Buying a used car - what to look for?

[Sample00]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

When does someone have to register with AMVIC? If the person "curbing" cars wasn't registered, would that be against the law. Is it kind of a "3 cars sold per year" or something. I assume a regular person doesn't have to register if they're just going to sell their family car privately...

the rule, as I understand it, is if you are buying and selling cars consistently, you need to get a dealers license and register with amvic. I dont know if there is a minimum.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Buy an old, Japanese luxury car from the elderly.

They typically will take great care of the vehicles, drive them infrequently...

I'm sure you could find an mid 90's Lexus, Infiniti or Acura in that range that would have tons of life left.

Great bang for the buck IMO

Like this...don't know who's selling it...but you get the idea

http://calgary.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehi...AdIdZ302155389

[Sliver]

Any car from 1992 with 189,000 kms will be a maintenance headache. I highly recommend you don't follow Fozzie_DeBear's advice.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by ken0042

To start with- as you say your auction car only ran for a couple of years before it was junked. And that was with your own car that you planned on keeping.

Unlike a house; there is no implied warranty on a used car. I'm not a mechanic, but I know of a few tricks I could pull to mask problems with a used car. I imagine somebody who does this for money would know of even more.

If I flip a house and my shoddy electrical work causes a fire; the new owner can sue me. If I flip a car and hide a blown head gasket; the buyer is on the hook.

Interesting. I didn't no the part about no implied warranty. I know with real estate you have to disclose any known defects. It's obviously very sleazy to sell cars that have been written off without disclosing it, but I kind of figured a car proof type report would cover you on stuff like that. I suppose mechanical condition would be a different story.

The car I bought at auction was a university car I paid ~500 for. Any reasonable person would only expect it to last a few years. But there was actually nothing wrong with it when I junked it, I just upgraded to a new vehicle and figured the hassle wasn't worth the $300 bucks I could get for it by selling, compared to the tax deduction.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Sr. Mints

Think you'll get that?

I have the same car with 40,000kms but mine was pulverized during last summer's hail storm. And while every panel except one door was replaced, I was told the car is pretty much worthless now. Which I think is silly.... But I guess my point is, if I were to sell it, (and it isn't for sale, btw) it would be an absolute steal for someone who did get it for, say, $6000-7000.

What kermit is saying seems to be in line with what other people are selling it for on Kijiji. I notice there is a pretty big difference in price between the lower equipped models and the higher equipped ones. I have the same car too with 47k on it that I am pondering if I want to sell or not and around 12k seems reasonable, especially for mine which is in pretty darn good shape both physically and mechanically.

[fundmark19]

How do you guys have so few miles on your m3's? I have 06 and i'm at 127k fully loaded automatic I should easily be able to get 10k for it judging by kijiji

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Any car from 1992 with 189,000 kms will be a maintenance headache. I highly recommend you don't follow Fozzie_DeBear's advice.

How much do you know about the Acura Legend? Not to be a d*** but I've owned two and are they are ridiculously reliable vehicles (if maintained properly)...not to mention someone with a $6k budget would have $3k left over to add to their maintenance account. Which when you buy a $6k vehicle (or any vehicle out of warranty) should have some $ in it.

I stand by my advice.

[kermitology]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

How do you guys have so few miles on your m3's? I have 06 and i'm at 127k fully loaded automatic I should easily be able to get 10k for it judging by kijiji

For 1 year I lived downtown and worked downtown. Then I moved to Inglewood and still worked downtown. Then I rode my bike to work every day for about 2 years, then I moved to the NE and my fiance was willed a car by her grandfather and my car spent the year at my parents house.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

How much do you know about the Acura Legend? Not to be a d*** but I've owned two and are they are ridiculously reliable vehicles (if maintained properly)...not to mention someone with a $6k budget would have $3k left over to add to their maintenance account. Which when you buy a $6k vehicle (or any vehicle out of warranty) should have some $ in it.

I stand by my advice.

You don't have to know anything about an Acura Legend to know that a 20 year-old car with 200,000 kms will have stuff go wrong. With a $6,000 budget he'd be waaaaaaaaaaaaay better off with a newer Japanese car with half that many kms.

I owned an Acura for four years and it was terrific. I'm thinking about a TL as my next car, but a little concerned about them being underpowered with only 300ish horsepower. They really are awesome cars.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

How do you guys have so few miles on your m3's? I have 06 and i'm at 127k fully loaded automatic I should easily be able to get 10k for it judging by kijiji

I take the C-train to work so it's not a daily driver. Use it only on the evenings and weekends and I don't go out of town with it that often either.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

How do you guys have so few miles on your m3's? I have 06 and i'm at 127k fully loaded automatic I should easily be able to get 10k for it judging by kijiji

I live inner city and work downtown: I walk, take transit, or if I'm feeling brave, cycle to work/school.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by Sliver

You don't have to know anything about an Acura Legend to know that a 20 year-old car with 200,000 kms will have stuff go wrong. With a $6,000 budget he'd be waaaaaaaaaaaaay better off with a newer Japanese car with half that many kms.

I owned an Acura for four years and it was terrific. I'm thinking about a TL as my next car, but a little concerned about them being underpowered with only 300ish horsepower. They really are awesome cars.

Most Honda's under $6k will probably have the same milage 160k-ish and will, probably be older than 2002.

So you trade off age for bells and whistles...

As far as 300hp being underpowered? Step away from the Red Bull bro. Any normal sized car north of 200hp is not underpowered IMO.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

Just curious, why would a car someone bought cheap at auction and fixed up be a bad thing? I bought a (very cheap) car at auction and had it fixed up, and it ran great for a couple of years. (Then it went to kidney car heaven).

That seems a lot like flipping houses to me, but with cars. Obviously if the car was salvage or something that's different, but if it was just a repo I'm not sure I see what the problem would be? You could still request a car proof and get it inspected couldn't you? To me, a seller who doesn't want it inspected would be a bigger red flag than someone who has 3 cars for sale...

While the car may be fine or may not, which is true of any car, I like to have some idea of its history.
There are also some very cheap tricks to get a car going that you don't want to fall foul of, dropping a heavy weight oil in to stop an oil leak, run the car for 5 or ten minutes before the buyer arrives so it is nice and warm and starts straight away.

[Mazrim]

Do Honda Civics really retain that much value as Kijiji seems to be implying? Based on what I'm seeing, I could somehow sell my 2005 with 225,000km for like $4,000. Crazy.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

Most Honda's under $6k will probably have the same milage 160k-ish and will, probably be older than 2002.

So you trade off age for bells and whistles...

As far as 300hp being underpowered? Step away from the Red Bull bro. Any normal sized car north of 200hp is not underpowered IMO.

Here's a way better car that is 8 years newer and has 119,000 kms less than the one you found. 2000 Acura TL with 70,000 kms for $6,000. That seems like a great buy to me. There would be plenty of bells and whistles in that car and it's not a high-miler.

300hp seems like a lot of power until you've owned a car with more than that. You really get used to the power. I agree it's more than you need, but once you get a taste of cars with higher horsepower there is no going back.

[Fozzie_DeBear]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Here's a way better car that is 8 years newer and has 119,000 kms less than the one you found. 2000 Acura TL with 70,000 kms for $6,000. That seems like a great buy to me. There would be plenty of bells and whistles in that car and it's not a high-miler.

300hp seems like a lot of power until you've owned a car with more than that. You really get used to the power. I agree it's more than you need, but once you get a taste of cars with higher horsepower there is no going back.

That is a good deal IF (and only if) the transmission is 100%...IIRC that vintage of TL's had significant tranny problems...and I'm not talking about messed up gender identity.

LOL at the hp...I suppose once you have a ride with a certain power/weight ratio it is hard to enjoy anything less.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fozzie_DeBear

That is a good deal IF (and only if) the transmission is 100%...IIRC that vintage of TL's had significant tranny problems...and I'm not talking about messed up gender identity.

LOL at the hp...I suppose once you have a ride with a certain power/weight ratio it is hard to enjoy anything less.

Yeah the power/weight ratio is definitely a better way to put it as I'm sure an Elise would be pretty damn fast even though it doesn't have much HP.

There may very well be something wrong with that TL. If not, it is a great deal.

[squiggs96]

Originally Posted by ah123

Didn't want to hijack the other thread on used cars. I need a cheap ( < $6000) used car, and I think that a private sale is going to be my best bet. Any tips what I should look out for; I will get a mechanical inspection done and a lien check, but any do's and don'ts would be appreciated...

I have a 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix GT with 80,000 kms that I'm about to put up for sale as I just bought a BMW X5. The problem is the car is in Vancouver right now, and likely won't be back in Calgary until Christmas time. I'll be looking for $7,000 so it's a bit over your budget.

[Kjesse]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

How do you guys have so few miles on your m3's? I have 06 and i'm at 127k fully loaded automatic I should easily be able to get 10k for it judging by kijiji

This post panicked me slightly until I read the history and saw you were talking about a Mazda. Whew!

(I panicked because I'm perhaps a fool who in 2009 dropped a new engine into my 2005 M3 after a catastrophic failure 30 days out of warranty. $23K later....). I'll be keeping that car for at least one more year but I hope the fact that it had a new engine at 46,000K makes a difference come flip time. Currently 76000 km. Might have to keep it a few more years to mitigate the loss, and I still love the ride, but there are a lot great cars out there now.

As to the OP, I've found Nissans maintain extremely well. I've owned 2 GM's, 4 Nissans, 1 BMW. The Nissans never let me down, both GM's and the BMW did, and finding a nice used Nissan well maintained was never a problem (only 1 of the Nissans was bought new).

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Delgar

This post panicked me slightly until I read the history and saw you were talking about a Mazda. Whew!

(I panicked because I'm perhaps a fool who in 2009 dropped a new engine into my 2005 M3 after a catastrophic failure 30 days out of warranty. $23K later....). I'll be keeping that car for at least one more year but I hope the fact that it had a new engine at 46,000K makes a difference come flip time. Currently 76000 km. Might have to keep it a few more years to mitigate the loss, and I still love the ride, but there are a lot great cars out there now.

As to the OP, I've found Nissans maintain extremely well. I've owned 2 GM's, 4 Nissans, 1 BMW. The Nissans never let me down, both GM's and the BMW did, and finding a nice used Nissan well maintained was never a problem (only 1 of the Nissans was bought new).

Thirty days out of warranty and they left you completely on the hook? What d!cks. I suppose it's not a total surprise since they're not overly helpful even when you're still on warranty. Too bad about your luck though...that's crappy.