Cheap car?

[MadisonMPG]

Originally Posted by Christ

People will negotiate when you find their bad spots.

The put the price up as a starting point. Most people know they're not going to get that much.

Often, you can make a reasonable offer, and you'll get it.

I've seen cars that were listed for 2,000 go fro under 1,000 after tearing into the owner about quality issues.

You gotta be careful though.

[Christ]

Worst I've ever had is "No.".

I don't push, though... There are too many other cars out there for sale for me to want to waste my time on one person.

I make an offer, state my case, and wait for a response. If it's no, I take my cash and walk.

[Frank Lee]

It's true, the world is swimming in good cheap cars! I could easily drag another one home every week but I'm simply out of room!

[Christ]

Here's what I do:

I'm getting a guy to deliver a '91 Geo Storm to me (possibly) for $200. Nothing wrong with it except the engine is blown. An engine costs me $213.97 with as many accessories as I can pull with it.

Later this week, I'm going to deliver a bunch of junk I have to a guy in Binghamton, NY, who has a '97 VW Golf. I'm taking the car as payment for parts I have no use for, and never had to pay for, as they came from parted out cars that I made more than I spent on them.

The Tacoma I just parted out - $200. Sold the rusted bed for more than that, made another $1000 on top of that.

Cara - $250. Needed a water pump and timing belt - $80.

Granny - $400. Needed nothing.

[justjohn]

I guess most of them are just over blue book, which I suppose is what you'd expect. Mostly annoyed cause I had one guy ask 1700 for his '91 civic with 160k on it and needing new tires and tail lights though. Laughed me off when I mentioned the blue book was $575.

The really annoying thing is he's apparently the only person selling a vx in a hundred mile radius.

[Christ]

There are two things that I picked about that post as soon as I read it:

1 - Blue book is garbage. Treat it as though it is merely a suggestion based on information that isn't available. Normally, a car priced at BB value is about 30% too high. Look for NADA values in the future. They're closer to accurate.

2 - Most of the cars that you're going to be looking at, the BB value just doesn't apply. There's a thing called "Market Value", which is what you need to look at. You're in a "highest bidder" game now.

number 2 is why you don't specifically look for a car like the VX if you're looking to get off under $1000. Even old ass Hondas from the early 80's are selling for over $1000 right now. They're cheap to own and maintain, which by far makes up for the purchase price.

There is a point where you learn that you don't need the highest mileage car on the block by EPA ratings, and that's when you really become a Hypermiler, I think. Right about the time you start to realize that it's not what you drive, but how you drive it that determines your fuel economy.

Even a Corvette can get 30 MPG...

[justjohn]

I will check out NADA. I see your point about what car you get, but why not start with the best canvas, as it were?

Obviously I'm not going to limit myself to looking at only one submodel, but I don't think it hurts to check those first.

[Christ]

It doesn't hurt, but I've found out that if you're cheap like me, it's just easier to search by price than model.

[Frank Lee]

I've found that when you want something specific and you want it on a schedule i.e. NOW, you will never find a good deal. Then when you relax and aren't really needing that thing, it falls into your lap.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by Frank Lee

I've found that when you want something specific and you want it on a schedule i.e. NOW, you will never find a good deal. Then when you relax and aren't really needing that thing, it falls into your lap.

I agree compretery. I, however, am always relaxed. I jump on the deals when I don't need them, because I never lose money on them. Even if I figure out that I"ll never need something, I bought it so far under value that I can recoup my costs and then some.

Later, I'll go buy more of something else, and feel good having done it.

It just turns out that when I do need something, I usually don't have to stress too much, because I already have it. It helps to be resourceful, though.

Shopping is my coping skill. I just do it in a different way.