Everything wrong with leasing a car?

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Xist

"Dave Ramsey does not want anyone to be happy!"

Well, that depends. Personally, just considering the cars themselves, I'm just as happy driving my 18 year old Insight or 16 year old Miata (or even the 30 year old Toyota pickup), as I would be driving something I bought or leased new. Maybe happier, since I don't have to deal with "infortainment", key fobs, and all that.

OTOH, when I think about money, having enough invested to live comfortably even if I never work another day in my life makes me quite happy. And there's the lack of the unhappiness I would have otherwise been experiencing every month when I made the car payments.

[Xist]

Here is a 2016 Camry with 16,000 miles for $12,500: https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/c...756506735.html
Here is another with 85,000 miles for $12,900: https://phoenix.craigslist.org/evl/c...746649091.html
They say they bought a Tacoma. They drive 40 - 50 thousand miles a year and decided they were not buying enough gasoline?

Here is a 2017 without a picture with 22,000 miles for $13,500: https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/c...754549345.html

Why wouldn't you have pictures on a nearly-new car? More importantly, aside from the location, price, and mileage, why are the two ads almost exactly the same? Both say "if you are interstade."

Huh.

Here is another one, but all of the way in Yuma. I cannot imagine a reason for driving to Yuma on purpose:

Is very good conditions!
Only 49896 miles!

https://yuma.craigslist.org/cto/d/to...747225809.html

How do you say "Only 50,000 miles?"

$5,900 miles for $17,150: https://phoenix.craigslist.org/nph/c...741693814.html

There are private sellers with 2018s asking $25,000. No thanks!
"NO Sales Tax"
Yeah, there is that.

"Super White"
Aren't we all?

Here is a 2015 with 180,000 miles for $7,900: https://phoenix.craigslist.org/wvl/c...740027221.html

Nine years newer with 2,000 miles fewer!

[me and my metro]

I have a friend that was a used car dealer for many years. I have purchased most of my cars from him over the last 25 years. I have a good job but I know better than to ever purchase a new car. I am also a professional mechanic and have advised my car dealer friend about repairs for years. We used to go to the auctions together and when I had a special request he would buy me something. We bought a Lincoln Towncar back in the mid 90s, after 11 years we were ready for something else. I decided on another Lincoln but this time I wanted a Navigator 4x4. I did all the research on the used car auction sites. With his dealer logins I did market search on prices and past sale histories on similar rigs. I was also able to see rigs in inventory at the auctions and watch sales on line. I enjoyed looking and watching sales as much as going to live auctions with my friend. I lined up my financing and found the Navigator I wanted. My friend’s wife bid on it and bought it on line. It was a one year old Ford lease return with 30,000 miles. She was bidding against Ford dealers and I was willing to “pay up” so I own it! I paid 1/2 the sticker price of $65,000. I had to drive 500 miles to pick it up at the auction. This was in October 2007, we still have it and don’t plan on ever replacing it. It has 186,000 miles now and is still as nice as the day we picked it up.

I said all that to say this: don’t ever buy a new car!
Things I have learned from my friend. Cars are only worth what will sell for at the auction.
Shop wisely and study the market.

[ksa8907]

Originally Posted by Xist

Why wouldn't you have pictures on a nearly-new car? More importantly, aside from the location, price, and mileage, why are the two ads almost exactly the same? Both say "if you are interstade."

Huh.

Ya know, if I were going to sell something for $13k, I wouldn't advertise on craigslist. Typical people using or looking on craigslist either dont have that kind of money or aren't going to look for something that expensive on craigslist.

Scams

I see quite a few '17s with about 40k miles for about $14.5k. And at the end of the payments you still have a car. $0 down, $16k financed, 5 year loan for $300/month.

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by ksa8907

Ya know, if I were going to sell something for $13k, I wouldn't advertise on craigslist. Typical people using or looking on craigslist either dont have that kind of money or aren't going to look for something that expensive on craigslist.

I disagree. I mean. where else would you buy or sell a used car these days? And a quick look at the local Craigslist shows over 600 listings at $13K or more, like $20K for a '58 Austin-Healey Sprite, $48K for a '14 Dodge pickup, $54K for a '17, $48K for a '60 Chevy Impala (family had one as a kid - I'd pay to have it hauled away)... And that's just on the first page. Sort by price (and eliminating the obvious fakes) and there's most of a page in the $50-95K range.

[samwichse]

Someone linked to a Ferrari someone was asking over $250k for in one of the car groups I'm in.

Craigslist is for fancy people now, too.

[redpoint5]

It's fairly easy to identify the dirtballs on CL from the better sellers. A good seller takes the time to describe the item, including the negative things such as dents and scrapes. They include photos that are in focus, and clearly show the condition of the vehicle.

I've had nothing but positive experiences by paying attention to the queues people give. I bought a Subaru for $1k under it's value, and could tell from the quality of the advertisement that the seller was aware he was undervaluing it, but was willing to do so to not mess around with flaky buyers. He just wanted to spend as little time as necessary to sell, and he still got more than a dealer would have given him on trade in.

In turn, I drove the car for a month and decided I didn't like the automatic, and didn't need such an expensive and nice vehicle, so I sold it for $1k more than I bought it for, which was the fair market value for it. I sold to the first guy that responded to my ad and he didn't haggle the price because he knew it was fair.

Xist- Why are you still looking at expensive cars? We've established that Dave is wrong about some things, but not about how poor a decision it would be for you to purchase an expensive car.

I don't know what your Mom's love languages are, but even if it's gifts, I think you can probably find less financially burdensome ways to express that to her. If she's ok with you being burdened by an extravagant gift, then that wouldn't be right. Parents want to see their children in good financial standing and capable of contending with the unforeseen future problems that inevitably show up.

You're already doing great by visiting her all the time, fixing things around the house, and caring for your brother.

[jamesqf]

I've bought two vehicles on Craigslist, and sold one, which is 3 of the 4 I've done this century. (Bought the Insight off eBay.) Never had a real problem, just showed up with cash (or took the buyer's cash). Closest I came to a problem was a panic call to the guy I bought the Miata from, asking how to turn off the alarm system (now removed) he didn't tell me it had :-)

[Xist]

A couple of corrections:

I live with Mom and my brother and if she decides to purchase a new car, she will do so with her own money. I am trying to provide her the best information that I can. I do not have any idea if she will purchase a new car. She has been complaining about the iPhone 4S she inherited from Dad four and a half years ago and says she will purchase an i7, but she has not done anything about it besides talk.

[redpoint5]

Ah, gotcha. I was assuming you were going to finance it for her given the previous comments where you contemplated it. I help people buy cars all the time and usually look at CL as a first source. Prices are always negotiable as nearly everyone asks way more than the car is worth.

Recently I found Autotempest.com which I like since it does a search across several websites including CL and Ebay.

Then there was OfferUp that I've already mentioned. That seems to be the future of private sales.