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I though if a car runs at that price you don't have much to lose. Would it be financially safe to buy $500 cars and then ride it until it stops, scrap it or sell it for $200, so that you'll have rode a car for only $300 for the time it ran?
I need a car for an hour long highway commute, but only concern is what if the car stops in the middle of the highway.
If the car stops on highway is there a high chance some other car will collide into you? Or do people usually avoid you and then you can call the cops while inside the car?
I though if a car runs at that price you don't have much to lose. Would it be financially safe to buy $500 cars and then ride it until it stops, scrap it or sell it for $200, so that you'll have rode a car for only $300 for the time it ran?
I need a car for an hour long highway commute, but only concern is what if the car stops in the middle of the highway.
If the car stops on highway is there a high chance some other car will collide into you? Or do people usually avoid you and then you can call the cops while inside the car?
Many years ago when I first started drying, my first car was $500. Back in those days, you could still get a car that
1. Has decent tires
2. Brakes - They were not complicated.
3. Not computerized.
Now the car was a PITA to start in cold morning. I actualy had to warm it up.
If you can find a $500 used car today that has decent tires and brakes.. go for it. The problem is you probably won't cause a new set of tires is over $150...
The problem is that everything is so expensive these days. What do you really get for a $500 car?
I would not trust a $500 car for 1 hours daily commute unless I've owned that car for the past few years.
Spend a few grand on a worthwhile beater. Even for a few grand you won’t get anything particularly nice but at least you’ll have the basics covered and will likely get something far more reliable for an hour long commute. If you go cheap, you’ll pay more in the long run both in terms of general repairs and that impending tow/impound bill that you’ll pay when your car craps out on you.
If a $2000 car is nothing to write home about, imagine how awful a $500 car is today.
I paid $275 for my last van, it gave me 40,000 miles of reliable service. I drove it daily on my 40-miles RT commute and took a 2500 mile road trip to Texas in it. I put a new set of struts on it for the sake of comfort for the Texas trip, beyond that and a set of tires I probably didn't spend $200 for repair and maintenance the entire time. Sold it for $300 when the fuel pump went because I was ready for something new.
That's just one example. I haven't spent over $800 for a personal vehicle since the 1990s. My current car is a 1989 Caprice that I traded a season of lawnmowing for. I had to replace the alternator shortly after I got it, other than that it's been trouble-free since March.
I should point out that I've been working on my own cars for 30+ years and can generally pick out what kind of problems will cause the car to quit on me going down the road and what problems I can live with until I have the time to fix them. I wouldn't recommend that everybody go out and buy a sub-$1000 car. But for those who have some know-how and patience and aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, there are plenty of good deals to be had.
If you don't know how it will run for $500, then don't buy it.
Please reserve the cheapo-mobiles for the people that have a means to fix them up.
Exactly.
A cheap car is probably not going to end up being cheap, if you have to pay somebody to fix everything that's wrong with it.
I can fix up a pile of crap, for no more cost than the wholesale cost of the parts. It's a whole different story if somebody has to pay a shop list price for the parts, plus $100 per shop hour.
Me thinks this person is pulling everyone's leg with all their Threads.....
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