Used car purchasing advice

[Moiraine]

I've been lucky with cars in that I've had 3 hand-me-downs and never had to buy my own car until now. In other words I have no experience at all.

 

We're currently saving up for a nice car but we're not ready to buy it yet. But now my car (the car that was supposed to last) is dead and needs between $600 and $2000 worth of repairs in the foreseeable future. It's a Chevy with 160,000 miles that I don't expect to last more than 20,000-40,000 more miles. $600 is the fuel pump. I could maybe get by for awhile with only that.

 

What I've been looking at are all Japanese cars, and more specifically a Honda Civic or Honda Civic coupe. I'm wondering if anyone has experience with those? I've done the usual searches but I like to talk to real people about it. If I'm going to spend 3x on it compared to the repair cost of my current car, then I'd like it to last 3 times as long as the current car. So if I were to spend $2,000 on fixing current car or $6,000 on buying the Honda, the Honda needs to last 60k-120k as many miles. What I'm finding with the Honda Civic is that the cars between $4k and $6k are 2005-2008 and have 80k-160k miles on them.

 

Any advice for any of this? Has anyone had a Civic from that year range? I feel confident that the Civic with the same # of miles as my Chevy would last longer, but it needs to last enough longer to justify spending extra $.

[zoogs]

Hm, $6K for a 9-year old Civic seems high.

 

I have't actually ever had to buy a car, but I researched the idea a couple of times. My thought was to value a new full-size (Accord-class) at $20K for a 15-year/200k effective life (excluding the new car markup) for an average of 1.3K/yr. The tail-end yearly value should be valued considerably lower than average, while the first few years are worth more. Honda has a good rep but even then any potential service around the end of life mark might be cost prohibitive, just as it is now.

 

A 2008 Civic with 100-120k miles (11-13k/yr) has maybe 6 effective years (80-100k miles) remaining and that might be an optimistic bet. If we give it $0.7K/yr value for these final six years that's only $4,200. Plus, risk and uncertainty grow in the later years. And a Civic is a lower tier than full-size.

 

Thus, an owner selling such a car for $6,000 is really trying to milk it, in my opinion.

 

FWIW I was thinking the most "worth it" segment would have been a 2-4 year old used car in the 10-15k range. Reasonably confident of being able to run it for 10 more years, and you avoid the new car markup. Also, '13-'15 Civics in this range seem easier to find than much older cars that are appropriately priced for their age. People tend to want to milk their older stuff, and those who don't make me wonder why not. The downside is the upfront is quite high.

 

* 2017 Honda Accord MSRP from $22455; 2017 Honda Civic MSRP from $18740

[Moiraine]

Found a private seller with a < 120k mile 2008 civic for $5k but she sold it before I could buy it.

 

The other similar ones I've seen were from dealers.

[zoogs]

Varies by location, but I ran a 2008 Honda Civic DX Sedan (lowest model) with 100k miles on Kelley Blue Book for "Sell to Private Party" and its value breakdown was:

 

~$4.6K - "Excellent Condition"

~$4.2K - "Very Good"

~$3.9K - "Good" (typical)

~$3.6K - "Fair"

 

It wouldn't surprise me if these prices are hard to find in practice. Not spending more upfront has its own efficiency costs and I suppose most people who have a good car would rather just use the remaining value for themselves than go through the trouble of selling it. After all, presumably that's what they bought it for.

[knapplc]

zoogs, you're on the coast, right? Civics are far more common there than in the Midwest. Here it's mostly American-made cars. The Civics you find are bought by a few people, and they're more in demand and less common.

 

I was in the market for a car last Fall. I priced Civics, and from Dealers I was finding mostly $8,000 to $11,000 for cars with 60,000 - 110,000 miles. The dealers I spoke to were not going to negotiate on those prices, either. Those cars sell fast here.

[suh_fan93]

Are you dead set on a Honda? I mean they are great cars when it comes to reliability and gas mileage and just in general. My last two used vehicles mind you have been Toyota's and I don't see that changing. I found for the most part they are just as reliable but more price friendly than Honda's. I recently talked to a tow truck driver and he said the three cars he sees the least of in his line of work were Honda's, Toyota's and Subaru's fwiw. Good luck.

[zoogs]

Ahhhhh, that might explain it. These were some of my quick search results for the east coast. That's a heck of a difference, especially if the cars you are referring to had 5-6 years on these models:

 

(PA) $12.5K 2013 Civic with 13K(?) miles: http://www.hondacertified.com/inventory-vehicle-details.aspx?Zip=19104&VIN=19XFB2F56DE250861

 

(MA) $13K 2014 Civic with 47K miles https://www.carmax.com/car/14488469

 

(NY) $8K 2013 Civic EX with 78K miles https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/l-Used-2012-Honda-Civic-c22894#listing=171841208

 

Are cars more expensive in general in the Midwest, or is it just the Japanese imports?

[Moiraine]

Are you dead set on a Honda? I mean they are great cars when it comes to reliability and gas mileage and just in general. My last two used vehicles mind you have been Toyota's and I don't see that changing. I found for the most part they are just as reliable but more price friendly than Honda's. I recently talked to a tow truck driver and he said the three cars he sees the least of in his line of work were Honda's, Toyota's and Subaru's fwiw. Good luck.

No I'm not. I'm dead set on not buying an American car. Toyota is an option too. My fiance has a 1998 toyota corolla with over 250k miles still running. Thanks.

[knapplc]

Just the imports. There's a much smaller market for them, but it's really dedicated so when they go on sale they're snatched up really fast. Especially with Honda Civics or Toyota Corollas, because everyone buys them for their kid to get to school or move to college.

 

 

 

 

EDIT - I'd vouch for Toyota. I had a Camry years ago. Still one of my favorite cars.

[Moiraine]

Speaking of Toyotas and my car, my fiance was saying maybe when we buy the nice car we should get rid of my car instead of his and I thought that was a bad idea and didn't like it. Then I actually had to start driving his quite a bit and you can just feel the difference. It's so much smoother and somehow feels more solid than mine. Mine's a 2003 and his is a '98.

 

Note: I think I just made an out of context quote...

[ScottyIce]

 

Are you dead set on a Honda? I mean they are great cars when it comes to reliability and gas mileage and just in general. My last two used vehicles mind you have been Toyota's and I don't see that changing. I found for the most part they are just as reliable but more price friendly than Honda's. I recently talked to a tow truck driver and he said the three cars he sees the least of in his line of work were Honda's, Toyota's and Subaru's fwiw. Good luck.

No I'm not. I'm dead set on not buying an American car. Toyota is an option too. My fiance has a 1998 toyota corolla with over 250k miles still running. Thanks.

Fiancé? 😔😔😔

[Danny Bateman]

Not a Civic owner but a few bits of advice:

I think you're on the right track trying to find a Japanese make. From everything I've heard, they require much less maintenance than American cars, so they intuitively seem like a good investment.

 

One thing that's always helpful when buying used: If at all possible, it's always best to have it inspected before you buy. Might not be doable if you buy it from someone else, but you could ask them and see if they have any proof they've had it checked out lately. If not, you could just mention you're going to have it looked at immediately and ask them if they'd pay for any repairs. There's always that Carfox service, though I've never used that. But having it checked out or checking its history could stop you from getting stuck with a lemon. Tried to convince my mother of this a few years ago when she was shopping for a car for my brother, and she wound up buying one unknowingly that had some water damage. It's been nothing but problems since.

 

Lastly, zoogs hit on something I'll use in a few years. I read a money book by Dave Ramsey a year or so ago and he strongly suggested buying a lightly used model that's a few years old. It's usually just as good without paying the premium.

[Landlord]

Toyotas, Mazdas and Hondas are all really reliable makes that people seem to have good luck with.

 

Whatever you're looking to buy, do some comparative research to similar cars by searching for consumer reviews. You can usually find bevies of people that give reviews online that have owned the car up past 100k+ miles to testify to how they hold up as they get older and more worn down.

 

Also, if you buy from a dealer, it's best to go in with a pre-approved rate from a bank beforehand to make them compete to beat it, and also keep in mind that they'll continuously play the game, but you can always get a 10-20% mark down on sticker price.

 

Also, get gap insurance.

[JJ Husker]

If you'll be getting a Honda, Toyota etc. near or over 100k miles, be sure that the timing chain has been replaced. Almost all those cars require one at 100,000 miles and it's a relatively expensive but standard maintenance item.

 

If/When you get around to a new car purchase, I would highly recommend looking at a Kia Soul. We got one for my daughter last year and we all love it. I don't know how they did it but it is very spacious inside. I usually feel cramped in anything smaller than a Yukon/ full sized pickup but I don't mind the Soul at all. I think my wife is also going to change over to one of them. I can't vouch for longevity yet because ours is only a year old but so far it has been wonderful. The interior finish seems to be more solid, durable and comfortable than the Camry my son used to have. Only about $20k brand new.

[JJ Husker]

And the only time to get gap insurance is if/when the total loss value of the vehicle is less than you owe on it. That will usually apply to fully financed new vehicle but may not be the case on a used car. You can usually cancel the gap insurance at anytime you wish.