Advice On Purchasing a New Car

[bjl584]

WOO, I just got a bomb delivered today. My older sister talked with my dad today and she suggested that instead of buying me a car that I be given the money to do with it as I please. Furthermore, my older sister has just offered to sell me I think 7 year old( maybe more) honda civic for $2500! It has 115K miles on it and hasn't had many technical problems. The only thing that needs replacing is some sort of belt that is off my head at the moment. This has definatly made me think differently about getting a new car. For one, as I will be in college, I won't really be driving huge amounts of miles. Secondly, I could pocket the money I would have put towards the new car minus the $2500 for the civic and pay for a year of college or invest in a vanguard account. If this idea holds with my dad and I can buy my sisters car, I seriously think I will ditch the new car idea. Oh and the civic gets low 30 gas mileage.

I'm betting that she is referring to the Timing Belt. It needs changed every 100K. You defenitely need to take care of this. Also, at 115K ask your sister if the car has had a tune up. (New spark plugs, wires, distributor cap, pcv valve, fuel filter, transmission fluid flush and fill, and coolant system flush and fill.) It's time for all that if it hasn't been recently done.

[sakigt]

Buy gently used!

We wanted a base Yaris. Sticker was $13,xxx

We found a 2008 with 1,400 miles and paid $10k for it.

Check out the dealer websites such as cars.com and take the VIN number to the local Honda, Toyota, whatever dealership. As long as the car isnt a lemon - save your money and buy used!

In our case the girls boyfriend decided to buy her a Dodge Charger SRT-8 and traded the Yaris in for cheap!

[disneysteve]

Buy gently used!

We wanted a base Yaris. Sticker was $13,xxx

We found a 2008 with 1,400 miles and paid $10k for it.

Those are the best deals, but there are very few of them out there. I bought my car, a 1998 Toyota Camry, as a dealer demo in August 1998. It had 11,000 miles and I paid about $5,000 less than a brand new one. It looked great and still had the new car smell when I got it.

[jc3900]

disneysteve: That sounds right up my alley. Gently used and big discounts is what I would want when I eventually get to buying a new car. Where and how do I find those deals?

[rupeeman]

Toyota and Honda are both very well known brands in the car manufacturer list around whole world. I think there's should be no confusion about choosing the brands between these two!

[sakigt]

disneysteve: That sounds right up my alley. Gently used and big discounts is what I would want when I eventually get to buying a new car. Where and how do I find those deals?

Ive found the best deals at dealerships. People are lazy and want to get into a new car fast and a dealership is the easiest place to go.

autotrader and cars.com is where a lot of these dealers sell the trade ins.

Do your research and know what you want. Lowball the dealer too, but accept a fair price. Both parties should be making money.