Advice on buying a cheap car.

Indica1 · February 2012

I need a car and will only be able to spend at the most 4k on it, which means I am running a pretty high risk of getting ripped off. I want to know what I should know about a car before I buy it, what kinds of questions to ask to not seem totally clueless, (which I am) and just general advice that I might not know enough to ask for. (stuff like things to look out for during a test drive) At this point I have figured out that I shouldn't buy a car that was a rental or fleet, and that I'll probably have to buy a car that is at least nine years old with more that 120,000 miles on it.

Also, if I buy a car in PA with an NY license is that going to cause any inconvenience for me?

Figgy · February 2012

Years ago, I spent $5000 on a '98 Mazda Protege with 72k miles on it. It lasted me 6 years before I finally sold it and bought new. Had a few problems over the years where I had to dump a bit of money in, but nothing major and nothing that made me regret my purchase. It was still very drivable last year when I got rid of it.

I did however shop around a lot. Some dealers told me I wouldn't find anything for $5000. I was wasting my time. But they had the perfect $7500 car for me to test drive. I just kept shopping around until someone wasn't full of shit and I found something I liked.

Don't be afraid to ask questions about the car. Pull up a report using the VIN if you find something you're really interested in. It will tell you all previous owners, so you can see if it was a rental or fleet (mine was actually a fleet car for a short time). You can get something decent and perfectly drivable for 4k.

Things to look for:

- Check the tread depth on the tires. That's another $400-$800 for a new set of tires, which could very well be a necessity right away on many used cars. Stick a penny in the tires with Abe's head faces down. If you can see his face over the tread, you need new tires.
- Check the alignment. It's not expensive to get an alignment done, but it could be an indicator of more serious problems. Go into a parking lot and brake hard while driving in a straight line. Don't touch the wheel. The car should stay relatively straight the entire time.
- Listen for noises. Listen everywhere. It helps to have another person with you, so they can rev the engine with the hood up and you listening nearby. Or they can drive with you in the back seat listening for knocking, rattling, etc.
- Look for signs of body work. This usually indicates an accident. Since not all accidents are reported, it's not always good enough to check a car report for this info. You can look for body work by searching for signs of left over masking tape around door handles and other exterior pieces, paint lines between panels or on the interior of doors, or rust.
- If a car does have rust, check it thoroughly. You can either discount that car all together and look elsewhere, or consider asking the dealer to knock money off or fix the issue. Keep in mind that even if you do sand down and repaint a rusted area, the rust can come back, depending on the extent of the damage.
- Bring a mechanic. If you know a guy who knows a guy who knows a guy, see what it would take to either bring him along to check out a car you're about to purchase or bring it to him to check out. An actual garage will charge you labour to check over a car for you, and it's going to usually be hard to set up an appointment that coincides with when you can "test drive" the car again to have it checked. Offer a friend a case of beer if he looks over your car quickly.

Also check out this site for more detailed information about what you can check out yourself: http://www.samarins.com/check/simplecheck.html

tinwhiskers · February 2012

Are you living in PA? Registration and sales tax can be a real pain in the ass, as some states still want their X % even if you already payed it across the border. And don't forget about sales tax/registration etc. 5% on 4k is $200 and registration tends to be a few hundred bucks as well.

get something that's decent on gas. If you can only spend 4k on the car you probably don't want to spend $100 a week on gas. Avoid imports that aren't toyota/honda as the parts will kill you when stuff breaks, same goes with SUVs/Trucks. Avoid KIA/Hyundia they are good cars now, 10 years ago, they were shit.

Um...general test drive stuff...Get it up to speed and slam on the breaks. If it pulls to one side or the other, walk away. Aliment/suspension issues aren't worth your time.
If you can push the break petal down to the floor easily, and need to to get stopping power...breaks are probably shot.
Test all the electric goodies. locks/windows/lights etc, bring a phone charger with you to test the outlet.
Look at the rubber striping behind the drivers side window, If its poc marked, its probably from a smoker.
Check the tires with a penny, to make sure you have plenty of tread left.
Try to get it up to freeway speed, to see if you get a pronounced rattle/jarring at a certain speed. Tends to be the same screwed up suspension stuff as a car that pulls.

Djeet · February 2012

If you don't know much about cars you'll probably want a mechanic to check it out. I know there are mobile guys who will give you some kind of inspection report, but not sure if they are equipped to do anything major (like a compression test).

Questions are great, but if you're in a non disclosure state they don't have to disclose stuff (like if the entire car has been resprayed, or if there was frame damage), or only have to if you explicitly ask. Also you have to have confidence that you can tell if the guy is lying to you. That said ask if it's been in any accidents (including fender benders). Ask if there's been any frame damage. Ask where it's been resprayed. Ask if it's had any major maintenance/repair (tranny, engine, suspension components, A/C) and how long back they were. Ask if the timing belt has been replaced. Get the autocheck (superior to carfax as it's dealer-oriented instead of consumer-oriented) and ask about anything weird on it. Ask if there are any liens on the title. I assume either I'm getting lied to or they might just be ignorant, so better than asking is evaluating for yourself.

Check the fluids, though this is easy and cheap to top up, so poor/low fluids may only rule a candidate out, adequate fluids doesn't mean the car was well taken care of. Ask for the service records (personally, I've seldom come across anyone who keeps good service records).

Never bought a car with 100K+ miles. I would assume any car sold for $4K would need considerable re-conditioning unless you were very, very lucky. Then again I assume most people are like me and put off major maintenance for as long as they can. I'd be concerned about frame rust. Not sure regarding interstate title transfers but it should be straightforward: you go to PA title registration office, pay sales tax, and get mailed a new PA title.

zilo · February 2012

Definitely find a mechanic you can trust and take it to them for an inspection before you buy. Don't rely on spotting problems on a test drive unless you really know what you're doing.

$4k is a tough price point. You can find cars that cheap at dealerships, but not often. Are you comfortable buying on Craigslist? Can you pay the $4k in cash?

Indica1 · February 2012

yeah, I'm not expecting to find one at a dealership.

zilo · February 2012

In that case the things you're looking for are clean titles that are in-hand (not bank-owned cars), maintenance records, someone willing to meet you at a mechanic so you can get it inspected and do the deal there if it checks out, and a Honda, Toyota, or Ford from the last decade. KBB and the like are ok indicators of used market prices. Generally if a car looks like it hasn't been taken care of (unrepaired scrapes and dents, worn-out tires, overly scuffed-up interior), run away. Try to find a 1-owner car if you can, but nothing more than 2 owners (you can check this with autocheck).

Obviously you don't want any deals that involve shipping a car or mailing you a title. Cash, in person, sign the title over right there, and nothing else.

webguy20 · February 2012

Be wary of cars with between 100k and about 130-140k. This is when lots of things fail or need to be replaced. You have your timing belt and water pump being replaced around 100k, oxygen sensors are going out about 100-120k, brakes around the same time usually. Things like that. I've found if a car is still running strong after 140k its a good bet that the stuff that needs to be fixed or replaced has been, or at least gives you a lot of bargaining room if it hasn't.

witch_ie · February 2012

Don't buy a car that has been in a front end collision since the engine was likely impacted in some way which could end up costing you a lot in the end. While car fax reports are great (definitely get a subscription while you are looking), not all accidents are reported. A good way to tell if parts have been replaced on a car is to look for the VIN stickers on various panels of the car. They are holographic and should all match. If it's missing, it's likely that the car was in an accident in the location the sticker is missing.

Lankysean · February 2012

I've heard that that "cash for clunkers" thing a few years ago has taken it's toll on cheap used cars. That being said, I'd shop around a lot, private party and dealers alike. A good way, but kinda difficult to get away with, to find a decently priced used car is to hand out around car dealerships and wait for people to pull up and ask what they are trying to trade it in for and offer slightly more. I bought my first car from a lady trying to trade in her old Honda Civic, the dealership had offered her a laughable $400 and I offered $600 cash... she was more than happy to get the extra $200 bucks...the dealership was not so happy however.

A question I have is how long do you plan on keeping the car? If you only need it for a few months to a year you could probably pick up a $1000 car on craigslist and run it into the ground... sure you'll have to deal with some/most of the features on the car not working such as A.C. and power windows what have you. But for a run-about it's a decent way to go.

illig · February 2012

The best thing to do is look for a Honda, Toyota, or Nissan from the late 90s, early 2000s IMHO.

These cars are basic commuting appliances but are well built and will last forever with basic maintenance.

It's a good idea to look for a base model car if you're on a budget. If you don't mind hand crank windows and manual locks, and basic air/heat controls it'll save you money bc these things almost never break while switches, window controllers and regulators, and climate control systems, and other convenience do eventually wear out.

Same with a manual transmission. They're less desirable, but get better mileage, and allow you to do silly things like push start a car if your starter dies.

Definitely go private party bc at this range of the scale its difficult to buy a decent car from a dealer. Make sure its a clean, tidy vehicle with appropriate maintenance done, and you'll be fine.

MHYoshimitzu · February 2012

witch_ie wrote:

While car fax reports are great (definitely get a subscription while you are looking), not all accidents are reported. A good way to tell if parts have been replaced on a car is to look for the VIN stickers on various panels of the car. They are holographic and should all match. If it's missing, it's likely that the car was in an accident in the location the sticker is missing.

I'll add that most car websites online will have "free" CarFAX views on that car. If one dealership website doesn't have it, Google the VIN number of the car and most times it'll appear on another website that has paid for the use of that particular CarFAX.

It's also a good way to see whether that car has been on a lot for an extended period of time and what the price is/used to be and whether you can get the dealership to drop that price for you because no one is buying it (90 days is a LONG time for a dealership to have a car on a lot).

Indica1 · February 2012

Thanks guys this stuff is good to know, I was wondering is it practical to lease a car for like 3-4 months? Anytime I try to google anything to do with cars it's just this huge mess of yuck.

Ego · February 2012

I can't speak about leasing, but when it comes to buying used cars, I have to say: buy privately and buy cheap. Don't go to a used car dealership, you'll pay a lot more for less compared to buying from a private individual. Just make sure you take your time looking and doing research, and bring vehicles to a mechanic you trust for a thorough checkup before you buy. At least in my area you also need to get an inspection when a vehicle exchanges hands. Make sure you find out about things like timing belts that might require you putting some cash into the vehicle in the near future to maintain reliability.

My parents were really big on buying used cars, so it kind of rubbed off on me. Through my entire life I can only remember my family buying one vehicle brand new (aside from myself, I bought a new mustang as a treat but truly wish I hadn't) whereas we bought half a dozen (bear in mind this was a family of five) used vehicles over the years that served us well. Sure, that meant I was driving a 69 gran torino in the 90s, but you know... that actually suited me just fine. The car cost $1500 and had been sitting in a barn for a couple years. Lasted me ten (kinda wish I'd still kept it, might be worth something today.) My daily driver is a used dodge acclaim that I picked up from a retired lady for less than five grand --with somewhere around 30,000km on it, if I recall correctly. An old, but barely used vehicle.

Spend the time hunting up people selling vehicles privately. Haggle them down. I've never been impressed with what I've seen on a dealer's lot for used cars.

Anyhow, I love used cars. Good luck with your search.

jimb213 · February 2012

Ego wrote:

My daily driver is a used dodge acclaim that I picked up from a retired lady for less than five grand --with somewhere around 30,000km on it, if I recall correctly. An old, but barely used vehicle.

Old lady cars are the best! It seems like they're always around 10 to 12 years old, with well under 50,000 miles, and usually garage-kept. A good friend of mine love to help people find used cars, and one of his go-to places is the used lot of the local Lexus dealership. There's almost always a handful of older cars with low miles in great condition. Granted, the cars may not exactly appeal to a youngish gamer guy, but they're usually great deals.

MichaelLC · February 2012

I thought old lady cars were bad because they only get used once a week, so lots of built-up gunk, bad tires and bad batteries.

Ego · February 2012

I haven't found that to be the case in my experience. One of the things I like most about vehicles owned by the mature or elderly is that they tend to be gently driven, and the transmissions are in great shape thanks to that. Even if you look at tires and batteries as something you might want to replace, that's very cheap compared to transmission work. If anything is impairing engine performance (allowing for the expected degradation in performance as an engine ages,) it should be caught when you bring it into a mechanic.

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Advice on buying a cheap car.

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