Reply to Buying a used car in 2024 is stupid

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[quote=Anonymous]For people looking for deals -- you have to look at all the websites, including local dealerships. There's no "good deals here" website. You have to get very familiar with the market so that when a car in the make/model/mileage you want pops up at a good price, you know enough to know the price is good and can go see it right away (or order it if using an online dealer like Carvana).

When we bought a car last year, we narrowed it down to three different makes/models that were the right size and features for our family (we wanted a hatch back, but something on the smaller end because we live/park in a dense urban neighborhood). I put alerts on these make/models within a 5 year vintage, under 50k miles, on all the major online car dealers. I also made a list of all the reputable dealers for these brands in the DMV and would rotate through checking their websites regularly to see what they had new in stock. Sometimes dealers will put a good used car up on their website before they have it in hand, if they think it will get it sold faster. I also spoke to several dealers by phone, explaining what we were looking for and what we'd come in for, and they'd call me/text me with cars they had that they thought might interest me.

I also talked to Blue Knob in Pennsylvania, who has kind of a unique sales model, just to give them an idea of what I was looking for and asking them to put out feelers. They are well known for having good deals, the downside is you have to drive to Pennsylvania to get it and they don't do financing/haggling/bank transfers, so they want you to show up with a cashier's check. But the are reputable and we have friends who have bought great cars there, so they were part of our search.

After about 3 weeks of this I had a really good sense of the market and a car from a dealer up near Baltimore popped up in my search that was a great deal, recent vintage, low mileage popped up. Even the color I wanted. We drove up that day to look at it and took it home that night. Even happy with the trade in on the 14 yr beater we were replacing.

Oh, and we'd also looked at and test drove new cars during this time. This also helps when you go to look at used cars because you can make a true 1:1 comparison versus a new car. One reason we went with used over some of the new cars we looked at is that buying used enabled us to get the highest upgrade level and stay in budget. For a car that is goign to get daily use, some of those upgrades are really helpful and save us money in other areas.

I know not everyone wants to put this much effort in, but we only buy a new car once a decade. To me it's worth it. Not just to get a good deal (though that part is like a game to me and I love it) but to make sure we are making an informed choice and getting a car that's going to work just right for our family.[/quote]

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