Best place to find a used car for less than $10,000 for a new teen driver
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Anonymous
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Moms,
Where is the best place to find a used car for my new teen driver? Prefer to spent $10,000 or less. |
Anonymous
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That price point is tough. At this price point I think you’re looking at a car older than 10 years with a good amount of miles. I’d stick with brands with long term reliability like Toyota or Honda. Ideally you find a friend or neighbor who is selling a car. If you have to go with dealer, look at the big name dealers not a smaller place. Always insist on an independent pre purchase inspection from a garage of your choosing.
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Anonymous
| I was looking recently for a car for a teenager also hoping to find something under $10k. I looked at Craigslist, Facebook marketplace place, carmax and cars.com. I wouldn’t recommend Craigslist or Facebook unless you know cars and know what you are doing. CarMax is nice, you can actually go to their lot and just browse. The cars are unlocked so you can check a bunch of different cars by yourself. It is more expensive than other dealers and there are very few cars under $10k. You pay a premium for convenience and 4 month warranty. I like cars.com and found my car through them. Here is my advice what to look for. Choose a Japanese or Korean brand known for bullet proof reliability since a $10k car is going to be around 10 years /100k miles. For example, choose Toyota Corolla and sort by price. Then look for a car from a major dealer and skip the smaller used car dealers. The cars at major dealers are more likely to be in better shape and with fewer hidden problems. Then check the free carfax provided by cars.com. Look for cars with good service records on carfax. With no or minor accidents. Not from northern states. You should be able to find a few choices around 10k. Then check the selected cars directly on the dealers site. Ideally choose the one that is sold with a 30 day warranty and not as is. |
Anonymous
| Try the car rental sales. |
Anonymous
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Look for used Mazda 3, Cx-3. These are great cars, but changed out because they are small and needs have changed.
Cars.com should have all different sellers. |
Anonymous
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Under $10K is extreme. Inflation is a real effect over the past 30 years, as are car safety enhancements.
The way to save money at that very low end is to make a private sale with someone you trust. The best option is of course yourself. My kids will have access to my 10 year old cars. How old/expensive are the cars you parents drive? |
Anonymous
| Under $20K is the new under $10K. It’s going to be near impossible to find anything for under $10K that is safe and reliable. |
Anonymous
| I have read on other similar posts to look for a used Nissan Leaf. So following to see if anyone on this thread has input. |
Anonymous
This is what I did. Got a 2015 Mazda 3 for 10 grand out the door, 100k miles but impeccable maintenance records. Looked like it had been driven back and forth to work by grandpa until he retired and bought himself a Miata. She’s been very happy with it. |
Anonymous
Nice cheap (but more pricey than it used to be) clean electric but not very reliable. Not sure I’d stick a teen with it. |
Anonymous
| Give your kid your car. thats what most parents do. Better safety features. |
Anonymous
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Something like this would last you a long time at around 10K. Chevys in particular do to depreciation and cheap to fix parts make good used cars in this price range
https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inventorylisting/viewDetailsFilterViewInventoryListing.action?zip=20854&distance=50&entitySelectingHelper.selectedEntity=m1#listing=414837903/NONE/NATIONWIDE_SHIPPING |
Anonymous
+1 I wouldn’t let me new driver have a car I didn’t have full knowledge of it’s history. I will but myself the used car. |
Anonymous
My kid drives the newest car. It’s not like it saves us money having them on a different one. And the safety features give us hope they may avoid or at least survive ana accident. |