Buy a used car that owner kept for only 5 months?

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
does it come with any warranty from the dealer?


Yes, a token one at only 3000 miles and 3 months, but if it is a hot potato I feel that it'll likely blow up in my face during that timeframe.

This particular dealership also has a 48 hour or 250 mile return for any reason policy. So if, after I take it home and perform a more thorough inspection I see something that scares me, I can just bring it back.

Currently I'm doing some research on the best way to deal with transmission servicing, as it is listed as a "sealed unit" with "lifetime fluid." I know the fluid still needs to be changed, I just need to figure out the best way to go about it.

*edit* - I haven't yet taken possession of the car. It's sitting at the dealership and waiting for the certified check from my bank to arrive, which means I should be picking it up tomorrow.

 

[surfstar]

$12k seems like a lot for a 7year old car with 93k miles.

$12k can get you into some brand new cars as stated upthread. (and I am a huge advocate for buying used vs new)

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: surfstar
$12k seems like a lot for a 7year old car with 93k miles.

$12k can get you into some brand new cars as stated upthread. (and I am a huge advocate for buying used vs new)


It does sound like a lot. But after all the searching and digging I've done, that seems to be par for the course right now. Even private owners (around here) selling their used 4cyl Camrys want nearly that much for a similar quality car.

A few examples... one dealership held 2007 4cyl LE car with just under 100k miles in very good condition is listed for $12,000. A private owner with a 2010 4cyl LE with similar miles in good condition is asking $10,500. A Toyota specific dealership in town is asking $13,000 for 4cyl Camrys in the 2009-2010 range with 60k to 70k miles in okay condition (lots of visible flaws, some of them didn't drive very well). The 2009 SE V-6 with 90k miles in similar condition was listed at $13k. I could go on and on, but I think I've shown the trend.

If I were to travel I might find a better deal, but in this area this particular car is typically listed for about $13k.

As far as those $12k brand new cars go.... I can say with almost complete certainty that the ride quality and seat comfort would leave my wife in a fair amount of pain if she had to sit in it for more than an hour.

 

[strat81]

Over 10 years ago, I sold cars at a Chevy shop. A really nice guy comes in with his wife to buy a Tahoe. I take them on a test drive. He drives it and likes it. I ask him to pull over so his wife could try it. She refuses, as she's too afraid to drive a car this big that she doesn't own. I ask again, and she declines again.

We agree to a price, they sign the papers, and drive off in their new Tahoe.

About 2-3 weeks later, after the vehicle has been titled and plated, the husband shows up. "It's too big, my wife refuses to drive it." He knew the answer, but he asked anyway, "Is there any way I can return it?"

"Sorry. It's a used vehicle. It'd be treated as a trade-in."

Sticker on the vehicle was around $42k. IIRC, he got around $30k on the trade, and we put it on the lot for around $37k. We had new demo vehicles with more miles than this thing had. It had less than 1,000 miles on it.

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: strat81
Over 10 years ago, I sold cars at a Chevy shop. A really nice guy comes in with his wife to buy a Tahoe. I take them on a test drive. He drives it and likes it. I ask him to pull over so his wife could try it. She refuses, as she's too afraid to drive a car this big that she doesn't own. I ask again, and she declines again.

We agree to a price, they sign the papers, and drive off in their new Tahoe.

About 2-3 weeks later, after the vehicle has been titled and plated, the husband shows up. "It's too big, my wife refuses to drive it." He knew the answer, but he asked anyway, "Is there any way I can return it?"

"Sorry. It's a used vehicle. It'd be treated as a trade-in."

Sticker on the vehicle was around $42k. IIRC, he got around $30k on the trade, and we put it on the lot for around $37k. We had new demo vehicles with more miles than this thing had. It had less than 1,000 miles on it.


Wow.... that's a couple with *expensive* communication issues!

 

[hattaresguy]

My uncles neighbor had a 750IL like that. Someone bought it, didn't like it for whatever reason and was to embarrassed to go back to the BMW dealer. He ran over to the Lexus dealer and took a bath, I think the car had under 400 miles on that or some silly low number.

The owner of the Lexus dealer knows my uncles neighbor and that he flips high end cars for a part time job so they flipped it to him.

I was told the original owner took a massive bath on it, the Lexus dealer didn't want the car and offered him trade in money accordingly. He tried to sell it to my uncle for like $70k, MSRP had to be around $100k.

 

[SteveSRT8]

I once bought a 'used' Silverado with 250 miles on it. The Dealer had somehow let it get away and the financing fell through and the guy returned it in perfect condition.

Two pages of window sticker, loaded is not even the right word here. We call it a 'redneck Cadillac'. Sticker was well north of 40k.

We drove it home for 26 including everything. One of my best deals on a 'new' vehicle ever.

 

[Mykl]

Man.... I feel like I'm losing out on some value by selling my GTI so soon. I can't imagine taking a $15k to $30k wash on a car I only got a few hundred miles out of.

 

[cptbarkey]

have you done your DSG service yet Mykl? you might change your mind when you get the $700-$1000 quote for a stupid transmission oil change.

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
have you done your DSG service yet Mykl? you might change your mind when you get the $700-$1000 quote for a stupid transmission oil change.


Oh yeah, I know all about that. Given the cost I'd probably do the work myself, in my garage. The last I heard it cost about $450 if you have a dealership do the work (supplies are ~$100). But mine has a manual clutch, so no worries.

Oddly though, if my car had DSG and four doors there's a very strong chance we'd keep it because it would be almost as good as a family vehicle as the Camry, and more fun to drive.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
I once bought a 'used' Silverado with 250 miles on it. The Dealer had somehow let it get away and the financing fell through and the guy returned it in perfect condition.

Two pages of window sticker, loaded is not even the right word here. We call it a 'redneck Cadillac'. Sticker was well north of 40k.

We drove it home for 26 including everything. One of my best deals on a 'new' vehicle ever.


Not quite that great a deal, but a while back, my friend's wife bought an Audi A4. It was not quite 2 years old, had ~10,000 miles, and was loaded to the gills with every available option, up to and including the $900 pearlescent paint. It was in perfect shape, dealer-maintained...and she got it for about $100 above low book value. There was one simple reason it had been on the dealer's lot for nine months: this otherwise-loaded A4 had a standard shift!

She loved it...too bad it got stolen ~3 years later.

 

[Mykl]

So I can now say, after driving it a little more than what you get to on a test drive, that this Camry is quite possibly the most boring vehicle on the planet. Clearly it's not a performance car, nor was it purchased to be used as one, but [censored].

I feel that its virtues will outweigh its complete lack of fun. Because for the money we had to spend we couldn't really afford comfort (in accordance with my wife's unique needs), reliability, AND fun. It's a shame that my wife found the Accord painful, because that car is actually enjoyable to toss around.

Thankfully there are plenty of really fun cars available between $4k and $6k. I've found some incredibly clean 10 year old Mustang GTs for about that much, Miatas are always available, Civic Sis, etc.

 

[Vikas]

Originally Posted By: Mykl
Thankfully there are plenty of really fun cars available between $4k and $6k. I've found some incredibly clean 10 year old Mustang GTs for about that much, Miatas are always available, Civic Sis, etc.
How does that help? I mean if your have "permission" to spend another $6K for another car, your budget for this car would have been higher by that amount. Another car means another insurance, title, taxes, maintenance, room in the garage/driveway, hassle to juggle the cars around etc. Please tell *me* how you will be able to convince the "authority" to let you get another $6K fun car. I can certainly use your successful strategy myself

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
How does that help? I mean if your have "permission" to spend another $6K for another car, your budget for this car would have been higher by that amount. Another car means another insurance, title, taxes, maintenance, room in the garage/driveway, hassle to juggle the cars around etc. Please tell *me* how you will be able to convince the "authority" to let you get another $6K fun car. I can certainly use your successful strategy myself


I don't think permission and authority are accurate words to describe the situation, maybe "consensus"? I think my wife understands how much I enjoy cars and love driving, so she wouldn't try to object if I said I wanted to put myself in something more enjoyable for my day to day grind, especially if it didn't cost us much more out of pocket. (all this car swapping was my idea anyway, it'll allow us to have a better family vehicle than the GTI and allow us to pay off our house a year faster)

The end result will be two cars, one as a "family" vehicle (the Camry) and the other to get me to work and back every day (the cheap one that I would prefer to be fun to drive).

I estimate the value of the xB to be about $3000. If it had a manual transmission I'd install bigger swaybars and just drive it until the body disentigrated around the drivetrain. It is a fun car to drive, except for the not-so-enthusiast-oriented automatic gearbox sucks the life out of it. Selling it and adding just a little more on top of that doesn't blow our budget because we got the Camry for less than we were prepared to spend.

 

[cptbarkey]

in that case, may i (wish i had one) interest you in a slightly used Subaru WRX?

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
in that case, may i (wish i had one) interest you in a slightly used Subaru WRX?


Yes please! I loved my 2002 WRX and 2004 STi. I've run maybe one search to see what base WRXs look like for the money I have to spend and I'm not terribly encouraged.

It seems like an overwhelming majority of them got beat on pretty hard by the Fast & Furious crowd.

What's more likely to happen is that I stumble across a 15 year old Civic EX/Si or 15-20 year old Miata in acceptable condition with working air conditioning. I really enjoy driving them, there's plenty of cheap upgrades available when I feel like tinkering a bit, they're easy and cheap to repair, and they're cheap enough to run that I can probably squeeze in a track day or three a year.

I'd *love* an old Mustang GT, but since the primary purpose of the car is to get me to work and back the option that lowers my monthly fuel bill is probably the best one to take. But it's great to know that the option exists.

 

[Vikas]

"a slightly used Subaru WRX" for $4-6K? Where do I sign up?

I did not realize that you were going to get rid of a car to get another one. That changes everything.

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: Vikas
"a slightly used Subaru WRX" for $4-6K? Where do I sign up?

I did not realize that you were going to get rid of a car to get another one. That changes everything.


Yup, although we're probably going to do like we did with the Camry, buy the replacement car first and then sell the one we intend to get rid of. It's easier than selling one and then living with one car until we find the second.

Step 1 was to find a suitable family vehicle, step 2 is to sell the GTI, step 3 is for me to drive the xB for as long as I can stand it, step 4 will be to find the cheapest vehicle I can that I will enjoy driving (thankfully there are plenty to choose from).

 

[cptbarkey]

We have somewhat of a kindred Mykl, tonight I am selling my 2012 xB to a nice lady, and my new daily is a 2000 Subaru Outback as of a few days ago. Given its not quite an upgrade, i am absolutely floored how the Outback handles, the suspension is wonderful versus the xB's crazy bouncy ride. heres to success for both of us!

 

[Mykl]

Originally Posted By: cptbarkey
We have somewhat of a kindred Mykl, tonight I am selling my 2012 xB to a nice lady, and my new daily is a 2000 Subaru Outback as of a few days ago. Given its not quite an upgrade, i am absolutely floored how the Outback handles, the suspension is wonderful versus the xB's crazy bouncy ride. heres to success for both of us!


Cheers to that!

I know people with Outbacks who all love them. If we lived up north with all the crazy weather we probably would have gone looking for either an Outback or a Forester.