Tips for Buying a Car for a graduate student in the Bay Area (Sacramento: rent, insurance)

[Jillnorman]

I am a graduate student who needs to buy a car in Berkeley, I need it for two reasons.

1- I am taking a class at UC Davis in November 2019/May 2019 which is twice a week.

2- There are conferences coming soon in early 2020 in Redding, Reno, Santa Barbara, and Sacramento. I need to have a car.

Otherwise, I am fine with taking the bus, but going to places where buses take a long time I usually rent a car for a day or take UBER/Lyft. I need to save money.

I do have a DL. However, do not have the experience of where to start looking for the car. Googled yes, but I need to make sure I am doing on the right path. My budget is around $3000. Any reasonable car with this price?

[MechAndy]

I sold my old 2003 Honda Accord a couple years ago for $2,500.
It was a square deal .
You might try to find one of those.
They are really reliable and last a looong time.
If that was my budget that is what I’d be looking for.
Hope that helps.
Good luck to you.
Andy.

[netaxcat]

Also checkout Autotrader.com. It has good selections, at your price in your area.

If this is the first time you buy a car in the Bay Area, bring a friend or a fellow classmate (who has experiences buying cars) with you.

Best luck shopping.

[marcopolo666]

Owning a car is expensive. It is much cheaper to take the bus or other pubtrans when you can (or an electric bike around 'town') and just rent a car when you need it - unless you need a car more than once a week.

Buying the car is just the start, after that one needs :
- insurance
- gas
- maintenance
- *parking* (good luck finding a spot in Berkeley, unless you already have one on-site)
- tickets
- breakdowns, including tows

You are talking well over $100 month AFTER the purchase of the vehicle.

You can rent as needed day-to-day via https://turo.com (toyota corolla for $25/day in/near Berkeley - there are several available)

You can rent by the hour via https://www.zipcar.com/ (for your "big shopping day" needs) :

- Standard hourly rates from $7.75/hr
- 180 miles included per day ($0.45 per miles after that)
- Complimentary gas card in each car
- Insurance included
- Application fee waived (in SF Bay Area)


There are lots of ride-share / carpool / trip aggregating (sharing) apps and sites for the longer trips.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Amtrak provides service to UC Davis, Reno, Santa Barbara, and Sacramento (it is kinda expensive, tho - might as well rent a one-way car or ride-share).

There's also https://www.flixbus.com (about $5 OAK->Sac or Davis, $9 OAK->Reno , $25 OAK-> S Barb -- IF you book in advance. It's about twice as expensive if you book last minute.)

And, of course, there's always https://www.greyhound.com .

And for rideshares, (I am not recommending any of these)

https://www.carpoolworld.com

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/rid

Reno to Berkeley 12/23 | Ridebuzz.org Rideshare & Carpool

RENO RIDESHARE - LOCAL SERVICES

[Jillnorman]

Good morning. Thank you very much for all of your kind comments. I am checking the websites you provided and assessing my options.

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by marcopolo666

Owning a car is expensive. It is much cheaper to take the bus or other pubtrans when you can (or an electric bike around 'town') and just rent a car when you need it - unless you need a car more than once a week.

Buying the car is just the start, after that one needs :
- insurance
- gas
- maintenance
- *parking* (good luck finding a spot in Berkeley, unless you already have one on-site)
- tickets
- breakdowns, including tows

You are talking well over $100 month AFTER the purchase of the vehicle.

You can rent as needed day-to-day via https://turo.com (toyota corolla for $25/day in/near Berkeley - there are several available)

You can rent by the hour via https://www.zipcar.com/ (for your "big shopping day" needs) :

- Standard hourly rates from $7.75/hr
- 180 miles included per day ($0.45 per miles after that)
- Complimentary gas card in each car
- Insurance included
- Application fee waived (in SF Bay Area)


There are lots of ride-share / carpool / trip aggregating (sharing) apps and sites for the longer trips.

Edit: I forgot to mention that Amtrak provides service to UC Davis, Reno, Santa Barbara, and Sacramento (it is kinda expensive, tho - might as well rent a one-way car or ride-share).

There's also https://www.flixbus.com (about $5 OAK->Sac or Davis, $9 OAK->Reno , $25 OAK-> S Barb -- IF you book in advance. It's about twice as expensive if you book last minute.)

And, of course, there's always https://www.greyhound.com .

And for rideshares, (I am not recommending any of these)

https://www.carpoolworld.com

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/search/rid

Reno to Berkeley 12/23 | Ridebuzz.org Rideshare & Carpool

RENO RIDESHARE - LOCAL SERVICES

I love this advice. If I didn't have a 2-year old daughter, there's no way I'd even own a car. It's such an unnecessary expense when you consider the ease of renting cars, Zipcars, public transit, car-shares, and the like. Keep in mind, though, that I run my calculations against the cost of owning a new car.

But in a cost-benefit analysis with a quality used car that was found on CL, I might be swayed that way, even if ownership without a driveway would be a pain.

One tip for people looking for undervalued used cars: learn to drive manual. I have twice purchased manual transmission cars on CL, drove them both around for a year or so, and then sold both for $900 more than I paid for them (each). I can't say if that's typical or not, but it worked twice for me so far. There are so few drivers around willing to drive stick shifts every day that the supply-demand can work in your favor.

[Jillnorman]

Originally Posted by llowllevellowll

I love this advice. If I didn't have a 2-year old daughter, there's no way I'd even own a car. It's such an unnecessary expense when you consider the ease of renting cars, Zipcars, public transit, car-shares, and the like. Keep in mind, though, that I run my calculations against the cost of owning a new car.

But in a cost-benefit analysis with a quality used car that was found on CL, I might be swayed that way, even if ownership without a driveway would be a pain.

One tip for people looking for undervalued used cars: learn to drive manual. I have twice purchased manual transmission cars on CL, drove them both around for a year or so, and then sold both for $900 more than I paid for them (each). I can't say if that's typical or not, but it worked twice for me so far. There are so few drivers around willing to drive stick shifts every day that the supply-demand can work in your favor.

Thank you. Why would some people prefer to drive manual?

[llowllevellowll]

Originally Posted by Jillnorman

Thank you. Why would some people prefer to drive manual?

I prefer it for myself because it's a lot more fun to drive. It can be a little nerve wracking at first, but then it becomes a lot of fun. But the real reason I like it is because there are some bargains to be had. A lot of desirable sporty cars (Audi, Saab, etc) are manual transmission vehicles that tend to hold their value and fewer people are comfortable driving them.

If you're going for dependable automatics, though, a Civic, Corolla, etc is a perfect car.

[Jillnorman]

Originally Posted by llowllevellowll

I prefer it for myself because it's a lot more fun to drive. It can be a little nerve wracking at first, but then it becomes a lot of fun. But the real reason I like it is because there are some bargains to be had. A lot of desirable sporty cars (Audi, Saab, etc) are manual transmission vehicles that tend to hold their value and fewer people are comfortable driving them.

If you're going for dependable automatics, though, a Civic, Corolla, etc is a perfect car.

I see. Thanks, I do not know how to drive manual. I'll stick with the D automatics

[ketch89]

UC Berkeley and UC Davis have a very convenient shuttle running between them for this purpose https://berkbus.ucdavis.edu/