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What do you guys think of auctions? A friend of mine told me about car auctions where you can buy the car and have 30 days to check it out and bring it back if there is something wrong with it to have them either repair it or give you your money back.
It would depend upon the auction, since you're not going to be able to get into a dealer auction, unless you know someone in the business who can buy the car for you. Some sell cars donated to charities, which may have mechanical flaws, and others are merely used car dealers who have adopted an "auction format" to try to move vehicles.
I have never heard of a thirty day return policy at an auto auction, but I would look to the fine print to see what could be a means to exclusion under the policy. The phrase "there has to be a catch" comes to mind, but perhaps I am just too skeptical.
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All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.
~William Shakespeare (As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)
Sorry, my friend, but I have to call your bluff. You do indeed drive a P.O.S. if there ever was one. I'm not insulting you or your character, just your car. For those who haven't seen it, this is lvd's car: http://www.city-data.com/forum/las-v...l#post19457300. I also remember you posting on the Las Vegas forum how your car has no air conditioning (and you live in VEGAS with the blazing hot sun for much of the year) and that is leaks oil all over the place so bad your landlord wanted to tow your car out of there.
My car does look like a POS. I have never denied that. However, it has been very reliable as I said. It leaks oil, but not at all like you are saying. I have to add a quart every 3 months or so. I once lived in a control freak HOA that had a problem with cars that leaked any oil at all. My car leaks a drop or two at most each day, but they targeted me most likely because of how bad my car looks. Yes, my car is very basic which means it did not come equipped with A/C or even power steering. For $500, I really could not expect those luxuries. Luckily, I only work nights now so A/C is no longer one of my complaints since it is never too hot at night to drive with the windows down.
Just so everyone knows, I was never saying the OP should buy a car like mine. I merely was suggesting that you can get a reliable car very cheaply. With that said, I cannot imagine a girl and her kid driving a car like mine For $2,000 she could get something that looks much nicer, but still is just as reliable as my trusty old Escort.
You can probably still get a mechanically reliable $2,000 car in a northern state where it will have significant rust, but I wouldn't expect a decent southern car for less than $3,000.
There is your tradeoff. You can get low mileage and mechanical reliability in a rust state, but the car will be rough and not pretty. I know a woman in Northern Wisconsin who bought a '85 Taurus for $300, and it's still running fine and trouble-free after two years, but she has to drive it with a brown paper bag over her head. It has more visible rust than paint.
Also when you hear of deals from a few years ago, remember a lot of that was before cash for clunkers.
Thousands of perfectly running cars were taken to a dealership, and purposely destroyed so they could not be driven on the road, or the engines used to maintain other vehicles out of junkyards.
This took used cars out of the market, thus raising the cost of them. It was crazy to see how many cars in the junkyards had c4c written in grease pen. It was nearly half.
Something I found in a junkyard while getting a taillight for a friend. Remember by Cash for clunker rules... they had to drive in under their own power. Obviously it had been pretty well stripped by the time I saw it.
and yes I checked the VIN, it was authentic, the owners club marked its location/condition, since they are tracking down where all the typhoons are at and their condition.
What do you guys think of auctions? A friend of mine told me about car auctions where you can buy the car and have 30 days to check it out and bring it back if there is something wrong with it to have them either repair it or give you your money back.
Just a warning, there is a local place that does "auctions" for the general public.
Apparently they bait/switch. Post good cars online, but when you get there they are not there and they give priority to the "buy here, Pay here" small lots, and all that is left is the vehicles that those places won't take. Which is usually something that probably should go to a junkyard.
You can probably still get a mechanically reliable $2,000 car in a northern state where it will have significant rust, but I wouldn't expect a decent southern car for less than $3,000.
There is your tradeoff. You can get low mileage and mechanical reliability in a rust state, but the car will be rough and not pretty. I know a woman in Northern Wisconsin who bought a '85 Taurus for $300, and it's still running fine and trouble-free after two years, but she has to drive it with a brown paper bag over her head. It has more visible rust than paint.
You have to get a really old car to get much significant rust, or you have to pick one of the few models that are prone to rust. We have several cars in the 10-20 year old range without a speck of rust on them. Technology has nearly conquered rust. Some cars still rust out, but looking at used cars constantly the past several years, I rarely see any rust and even cars that have some rust do not have what I would call significant rust.
For example: My daughter just bought a 1992 Lincoln Town Car with over 100,000 miles on it for $2100 and it does not have a speck of rust on it. I looks new except for some fading. We have a 2002 Chevy Express with 145,000 miles on it that would be worth just under $2000 if it did not have a blown head gasket. It has lots of dents and scratches, but no rust. My brother just bought a 1998 Volvo wagon for $1800. It has over 200,000 miles. It does not have any rust. Until two years ago, I had a 1998 Ford F-150 that had no rust. It had been a jobsite truck and badly abused, driven for 168,000 miles, but had not a spec of rust (the oil pump broke and the engine seized, but it had no rust).
Exceptfor a few models, rust has not been a major concern for decades.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 10-03-2011 at 03:17 PM..
You can probably still get a mechanically reliable $2,000 car in a northern state where it will have significant rust, but I wouldn't expect a decent southern car for less than $3,000.
There is your tradeoff. You can get low mileage and mechanical reliability in a rust state, but the car will be rough and not pretty. I know a woman in Northern Wisconsin who bought a '85 Taurus for $300, and it's still running fine and trouble-free after two years, but she has to drive it with a brown paper bag over her head. It has more visible rust than paint.
I bought this for $375:
No rust whatsoever. Needed a fuel filter to run properly. With a little elbow grease and some hubcaps, this is what it looked like:
Drove it from Baltimore to CT to give it to a friend who needed a reliable car and it's been fine ever since.
Bought this for $1200 for my son's girlfriend as her first car:
So far it only needed spark plugs and one window regulator. She drives it every day. No rust whatsoever. I can find hundreds of cars like these around here. And I'd bet anywhere in the country.
A few years ago I sold a car I had and someone got a good deal. It was a 1991 Subaru Legacy awd wagon with 165k on it. It was 17 years old when I sold it. It ran very well, very reliable. It was a Wyoming/Colorado car, so mostly highway miles. The body was in good condition, no rust, except for the front passenger door was bashed in where a drunk imbicle had backed his car into it. The door and window still functioned fine so I took the $2000 cash for the damage and didn't get it fixed. The a/c didn't work either. Sold it for $1200.
Keep your eyes open and cash on hand for the right deal.
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For $2,000 she could get something that looks much nicer, but still is just as reliable as my trusty old Escort.
