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After having been locked in payments for a couple of years I decided I no longer want a car payment.
I sold my car this week with the intent of buying something much cheaper to just use to commute to and from work. My commute is currently about 7 miles each way. I can't bike it (dangerous and hot in the summer) or else I'd try.
So after selling my car I have about $8,000 to buy a car. It only needs to take me to and from work. 14 miles per day max. I want to find something that will not require a ton of maintenance, though at this price I realize it's bound to have some things needed from time to time. I'll be saving in insurance and a monthly payment (paid $400/mo previously) so I'll have leftover for saving for repairs but obviously would like to keep them to a minimum.
Is it possible to find a decent used car in this range that I can use to commute for 3-5 years or so?
If so, what make / model do you recommend I focus on?
So after selling my car I have about $8,000 to buy a car. It only needs to take me to and from work. 14 miles per day max. I want to find something that will not require a ton of maintenance, though at this price I realize it's bound to have some things needed from time to time. I'll be saving in insurance and a monthly payment (paid $400/mo previously) so I'll have leftover for saving for repairs but obviously would like to keep them to a minimum.
This just screams used EV if you got a place to plug in. $8K is plenty of cash to get one.
I like this one:
Yeah I have chargers at work and I can charge at home too. I actually have been looking at use Leafs. Not sure how reliable the little Spark is. I'll have to do some more research.
For even less money if you can find one, an older Toyota Camry can be an excellent car, it's Plain Jane transportation, if you get one from the 80's you may need to do some work or pay for some work, but these are very long-lived and reliable cars.
That said, with you in Cali, an EV would dodge SMOG, for one thing. Who knows how a used Leaf will continue to depreciate? Keep it long enough and you will need to replace the main battery, although I can't say when that will be or what it will cost (I will assume at least one aftermarket battery will be on the market when these things start needing batteries). Main downside for the Leaf and similar is the limited range, you have to keep an eye on battery level and where your next charge is coming from. But for a normal to and from work commute this should not be an isue.
I might use it for errands around town but that's about it. We have another car (Honda Fit) that's paid off that we use for longer trips.
Yeah I have chargers at work and I can charge at home too. I actually have been looking at use Leafs. Not sure how reliable the little Spark is. I'll have to do some more research.
Being in California there are some great deals on Fiat 500e's also. You can get low mile examples for plus or minus $5k.
My impression is that EV cars are quite reliable, there is very little to go wrong, so even the FIAT (Fix It Again Tony) EV should be OK for reliability. That may be a bit unfair, modern FIAT cars seem to have at least decent reliability. I do remember some buddies with FIAT cars in the late 70's, and they seemed to wrench all weekend to drive all week.
I'm not sure one needs to worry much about higher miles on an EV. There is just not that much to wear out.
Gah, picking a Brand or a Model is a plan for disaster when shopping used on a budget. You can buy clapped out, POS Camry, Corolla and Civics that wouldn't be reliable enough to get you out of your driveway.... and Porsches that'll go a hundred thousand miles without needing more than consumables in that price range (I did just that with a Porsche, and then sold it for $2k more than I'd paid).
Shop for the single best vehicle. It can be any make or model, seriously. There are stunningly maintained examples of EVERY car and complete piles of trash of every make/model. I'm scared of the "common suggestions" precisely because they have the reputation of being an appliance. They don't tend to be cared for and little things that are $100 to correct when they start, turn into $1000+ jobs once ignored and that's when the vehicles end up being sold.
Look for one owner (maybe not too common in that price range), or at the very least the same owner for ~5 years. As close to full records as you can find will up your chances of finding something with verifiable maintenance. And find a good mechanic, you'll probably want to find 2 with one doing domestics and one asians, and ask them if they have customers who are looking to sell anything. You can get the FULL service records for the recent past that way, and often times those vehicles are priced better than things advertised.
The bottom line is you need to learn more about How to buy a used car than worry about a specific make or model. It's simply a different story when buying used.
For short trips like this either EV or Prius is your destiny. Please, pay attention - Prius, not Camry hybrid or any larger hybrid. Or, a diesel VW with manual transmission.
EVs have special chargers that cost a lot, I doubt you'll have 2 of them.
As of Leef. Word is they have to have battery replaced at 5-7 years to the tune of $5K or so. Research that. Maybe that's why they start showing on the market.
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