Buying a Used Car

Cherokeekid88

Cherokeekid88

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 30, 2007
Location
High Point, NC
So, We need a car for my wife. we are looking for something fairly cheap and a couple years old. Something around 12k. Pretty much decided on getting a 2011-2013 Mazda 3.
Here is my question....I am trying to prepare myself for all moneys involved.
When going through a dealership to buy a used car, other than the price of the car...what else has to be paid upfront?
We will be going through the wife's credit union which her parents have gotten lots of cars through and seems to be very easy.
Just trying to really prepare ourselves...
So lets say we find a Mazda 3 for 12,500 and get it for 12k..... what else am I looking at? I know there are title fees, taxes, etc like that.
 
Any time I've bought a new or used car off a dealership lot, I've only brought the minimum down payment and walked out the door with the keys. In my experience, if you can get the car for $12k, and there's a required $500 down to make the bank or dealership feel better, that's all you bring, is $500....then finance $11.5k. Typically the more skin you bring to the table, the better rate you get. Might be worth seeing if you can find a no mile '13 and can get 'new car financing' through the dealership/manufacturer. There have been a couple times where I thought I'd have to buy a car a couple years older, but with incentives, it was a better deal to get a new car...and possibly lower interest rates. Especially worth considering if the year range you're looking at hold their value pretty well.
 
was talking to a friend and said that they just extended his loan term by 2 months to cover the extra expenses. He told me, he walked in there with no money to put down and walked out with a car.
Just trying to plan so Im not going into this thing blinded.
 
^^^Yeah...when I bought my 2011 Mustang, I went in planning on buying a 2010...but with the incentives and discounts, it was as cheap as a '10. No money down was required and it was .9% rate through FoMoCo credit.
 
UTfball68 said:
Any time I've bought a new or used car off a dealership lot, I've only brought the minimum down payment and walked out the door with the keys. In my experience, if you can get the car for $12k, and there's a required $500 down to make the bank or dealership feel better, that's all you bring, is $500....then finance $11.5k. Typically the more skin you bring to the table, the better rate you get. Might be worth seeing if you can find a no mile '13 and can get 'new car financing' through the dealership/manufacturer. There have been a couple times where I thought I'd have to buy a car a couple years older, but with incentives, it was a better deal to get a new car...and possibly lower interest rates. Especially worth considering if the year range you're looking at hold their value pretty well.
Click to expand...
Was talking to my dad about this....lots im sure are going to want to get rid of all the "new" 2013's to make room for the 14's...
just trying to do the numbers in my head to make it make sense.....A new(er) car would just make our life so much easier....
 
UTfball68 said:
^^^Yeah...when I bought my 2011 Mustang, I went in planning on buying a 2010...but with the incentives and discounts, it was as cheap as a '10. No money down was required and it was .9% rate through FoMoCo credit.
Click to expand...

.9% wow.
Ill have to check what my wife's credit union deals are atm. I work for a bank but ours are high.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
Was talking to my dad about this....lots im sure are going to want to get rid of all the "new" 2013's to make room for the 14's...
just trying to do the numbers in my head to make it make sense.....A new(er) car would just make our life so much easier....
Click to expand...

Being the finance nerd I am...I brought my calculator and had everything figured up by the end of the test drive...haha.

Cherokeekid88 said:
.9% wow.
Ill have to check what my wife's credit union deals are atm. I work for a bank but ours are high.
Click to expand...

Yeah...just check the deals, either ask the salesman, sales manager or check the manufacturer website. I bought my Mustang in the middle of winter...not many folks looking for sports cars then, and it was several months in to the new model year. When I traded the Mustang in a year and half later on my new Lincoln...my credit union offered a 3.875 deal on the Lincoln and SunTrust offered a 3.6% rate.
 
Yep we got a good deal on our Mazda5 b/c it was June of '10 on a '10 model car, '11 was a new model year so it was "old" already.
Note, unless you can get a fab deal, buying new is really not a good deal unless you plan to keep it a loooong time, take a look at the depreciation value in the first 2 years. Much better deal to buy about 2 years old, it's still under warranty but somebody else already took that big depreciation hit.

Also most lots have their inventory online, so you can just shop from home, when you find the one you want, just call and be blunt what you will pay and you will be there today if they agree.
I worked mine out via email ahead of time, had the VIN and everything, we walked on, drove the car just to make sure nothing obviously wrong, handed them the paperwork from the bank and left. We had already test driven one previously so we knew what it was like.
 
^^^Agreed...even with the 'good deals' I've gotten on new vehicles, I'll still probably never buy new again. You're always playing that battle of 'I'm ahead of book value, crap new year, now I'm 3-4k upside down' while you're making payments. On top of that...my new vehicles have been in the shop getting warranty work done, than the my paid off vehicles that I can work on.
 
I am the type of person to keep a car for a while....and usually try to keep low miles on them. I have had my Cherokee for about 6 years and I have put about 20k miles on it.
 
Walk in with a dollar figure in your head. Dont settle for more. If they wont meet you, walk away.

The Tundra I bought was listed for 21k. I walked in and told them that I would buy it for 20k out the door. They crunched the numbers and I drove away in my new truck for 19600.
 
If you are buying "new" NEVER pay more than 80% of sticker. Period.
I love the "but brand X doesn't have that mark up" line.
Yes They Do.
They all do.

I'd also challenge the notion that

..A new(er) car would just make our life so much easier....
Click to expand...

You want a new(er) car you dont need one. Reconcile that notion. It will NEVER make sense FINANCIALLY to buy a new(er) car..admittedly there are other factors than finances that come into the equation, but be intellectually honest with yourself about the process.

A cheap new car will have a $300/month car payment and a higher insurance premium than an older car.

If your current car is paid for $300/month looks like $3,600 year. How many folks do you know that pay $3,600 per year in repairs EVERY YEAR. (Don;t count maintenance, tires, etc both vehicles will have that)

The wife and I havent had a car payment in 7 years.
It is hands down the best decision we have ever made.

For those that know us, its not like either of us are driving beaters either. We did for the first few years while we saved up money. Then we bought and immediately started saving up money for the replacement. Etc.

It was amazing also the power the lesson had when we withdrew $20k from the bank to pay cash for a used SUV. For the first time in her life my wife really grasped what we were spending...Turns out some options weren't "deal breakers" after all and she bought a $16k SUV instead...
 
Well, we both drives Cherokees...hers older than mine. it needs too much to become tolerable to drive for her and I understand. She is a woman now with w a real job and she wants a nicer car to drive to and from work everyday. I get that.
I would love to not have a car payment but with just buying a house last year....it would take us a couple of years to save up enough to purhcase a car outright and frankly, I don't think hers would make it without dumping a couple grand into it.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
Well, we both drives Cherokees...hers older than mine. it needs too much to become tolerable to drive for her and I understand. She is a woman now with w a real job and she wants a nicer car to drive to and from work everyday. I get that.
I would love to not have a car payment but with just buying a house last year....it would take us a couple of years to save up enough to purhcase a car outright and frankly, I don't think hers would make it without dumping a couple grand into it.
Click to expand...

For "a couple grand" in a cheorkee you have a new motor and transmission. And you still haven't equaled 1 year of car payments.
I am not trying to tell you what to do, just trying to challenge your thinking.

If the reason is, I want to drive a nice car for the impression it will give other people and change how they think of me and I am willing to pay thousands of dollars for their friendship and admiration...so be it. Carry on. Just realize that is the choice you are making.
 
You could buy a 98 + Cherokee for her for dirt cheap and over time make it as nice as any new car , something you will.be able to work on no problem etc .


For the first 6 months of payments you could have her an extremely nice dd 2wd or 4wd stock xj , with the 98 + interior
 
Take an Ipad with you if you can. While the salesman is giving his sales pitch, you can check and compare other dealerships and Kelly Blue book. Then you can show him on your screen you can do better somewhere else. That usually gets then to start crunching some real numbers and stop blowing smoke up your butt.
 
Ron said:
For "a couple grand" in a cheorkee you have a new motor and transmission. And you still haven't equaled 1 year of car payments.
I am not trying to tell you what to do, just trying to challenge your thinking.

If the reason is, I want to drive a nice car for the impression it will give other people and change how they think of me and I am willing to pay thousands of dollars for their friendship and admiration...so be it. Carry on. Just realize that is the choice you are making.
Click to expand...
This is not about impressing anyone. She just wants something that is quiet, drives smooth, and gets better MPG...that is the killer right there. We figured by us getting a car that she can drive back and forth to work during the week and us drive on the weekends...its saving us money from putting gas in my jeep as well. It just makes sense.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
This is not about impressing anyone. She just wants something that is quiet, drives smooth, and gets better MPG...that is the killer right there. We figured by us getting a car that she can drive back and forth to work during the week and us drive on the weekends...its saving us money from putting gas in my jeep as well. It just makes sense.
Click to expand...

Good Luck!
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
Well, we both drives Cherokees...hers older than mine...it would take us a couple of years to save up enough to purhcase a car outright and frankly, I don't think hers would make it without dumping a couple grand into it.
Click to expand...

Give her your Jeep to drive. You, as the man drive hers, even if it needs work. Don't go into debt that you don't have to. If you can't save money now, getting a loan won't make it any easier.
Not a jab, but you seem to have a few posts regarding saving money on "xyz" and I understand that. Now don't go and wreck that by getting a car loan.

I'm a former member of the buy things to make you happy group. I ended up having to put a new suit for my Mom's funeral on 3 different credit cards ($300) and said never again.
Debt sucks and sucks you in too.
 
To buy a car for better mpg to save.money is not logical, in the time it takes to save what you spent on the new car with fuel cost would be 10 years +

Quiet? Fix her exhuast , add sound deading material. Drives smooth? All my xjs drive pretty smooth newshocks are cheap
 
Ok let me put this a different way. SHE wants a new(er) car. :) I have told her till Im blue in the face that we can fix it up and make it drive better...but heres the thing...She doesn't want to drive a jeep anymore....she says she has outgrown it. I am all for saving money....but at the moment, we don't go on extended trips or anything because it costs too much to drive long distances in our Jeeps and I don't want to have to rent a car every time we want to go on a weekend vacay.

And the part about buying a car to save money on gas not being logical.....My father in law was driving a ford expedition back and forth to work 5 times a week. was spending close to $400 a month just on gas....so he bought a Mazda 3....$250 a month. was telling me he saves about $100 a month than from before.
 
Cherokeekid88 said:
And the part about buying a car to save money on gas not being logical.....My father in law was driving a ford expedition back and forth to work 5 times a week. was spending close to $400 a month just on gas....so he bought a Mazda 3....$250 a month. was telling me he saves about $100 a month than from before.
Click to expand...


Your math doesnt work man.
Let me try and illustrate it.

Assuming 13 mpg thats only 1,482 miles per month
thats 114 gallons (at $3.50/gallon)

So Expedition (assuming paid for and no payment)
Gas $400

mazda = $250 car payment
gas (assuming 28 mpg) = $185.25
Total $440.25

So he is paying more than he was for gas and he has higher insurance, higher property taxes etc.

Just to furthr illustrate you said he was saving $100/month.
that would only work if his fuel total was $50.

he would have to get over 100mpg to make your numbers work.

All this is taking a very short sighted monthly approach.
Lets add in the fact that, that $250/month payment has a $20k note attached to it and a year from now that $20k stands good for a $14k asset.



Look I am chiming in here because I want to help people. Ive done stupid in spades. At 24 I owned my own EC business...life was good. I had a brand new F350 larait, my wife had a brand new Z28...we were making GOOD money. 2 years later I looked up and I owed $50,000 on two cars that I couldnt sell for $30k combined. It took me 5 years to clean that shit up.

Be young, have fun, do what you want...but dont lie to yourself and say it is in anyway a good decision financially.

As a result of those stupid decision I loo up now and they will add 5 years onto my working career compared to if I had been smart with my money... Funny thing is I dont remember even driving that truck much..certainly not enough to work 5 years just to have drove it for 3...
 
Ron said:
Your math doesnt work man.
Let me try and illustrate it.

blah blah math math blah
Click to expand...

Ron is right, math-wise at least. If you sit down and do the math, it is very rare that buying a much newer car, especially when you have no car payment now, is cheaper w/ the gas. You'd have to be going from like 12mpg to 35 and be doing LOTS of miles per year.
But the math is simple, just sit down and do it yourself and see. Maybe for your wife it is. Calulate estimated cost per month in gas + maintenance now, then compare that to gas + car payment.

MPGs aside, there are still plenty of valid reasons to want a new(er) car... just plain wanting something nicer, quieter, more comfy, more stylish... all perfectly valid. its just a matter of where your priorities are.
3.5 years ago, were in a bad bad accident and my wife's car was totalled. We have always had older used cars, I always fixed them. At that time she was 6 months pregnant, I was having chronic headaches w/ my 4Runner and my Mazda... we just decided, you know what, we've reached a point in our lives where the headaches aren't worth it anymore... w/ a young kid and another on the way I was tired of working on a car all the time, or juggling schedules so we could get around. So we said fuck it, we now make enough $$, we can afford to treat ourselves to this, it's time for a warranty an no more headaches.
So we bought a new car.
And let me tell you, it's been nice having that relieved off of me. I can be as lazy or busy as I want and my wife can still go to work and the kids can still get to school.
Will I buy a new car for myself? Nope. I can deal w/ maintaining it, and my trucks. Will I buy a new car again? Unlikely, but maybe in 5 years we'll get something 2ish years old for her again.

IMO that's what you're paying for. Peace of mind, and something nicer. And frankly that has value. Thats it. just be honest with yourself about it.
 
Back
Top