Best place to find good used cars

[Anonymous]

Aside from the dealer, have you found any online sites useful? What has been your best used car buying experience?

[Anonymous]

People rave about Car Max but when I looked a lot of their cars were from rental companies so you might as well buy directly from the rental company.

[Anonymous]

The only place to get a good deal is through a private party sale. But it's a big PITA in this area because most people just trade in their cars.

[Anonymous]

I've had good experiences at Enterprise purchasing the cars previously used as rentals.

[Anonymous]

I don't buy used cars anymore, the deprecation is much less because they are better made.

[Anonymous]

Carmax is good

[Anonymous]

We found our used cars on cars.com and autotrader.com, then went to the dealers that listed them to test drive/purchase.

[Anonymous]

OP back. Thanks again.

[Anonymous]

We've used Cargurus to buy two used cars. They are the best for finding what you want. I think it's owned by TripAdvisor.

[Anonymous]

I use CarGuru and it’s great when you know what you are looking for.

[Anonymous]

Definitely a private seller that is moving etc. sometimes people will ask you to take over payments. Jackpot!

[Anonymous]

Leasetrader or swapalease

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't buy used cars anymore, the deprecation is much less because they are better made.

I'm pretty much the opposite. Yes, cars today are much better made today, so I don't buy NEW cars anymore. It takes all of us to make the market work!

Carmax has its share of haters and fans. It's a big operation with a good website. All the inventory and all the prices are online, so you can show up and buy a car with the loan approval from your bank/credit union. Fast and transparent. Downside is that a knowledgeable buyer with some time on their hands can get a better price elsewhere.

CarGurus and others are internet platforms for individuals and dealers with cars to sell. They don't actually own the cars, making them a little different from Carmax. Our last two cars came from Craigslist and our neighborhood listserv ("Say, is anyone looking to sell their minivan?") Lucky both times.

[Anonymous]

We had a great experience at Tricars in Gaithersburg. Found them on Autotrader.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aside from the dealer, have you found any online sites useful? What has been your best used car buying experience?

I've had success with cars.com