the US. Definitely not a good choice for a used purchase.

As are Hondas.