Are good used cars going up in price?

[Ryland]

I used to be able to find $150-300 cars for my friends that would last them a few years, now I'm currently trying to find a good used car for a friend of mine and having no luck! she has money from her insurance and we can't find anything under $3,000 that is not trashed, or a truck, put a ceiling of $1,000 on the craigslist search and nothing shows up that runs! I hadn't realized it a few months back when we sold my room mates car that $900 for a good running car was such a good deal, but apparently it was as it sold within an hour of posting an ad to someone who was buying it for their teenager, in talking to someone from a car dealership they said that the cash for clunkers got rid of the boats that teenagers drive and crash so now they are buying up the cheaper small cars and driving prices up!
Is anyone else noticing this trend of a lack of nice small cars for sale?

[Lazarus]

Yes same here in Central Texas. Was looking around for $500 beater. Used to be pages of them. Now there about $300 more for the same age with more issues then before.

[Frank Lee]

The "Clunkers" program took some good ones out of commission.

I have found good deals on CL though. They are the "hopeless cases" that others have given up on. Having good luck on CL is quite regional though. CL is basically D.O.A. back home.

[KITT222]

I think.... maybe. There are several Metro's on Minneapolis Craigslist that are up for over $2000, and one for almost $4K! Then on the newer side of the spectrum, theres an '08 Aveo for $7K, and an '04 Aveo for $4K. I think its all about fuel economy and quality, but then again, there are Corolla's for $4K-$8K. There may or may not be some sort of trend, where the cars price skydives into the pits, then come back up before they go into the 'price difference only due to condition' phase.

[Christ]

It really depends on:

Where you are
What you're looking for
How much you have to spend
Timing, Timing, Timing.

Some people will only sell for scrap price or higher... some realize that even the scrappers have to make a buck, so they'll sell for less. Some need lots of work, some need nothing, they're just 5 years old, out of warranty, and "worthless" because of having "high mileage"... over 100k LOL.

I've bought, parted, and sold probably 200 cars from CL and other methods in the last couple years... I make decent money doing it (Could stand to make more, but I'd have to spend more time on it... and I have more fun things to do most of the time) and I have a bit of fun tearing parts off the vehicles, or fixing stupid little things that I know will make me money in the long run.

However, with the "recession" on-going, everyone seems to think that they're the only ones without money, and they gotta price everything like it's their ticket out of the debt-hole, without ever thinking that nobody else can afford to buy it at that price.

Scrap values have increased over the last 5 years, too... that helps.

[texanidiot25]

What I did when looking for (and eventually finding) a car was to set the craigslsit search to 100-1000, and save that as a book mark on my browser's bar. Timing is everything, lots of good deals last only a few hours. Don't be afraid to make calls on many of them either. The CRX was pure luck and resourcefulness. It was on the edge of my price limit, at $950, but I clicked anyways. Found he wanted to trade for an Isuzu Rodeo axle. Calling around a few junk yards, found one for $250 at a yard that I frequented when building my CST10. The guy cut me an even better deal and I walked out of the yard with it for $200 bucks. Drive to Austin, drive the car back.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-hf-13053.html

Right now is the time to buy, though. Recession has been awesome for used car prices, they're dropping since those needing to sell cars are willing to let them go at lower prices. I've seen some great deals on various classics come and go due to this. Also, summer is just starting. Once fuel prices jump full swing, you can expect to pay much more for smaller cars. Just like how Geos were selling top dollar years ago, even the rough ones.

Austin and Dallas had way better selections than Houston, and I just happen to look at Austin for S-n-G's and found it. And after buying it, found that it was the HF. Money very well spent.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by texanidiot25

What I did when looking for (and eventually finding) a car was to set the craigslsit search to 100-1000, and save that as a book mark on my browser's bar. Timing is everything, lots of good deals last only a few hours. Don't be afraid to make calls on many of them either. The CRX was pure luck and resourcefulness. It was on the edge of my price limit, at $950, but I clicked anyways. Found he wanted to trade for an Isuzu Rodeo axle. Calling around a few junk yards, found one for $250 at a yard that I frequented when building my CST10. The guy cut me an even better deal and I walked out of the yard with it for $200 bucks. Drive to Austin, drive the car back.

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...-hf-13053.html

Right now is the time to buy, though. Recession has been awesome for used car prices, they're dropping since those needing to sell cars are willing to let them go at lower prices. I've seen some great deals on various classics come and go due to this. Also, summer is just starting. Once fuel prices jump full swing, you can expect to pay much more for smaller cars. Just like how Geos were selling top dollar years ago, even the rough ones.

Austin and Dallas had way better selections than Houston, and I just happen to look at Austin for S-n-G's and found it. And after buying it, found that it was the HF. Money very well spent.

I don't even use CL directly, I search with Search Tempest - The EASY way to search Craigslist!, which allows me to search a given distance from my (or any) zip code. I choose 75 miles, which gives me a comfortable range for most of the things I'm looking to make money on.

[texanidiot25]

I had tried one of those before, not that one specifically and found it buggy. I'll keep that one in mind though. I'm sure they help weed out a lot of the BS postings.

The shortcut method worked quite well for me, I found what I needed with some patience!

[Ryland]

Cheap cars that are two good a deal to pass up is part of why I bought my 2nd civic vx and my Citi-car, talked my parents in to buying a Honda N600 and have found hand fulls of cars that were less then $500, even 6 months ago I found handfuls of cars that I had to remind my self that I did not need, now we are going on week... two? of my civic being loaned out to a friend who is without a car, lucky for me I only use my civic when I want to drive something with heat, or farther then my electric car will let me, I suspect I'll want it back at some point but I'm not sure when.
As it is, the $2,000-3,000 cars that are showing up are really more like $500 cars, or they are selling so fast that the people who have them never call us back.
I check craigs list every day or two just to see what is on there and it's been like this for months.
I'm thinking that we might also be to a point in time where 10 years ago there wasn't anything good being made, or so few good small cars that the choices are slim, in a few more years we will have 10 year old toyota Yaris hatch backs, smart cars, Mini's, and a few others, but maybe now is just a bad time for used small cars.

[bgd73]

it is indeed bad out there.
There is bent decrepid old subarus with prices unbelievably high...

stay good with your old stuff. Every trip means something...

A real carpocalypse is inevitable. ALL good vehicles date back at least 15 years...that is a pile of cars inbetween that will be forgotten...millions and millions and millions ...

as pessimistic as the net has been, I am glad to have stuck to this truth. I have been babbling this for freaking YEARS and YEARS.