gone are the days of 5000 dollar good used cars? (minivan, credit, tires)

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by Oleg Bach

If you have a wad of old fashioned cash you can negotiate most down to a very low price..People love the feel of real money.

You're right. People selling cars privately are asking for $5K, but they are not going to get it, because people in that market do not have that kind of money, and nobody will loan it to them for such a car. There are a lot of people who want to buy a car like that, but very few who can. A private seller who asks $5K is telling you that if you pull thirty $100 bills out of your jeans, he will smile and wave as you back it out of his driveway. He wants that car off his lawn so bad (it's probably his daughter's) that he can taste it.

[duster1979]

Originally Posted by Me007gold

Correct, they were not in the market for a NEW car, but removing those $4000 cars from the market which they could buy had a huge impact.

But they weren't $4000 cars, they were mostly sub-$2000 cars that people were able to get $4000 on trade thanks to the government.

And the program was an abysmal failure because very few were actually pulled out of daily service. Most were backup vehicles that spent most of their time sitting in a driveway, so they really weren't contributing much in the way of pollution.

Had the C4C program not been in place most of them would have continued to serve duty as backup vehicles and never been available to purchase.

However, used car dealers were more than happy to use it as an excuse to jack up prices, so from that standpoint I guess the program did drive accomplish that. But the shrotage of available cars was perceived rather than actual.

[mustang84]

Used cars are expensive right now because new car production declined dramatically during the downturn in 2008 and Japanese automakers cut production in 2011 due to the tsunami. There are much fewer used cars on the market than past years. The other problem is that people have hung onto their cars for much longer than normal (average vehicle age on the road is currently 11 years old), so many of these cars you see for sale have high miles. Production of new cars has increased dramatically in 2012 and 2013, so we should see used car prices come down over the next 2-3 years as more flood the market.

[LS Jaun]

Originally Posted by jtur88

You're right. People selling cars privately are asking for $5K, but they are not going to get it, because people in that market do not have that kind of money, and nobody will loan it to them for such a car. There are a lot of people who want to buy a car like that, but very few who can. A private seller who asks $5K is telling you that if you pull thirty $100 bills out of your jeans, he will smile and wave as you back it out of his driveway. He wants that car off his lawn so bad (it's probably his daughter's) that he can taste it.

I could never get a Private seller who was asking 5k down to 3k, but a Dealer could get that 5k car for $1500 on trade in.

A friend had a 2005 Corolla that he used as a trade in. He let us know that we could have it for 5k before he went down to the dealer. The Dealer made it out that his 90k corolla was a POS and got it for $1700. I know I'll see that same car on a used car lot for $5995 or more

[hitman619]

I made a tread about this a while back!
I'm still looking for a reliable car for my daughter to drive to school next year.San Diego,CA is the worst when it comes to finding used cars.

[menacide]

I bought a used car for $1500 a few months ago from someone that I knew, but unfortunately they wouldn't even hook me up with the price (I thought I overpaid for it).

The car is a 1997 Lexus ES300 with 225k miles. It took me a while to finally decide to buy it because the mileage scared me, but after going to used car lots and finding what $1500 got you from a car lot, I then quickly decided to buy it for $1500.

The person I bought it from had the car for around 6 years and had bought it at around 120k mi for around $6k. The only maintenance he ever did was change the timing belt and regular oil changes.

I can easily see this car hitting 300k mi and it has ice cold AC (required in summer in houston if you have a job).

I think I just got lucky, though. A lot of stuff that I was finding on craigslist was not in the $1000-2000 range and meet my criteria. But yeah, I think I am a believer now in that mileage doesn't mean as much as people like to think. It all depends upon maintenance and care.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by civic94

it seems like the more i search online, its much harder to buy a good car for $5000. in the past it was doable, but now its seems like 8000 is the new 5000.


criteria: no body damage, 120k miles or less, and less than 10 years old or less.

around here, i see 2003 accords with 200k miles still selling for 5000.

Your criterea are driving the price up. I have bought good used cars, with needs of course, but even after fixing the issues, I was way less than $5000.

Buy condition, buy a well-designed and well-built car, and quit getting wrapped around the axle about miles and how old the car is.

Case in point a buddy bought a 2002 Accord for $1200 - from a co-worker's father in law, a rich guy who took excellent care of the car. But it has more than your magic 120K miles, and it's over 10 years old, so you wouldn't have wanted it.

I'm working on an issue with my Scirocco (likely the parts that will fix the issue are at the house in a UPS box as I write) but I bought it for $1000. Close to 40 MPG.

Not too long ago bought a decent F-350 1-ton single rear wheel truck - with 4 may-pop tires (and did pop) but running and driving for .... $350.00.

Today driving my old Camry, paid too much for it - $3000. Runs and drives, A/C does not work but it's on my to-do list. Again, close to 40 MPG.

[tipitop]

Originally Posted by civic94

i get what your saying, but in the end, if i get anything over 150k miles, and i drive of 15,000 miles annually, by 5 years i will have 225k. most cars starts to go downhill at 200k+, and this is coming from a friend who owns a auto shop business.

That downhill are piston rings. I did replace in past myself but after piston rings there is rust and electrical problems. Currently I fight rust with cold galvanizing, maybe will do piston rings again.

[Oleg Bach]

Originally Posted by jtur88

You're right. People selling cars privately are asking for $5K, but they are not going to get it, because people in that market do not have that kind of money, and nobody will loan it to them for such a car. There are a lot of people who want to buy a car like that, but very few who can. A private seller who asks $5K is telling you that if you pull thirty $100 bills out of your jeans, he will smile and wave as you back it out of his driveway. He wants that car off his lawn so bad (it's probably his daughter's) that he can taste it.

That's the thing about cash. I really had no credit rating..never really was involved with credit cards..I was a hand to mouth sort of guy most of my life- a while back I inherited some money. I road a bicycle into town and withdrew 5000 dollars cash....I wheeled into a car dealership and started to look around..some thing that would seat my four kids. I pointed at a vehicle and said how much? The guy said 30 thousand...I thought - why not - never owned a new vehicle. We sat down and the sales guys ran off to check me out - "You don't exist..where did you get your name - off a tomb stone?- The refused to deal with me _ Then I dropped the 5 grand on the desk...You should have seen them move..

I got the works- extended warranty and bought some bulk insurance for the year...also with cash...I drove the hell out of that wonderful machine for a year and I could not destroy it. Finally I figure out that this vehicle was about to be come a liability. So I drove it to the lot at night - knocked on the window and tossed the keys to the janitor..Then walked away- Later they hounded me for the balance saying I still owed them five thousand dollars...They told me they sold it at auction...I asked how much? They said 5 thousand...So I like a pirate said - I guess we are square then...funny- cold hard cash will make a fool out of just about anyone.

[texdav]

Actually its more to do with people now keeping cars longer. Others are traded in and dealers rarely keep them; they are sent to auction and then used car dealers pick them up.