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I'm not so sure about affluent sellers though. As an "affluent" owner of 11 licensed, insured driveable cars, I question my own care of these cars. Other people in my world are more attuned to maintainence because they are more afraid of catastrophic failure.
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I was thinking of the guy in a nice semirural house with a car for sale on the well-kept lawn, which was originally his driver, then he gave it to his daughter to drive to school, but is starting to get worried about the high mileage. He just want to get the car off his lawn, because his time is money and used cars are not. You know the type. I've bought several cars from those guys, and they were all wonderful and cheap.
Conversely, I avoid the guy in the mobile home who has 2 or 3 more cars jacked up that he hasn't started to work on yet.
You're right about networking with a garage mechanic. If there's a cherry out there, they know about it.
I was thinking of the guy in a nice semirural house with a car for sale on the well-kept lawn, which was originally his driver, then he gave it to his daughter to drive to school, but is starting to get worried about the high mileage. He just want to get the car off his lawn, because his time is money and used cars are not. You know the type. I've bought several cars from those guys, and they were all wonderful and cheap.
Yea, now that you mention it, my K2500 Burb came from a guy like that. I wish I took as good care of it as he did.
If you only use the car to work and back, grocery stores, short errands, etc. you'll keep the car in pretty good shape( no repair/maintenance bills) so you won't be as likely to want to get rid of it in 2 years.
Or you could get an older BIG SUV one with poor MPG and it won't cost you as much. Ride in style. You'd think that cars like that would be dirt cheap but thanks to that cash for clunkers fiasco many of them were destroyed so they're about $1,000 more than they should be in price. I'm debating getting something like that but am turned off by the prices.
Thanks for all the great replies, guys! I feel better about my decision now. I like cars, but hate spending money - so clean, decent looking, and reliable are my qualifications.
I looked up a few online for reviews and what-not, seems my best bets are Hyundai's or Toyotas. I DID find a 2002 Suzuki Airo (sorry for the bad spelling) in my price range that I really like. Gonna go do some shopping for real (not just online) this weekend. :-)
Why do you not care for your cars? Aren't you worried your teenage daughter may face problems driving her car back from school? Or your wife of 20 yrs? Or you may run into trouble when driving your family to a vacation?
It's easier to teach your teenaged daughter a few things about auto maintenance and emergency repairs and being able to take care of herself where there is noone to hold her hand, than to keep throwing tens of thousands of dollars at trouble-proof new cars for her.
99% or more of all daughters will spend the rest of their lives depending on an automobile. It wouldn't hurt if they knew something about the machine.
So, I'm a "reformed bad boy" who is finishing off an HTO driver's license revocation. I've been granted a "hardship" license which will allow me to drive to and from work, stuff for work, and medical (or other emergencies). I don't want to pay a car payment, high insurance, etc. for a vehicle that I'll only be using to get to and from work. My full driving privilege will be restored in May 2012, so my thought is to get a car for around $3500 thinking that my chances would be low of having any serious problems with it for the limited driving I'd be doing; and I'd only keep it for about two years until I get a nicer car.
Any advice or thoughts on this would be appreciated. I don't know alot about cars, but I think this is a good idea.
What is HTO revocation? Are you in CA, is that what "palm trees" means? If so the car has to pass smog, but then again the local stuff for sale will be smogged.
I have to agree with the general consensus that you find a plain-Jane boring 4-door boat that's got 100K or so miles, being sold by an older and richer sort of guy, I think in some parts of Cali this is not hard to find. Or FL for that matter, if that's where your palms are.
If the HTO is a driving offense, a boat like this will not tempt you so much to "act up".
If you are willing to go for something unfashionable, $3500 will definitely buy you a usable car.
In a non-rusting climate, I would suggest you concentrate on MY 1995 and earlier cars to avoid the "joys" of OBD-II.
My ride to work today is an 87 Camry, automatic. These 2nd gen Camries are better cars than most people think, if you get a stickshift one they are borderline entertaining. Good on gas, mostly easy to work on.
Another alternative is an old pickup, something from the 80's or earlier. Get one in decent mechanical shape and take decent care of it, you will lose no money, plenty of them out there for your budget. You could keep it once you get your full license back, a decent pickup is always handy to have. If you get one old enough, in Cali, you can avoid smog entirely.
Just to think outside the box though, can you use public transport, a bicycle, walk, or something like that? Unless you learn to do your own maintenance, a car is pretty expensive, even one that you pay cash for.
HTO is a Florida designation for Habitual Traffic Offender. It is assessed if the driver has three violation for driving while license suspended, or DUI, or Leaving the Scene of an Accident with injuries. It's like 3 strikes, but it counts as a strike even if you don't know its suspended for unpaid fines. Florida used to send people to jail for that (unless they're white), and switched to a 5-year suspension of license because jails were getting too full.
HTO is a Florida designation for Habitual Traffic Offender. It is assessed if the driver has three violation for driving while license suspended, or DUI, or Leaving the Scene of an Accident with injuries. It's like 3 strikes, but it counts as a strike even if you don't know its suspended for unpaid fines. Florida used to send people to jail for that (unless they're white), and switched to a 5-year suspension of license because jails were getting too full.
OK, thanks for that - so we are talking Florida and maybe the comments about buying a "grampa-mobile" are valid then.
OK, thanks for that - so we are talking Florida and maybe the comments about buying a "grampa-mobile" are valid then.
When I lived in Florida, I had a grampa-mobile ('84 Ford LTD Wagon) which I drove to maybe about 40 other states as well as to Labrador, and it worked in all of them.
When I lived in Florida, I had a grampa-mobile ('84 Ford LTD Wagon) which I drove to maybe about 40 other states as well as to Labrador, and it worked in all of them.
I mean that such cars should be readily available from affluent retirees. That and FL not really being a rust state, the OP should be able to shop some older and thus cheaper, but not really worse, cars.
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