Buying a Used Car

Quote: EvenBob

I checked a few other offices 20 or 30 miles away and they're all the same, backed up for months.

Sounded like you have a workable plan carrying a notice of appointment. Only thing I would want is the name of the officer who told you that, so if you get the only cop who didn't get the memo, you can tell him who told you that.

Maybe it's just me, but if I take the word of someone I didn't get the name of, it invariably comes up that someone else in the chain asks me who told me that.

edited
actually happened last week at Lowes. I got some wood pieces from a pile at the back of Lowes. I ask the guy working in the back what the price was, as I couldn't find any price, and he said the people at the front register would know.

I get up to the front register and sure enough, they don't know the price. I told them the guy working in the section in the back told me you guys would know, and they asked me who told me that.

Of course, I never got the guys name. Though that was easy to solve in this case, it just reinforced the need to know who you're going to quote.

Quote: rxwine

Sounded like you have a workable plan carrying a notice of appointment. Only thing I would want is the name of the officer who told you that, so if you get the only cop who didn't get the memo, you can tell him who told you that.

My insurance agent is the one who told me about driving with no license plate and I just called the Sheriff's Department and verified it.

The financial guy on the internet, Dave Ramsey, has a 10 item list you should ask sellers when you're looking for a used car. I would say about one-third of the people I talked to did not like this at all. Questions like why are you selling or how long have you owned the vehicle. Some would get angry and sarcastic with me. What do you care they'd say, why all the questions. I would always answer, because I'm spending thousands of dollars, that's why. One guy even hung up on me. Their attitude is I should be thankful they are selling and just run over to their house to give them the money without asking any questions.

This was the first and hopefully last time I buy a vehicle like this. In the past I always bought from people I knew, or at auctions. I bought five vehicles at auctions and they all turned out to be great. I read that car auctions suck now because they're loaded with dealers looking for cars for their mom and pop car lot. CarMax, the internet dealer, sells thousands of cars a day and they get most of their cars from auto auctions. Who puts a car in an auto auction? Dealers who take in trade-ins that don't sell within two or three weeks and they haul them off to the auction. So when you buy a car from CarMax or from a small dealership what you're buying is just a used car the big dealerships couldn't sell. 

Quote: ChumpChange

I've never had a 15 year old car make it to 130,000 miles.

Personally I have had two cars make it over 300k miles each with proper maintenance. And yes, they were the Japanese cars. Both sedans, though one had the "hotter" motor on it. I don't think 130k miles with proper care is a big deal at all any more.

Seems to me cars Ford(pssibly including all sub brands) made will get 300,000 and rust will be the achilles. Not in a set it and forget it kind of way, money will have to be invested for a few shortcomings. Don't know if these Japanese cars are going on so much with just oil changes essentially.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

Seems to me cars Ford(pssibly including all sub brands) made will get 300,000 and rust will be the achilles. Not in a set it and forget it kind of way, money will have to be invested for a few shortcomings. Don't know if these Japanese cars are going on so much with just oil changes essentially.

I have a Honda with 376k miles on it. I have changed the timing belt, other than that I have changed the oil and filters along with brakes and tires.

Quote: MJGolf

Personally I have had two cars make it over 300k miles each with proper maintenance. And yes, they were the Japanese cars.

I was reading that Toyota and Honda tend to overbuild the component parts that are going on their vehicles. They also don't like change, they would rather improve something they already have then come up with something new. The Toyota Sienna I just bought has had all the maintenance done on it exactly when the factory said it was supposed to be done. At 155,000 miles it rides and drives almost like a new vehicle. Everything on it is super tight. The steering, the suspension, the shifting is so smooth I can only tell when it shifts by watching the tachometer. People love these Toyota Siennas. They often get 400000 and 500000 miles out of them. My wife's father gave her his 2000 Toyota Sienna a couple years ago with 300,000 miles on it and she would drive it to antique shows. She sold it last year to a construction guy for $1,500. He said it still has lots of life left in it and he'll use it until the wheels fall off as a work van. How many 20 year old vehicles can you do that with.

I just bought a Honda and it has a CVT. That is the only thing that makes me nervous with a Honda. I have heard they are much better now since Nissan has been using them for 15 years.

The one car listed as going 3 million miles had its engine replaced. But I believe there are a couple with 2 million miles without full engine replacement. There are at least a dozen that reached 1 million. But I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some unknown cars not listed.

Getting to 1 million miles isn’t just about reliability though. If that car is driven a lot through areas where there are high accident rates, it is more likely to be totaled at some point. If the accidents are high, but mostly lower speed fender benders in congested cities for instance it may survive longer.

I own and maintain three old Volvo Turbo cars, ranging from 1982 to 1992 (selling the '92, replacing it with new Mazda CX-5 Carbon Edition Turbo).

All three old Volvos have held up much better than average, due to Volvo's "overengineering and understressing."

Shortly after buying two of them I tore the engines down and rebuilt them, "just because:" they showed no evidence of damage to their bearings at teardown.

The '92 has never been rebuilt and other than a bit of piston slap at start up it runs like a top.

All have the "red block" four cylinder engine, which is about as stout as they come.

Used Volvos should NOT be purchased by folks who do not know how or care to work on cars, as they are old and something always seems to need tinkering with due to age, but even with that they're very reliable and pleasant to drive when well-maintained (I especially enjoy the steering feel on these rear wheel drive vehicles).

As for CVT transmissions: I'm not sold on them; one reason we're buying the CX-5 is because it has a "real" six speed automatic transmission (plus the reviewers praise it to high heavens for handling, fit and finish).

Quote: MrV

Used Volvos should NOT be purchased by folks who

Living in Oregon isn't it mandatory that you own at least one Volvo? I've been to Portland and if you can take your attention away from not killing a homeless person with your car every 10 seconds, there seems to be 20 foreign cars for every American car. Does it rain everyday there or was that just my imagination.

Quote: MrV

As for CVT transmissions: I'm not sold on them; one reason we're buying the CX-5 is because it has a "real" six speed automatic transmission (plus the reviewers praise it to high heavens for handling, fit and finish).

I bought a new CX-5 about 18 months ago - I think it's a Grand Touring, as it has an automatic rear hatch and SiriusXM. I have only had two issues with it:

One, the SiriusXM radio occasionally loses most of its "satellite" channels, but the internet-based ones remain. Even the preview channel goes away - something that should never happen on any SiriusXM radio; even ones where you stop paying the monthly fee should have this channel as its only channel. There was a recall notice to upgrade the radio software, but this didn't fix it. This shouldn't be a problem for you, as I don't think the Carbon Edition Turbo has this radio.

Two, somehow I engaged the "manual shift" and ended up stuck in first gear - on a freeway onramp, with a truck bearing down on me.

Quote: ThatDonGuy

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Two, somehow I engaged the "manual shift" and ended up stuck in first gear - on a freeway onramp, with a truck bearing down on me.

otherwise known as, 'How to be aware in the present moment.'

Quote: MrV

I own and maintain three old Volvo Turbo cars, ranging from 1982 to 1992 (selling the '92, replacing it with new Mazda CX-5 Carbon Edition Turbo).).

Just bought a Cx-5 a few months ago. So far no issues and I really like it.

Adding the van to my insurance made me realize I know nothing about the history of Geico Insurance. Turns out it was started 85 years ago and called Government Employee Insurance Company and they covered federal workers and members of the military. The number one insurance company in the US is now and has always been State Farm which has been around for 99 years. Allstate is second, Progressive is third, Geico was 4th, and I think Farmers Insurance is fifth. All these companies have been around for over 80 years and I never heard of any of them growing up except for State Farm because that was my parents company.

I don't ever remember seeing an auto insurance company commercial on TV in the sixties or the seventies. Now they're on 24/7 on every channel. State Farm has twice as much business as its nearest competitor Allstate. Here's an insurance story, we all have them. 1970 I'm rear-ended by a woman with her sun visor down putting on makeup. I could see her coming and that she was going to hit me. She did enough damage to the rear end of my car that the insurance company totaled it, but it was still drivable.. I did not have Collision so I thought I was screwed. I was still on my dad's family policy and he told me I might be covered because the accident was not my fault and there might be some provision for that in the policy. He was right and I went to the agent to pick up a check for $700 which was a huge amount of money a 1970. That would be $4,900 in today's money. I go into the small insurance agents office and he comes over and literally throws the check in my face. It hits my face and floats to the ground. He yells at me, if your dad had not told you this was in your policy you would not be getting this check because you had no idea you qualified.

I was flabbergasted. I said to him, jeez man, you act like the money is coming out of your own pocket. My dad was just trying to look out for me, is he not supposed to do that? The agent turned on his heel disappeared into the back room. In the 1960s and into the seventies it was not unusual to see older people treating young people like they're dirt. They even showed it on Mad Men when a father slapped a kid across the face and it wasn't even his own kid. I put up with all kinds of abuse on different jobs I had just because I was young. You would never see that now. Some of the things the older bosses said to young people, especially young women, would put them in prison today. My first real girlfriend in the early 70s worked for a famous jukebox company in the factory. It was a good job but she put up with so much abuse from the male bosses because she was really attractive that she had to quit. It was non stop workplace sexual harassment that they would tar and feather you for today. People born after 1970 have no idea what it was like in this country in the 'old days'.

Quote: EvenBob

Adding the van to my insurance made me realize I know nothing about the history of Geico Insurance.

Here's all of "the history of Geico Insurance" I need to know: when I started my job in the federal civil service, I asked Geico for an insurance quote on my new car (a 1984 Chrysler Laser - actually a Dodge Daytona with "upscale trim," and not to be confused with the later Plymouth Laser), which started this brief conversation:
"Is it a Turbo?"
"Yes"
"Sorry, but we're not going to insure your car."

Wow, I have a different story, but about The Hartford.

After being with them awhile I decided (idiot) that I wanted to buy a Ferrari, so I did so.

I added it to our Hartford policy (three Volvos and a Ford truck) with full coverage.

Owned it ten years.

I had read nightmare stories about mainline inusurers refusing to cover exotics, but that wasn't the case with The Hartford: they insured it for the same rate I was paying for our '92 Volvo 940 Turbo, and they never gouged me after the initial rating.

It is strange, I have always had insurance that was way cheaper than others my age. I still do and don't know why. I know my driving record is good but so is the people I compare mine too. Even when I had expensive new cars they were cheaper than my friends Hyundai's to insure.

180k miles and on my 3rd CVT after 120k. Nissan paid for the first and half for the last two. My experience…

Quote: Mooseton

180k miles and on my 3rd CVT after 120k. Nissan paid for the first and half for the last two. My experience…

Not surprised. After reading how they work it sounds like they were designed by Mickey Mouse.

Quote: EvenBob

Not surprised. After reading how they work it sounds like they were designed by Mickey Mouse.

Kilmer if I recall has a video says CVT are all crap.

Quote: EvenBob

Does it rain everyday there or was that just my imagination.

Yes, but it's a dry rain.

Quote: AxelWolf

Yes, but it's a dry rain.

Doesn't Oregon have the highest suicide rate in the country? I want to kill myself just thinking about going back there.

Quote: EvenBob

I took this picture with my phone after I parked it. That's the Wilderness of my backyard but I dare not enter alone.

Just turned the radio on for the first time and discovered it's a 7 year old Alpine Stereo with Bluetooth that sold for $700 in 2013. Put in a Sinatra CD and with the 10 speaker system that came with the van and a huge subwoofer in the back it sounds fantastic. Just keeps getting better and better.

Quote: EvenBob

Doesn't Oregon have the highest suicide rate in the country? I want to kill myself just thinking about going back there.

You live in Michigan, I can't even imagine why you are still ticking.

Quote: EvenBob

Just turned the radio on for the first time and discovered it's a 7 year old Alpine Stereo with Bluetooth that sold for $700 in 2013. Put in a Sinatra CD and with the 10 speaker system that came with the van and a huge subwoofer in the back it sounds fantastic. Just keeps getting better and better.

I have had my Honda for two weeks and the radio is still on the same station as when I got it. I will eventually figure out how to tune it to AM.

It rains more frequently in Portland than most places in the USA, and there are more cloudy days than the norm, but the overall yearly rainfall amount is similar to east of the Mississippi.

This past April was the driest April on record, however.

Hello, climate change!

Here's a photo taken last fall a couple miles away from my buddy's home near the Oregon coast, outside of Lincoln City:

Note: some rain would have been welcome that day ...

Just live in Las Vegas, less than 4" of rain per year.

Quote: DRich

Just live in Las Vegas, less than 4" of rain per year.

I told my wife numerous times "I'm going to live in Las Vegas..If not in her life time ,,, in mine!!!

Quote: daveyandersen1

I told my wife numerous times "I'm going to live in Las Vegas..If not in her life time ,,, in mine!!!

Just live apart like Evenbob and his wife.

Quote: DRich

Just live apart like Evenbob and his wife.

You just wish you could get a deal like I have. I just talked to my wife for an hour on the phone, first time in 10 days. Haven't seen her in 3 weeks. Life is good.

Quote: EvenBob

You just wish you could get a deal like I have. I just talked to my wife for an hour on the phone, first time in 10 days. Haven't seen her in 3 weeks. Life is good.

To each their own, that sounds horrible to me.

I haven't talked to my wife on the phone in years.

I'm a night person, my wife likes to go to bed early.

Years ago we decided to sleep separately, each in our own bedroom decorated / set up the way we like it.

That has worked out great.

Quote: MrV

I'm a night person, my wife likes to go to bed early.

Years ago we decided to sleep separately, each in our own bedroom decorated / set up the way we like it.

That has worked out great.

When people get money the first thing they do if they're married is have separate bedrooms. The reason married people sleep together is usually because they can't afford separate bedrooms. Men and women are meant to sleep separately. Sleep is the most private thing we do and we do it better when we are alone. I hate sleeping with someone, it is a major invasion of my privacy

Growing up, all the couples on film and television slept in separate beds. I figured my parents were too poor to afford the second bed.

Quote: EvenBob

When people get money the first thing they do if they're married is have separate bedrooms. The reason married people sleep together is usually because they can't afford separate bedrooms. Men and women are meant to sleep separately. Sleep is the most private thing we do and we do it better when we are alone. I hate sleeping with someone, it is a major invasion of my privacy

It's more like a personal opinion/preference/experience of yours than a fact. Are the two of you loyal or is it open? You have mentioned all the pussies at your place but I thought they were cats. It's a little rare to have people basically in common law divorces like that. Is your refrigerator running? :D Hee hee hee.

Quote: billryan

Growing up, all the couples on film and television slept in separate beds. I figured my parents were too poor to afford the second bed.

In my experience, I'm either offended she wants to sleep in another bed, or I'm angry she wants another bed to sleep in, when I'm with a gf in hotel rooms. I think a smaller bed is better for a relationship, I like it at least.

I'm much closer than thinking about getting a car from Carvana. The way car prices are out of control, at least I'll probably be getting a car they inspected and isn't too far from a normal price. If I have to return it in 7 days, I'll return it and try a second time and last time. Almost thought I wanted this https://www.carvana.com/vehicle/1692156 , but it's way too beat up to be getting a loan on. Looks good at first, then there I noticed all these more serious imperfections I haven't seen on other cars in the paint and interior. It's taken already, but they alert you if they become available. Someone wants the options apparently.

People are renting Uhauls instead of rentals in Hawaii according to an article I read, because car rental companies are charging $500 a day. Are all the penny machines going to become 2c and 3c machines? Could be good, could be bad. If companies are making all this extra money, they should reinvest some into the supply chain inventories. By law probably, don't think companies care anything about employment and getting back to business. Many cargo ships have been destroyed, those things take years to be replaced, so maybe we can't restart with that weak link in the global economy as such. Maybe major companies will have to start having a 12 month emergency fund at some point.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

In my experience, I'm either offended she wants to sleep in another bed, .

Gosh, self-esteem issues dude? I am never offended, why would I be.

Quote: EvenBob

Gosh, self-esteem issues dude? I am never offended, why would I be.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who like Neil Diamond, and those who don't. My ex-wife loves him. No that's not it. Guess again.

Drich, how did you wind up even thinking about Carvana to flatly sell your car when it was coming off lease? Have you ever tried that before?

Quote: onenickelmiracle

Drich, how did you wind up even thinking about Carvana to flatly sell your car when it was coming off lease? Have you ever tried that before?

no, never done it before. i always just returned my leased cars. i knew that used cars are in very high demand so i thought i would just check and see what mine was worth. it really was just a lark because i assumed i would be upside down since i did a zero down lease. Online they came back with what I thought was a crazy number. I then ran my car through three other services, Vroom, Carmax, and Kelly, They all came back about $2000 less than Carvana.

Carvana picked up my car about an hour ago and gave me a check. The person spent about 2 minutes looking at it and verifying the odometer and then hauled it away. I was shocked how short the process was.

I am amazed that I got a $4500 check for a zero down lease that was only $197 a month.

Thats cool

Quote: DRich

n

Carvana picked up my car about an hour ago

Carvana is crap, they get most of their vehicles from auto auctions, cars other dealers couldn't sell. They're so happy to get a nice one like yours they overpay for it and charge the next customer they sell it to up the yin-yang. Go and read their reviews sometime, for every satisfied customer there are two that think they got ripped off

Quote: DRich

no, never done it before. i always just returned my leased cars. i knew that usedI cars are in very high demand so i thought i would just check and see what mine was worth. it really was just a lark because i assumed i would be upside down since i did a zero down lease. Online they came back with what I thought was a crazy number. I then ran my car through three other services, Vroom, Carmax, and Kelly, They all came back about $2000 less than Carvana.

Carvana picked up my car about an hour ago and gave me a check. The person spent about 2 minutes looking at it and verifying the odometer and then hauled it away. I was shocked how short the process was.

I am amazed that I got a $4500 check for a zero down lease that was only $197 a month.

Thank you. That is crazy, but we crazy is normal these days. Cars are moving up with low inventories right now of course we're finding out. Just did an incognito search "sell your car" and Carvana didn't even come up first page and I would have expected a higher ranking. They're paying so much because they're going straight out the door as soon as they buy them. I hope we get this supply chain working again, but that's shut down dependent etc.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

They're paying so much because they're going straight out the door as soon as they buy them.

They are paying so much because they have a buyer for it already. They know exactly who they're going to sell it to and for how much. Because of the pandemic shutting down all the car manufacturers last year we now have a seller's market that we haven't had since the end of World War II. A huge number of customers and a short inventory of cars. The car lots I talk to are going crazy because these people are banging down their doors and they have nothing to sell them. They have inventory it's the crap nobody wants.

Quote: EvenBob

They are paying so much because they have a buyer for it already. They know exactly who they're going to sell it to and for how much. Because of the pandemic shutting down all the car manufacturers last year we now have a seller's market that we haven't had since the end of World War II. A huge number of customers and a short inventory of cars. The car lots I talk to are going crazy because these people are banging down their doors and they have nothing to sell them. They have inventory it's the crap nobody wants.

Right. I was looking at a car, they wanted $13900 for and their offer to buy it for $10000, so they're making $4000 just for the sale plus financing.

There is gradually going to be a new car shortage so expect to pay more. The semiconductor shortage is effecting cars worldwide and is not expected to be back to normal until sometime in 2023. There is a GM plant near where I live that has been closed since early Feb and not going to reopen until June 21 all because they can't get semiconductors. It is the same all over the world.

Quote: EvenBob

They are paying so much because they have a buyer for it already. They know exactly who they're going to sell it to and for how much.

I don't believe that as my car has not yet appeared on their website. I expect it will later this week. I have been watching to see what they are asking for it. I am guessing a $2000 to $2500 premium over what they offered me.

Quote: vegas

There is gradually going to be a new car shortage so expect to pay more. The semiconductor shortage is effecting cars worldwide and is not expected to be back to normal until sometime in 2023. There is a GM plant near where I live that has been closed since early Feb and not going to reopen until June 21 all because they can't get semiconductors. It is the same all over the world.

Intel is going to repurpose some of their chip manufacturing to cars, but there still will be a lag. Supposedly consumers bought a lot more gadgets during the pandemic.