Used Car Survey

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I know a lot of people buy used cars or else where would they go right? So I'm curious and this is a financial board, so no one will mind sharing, how much they paid for their used car. Would everyone please share?

Since I'm looking at used cars, but I'm not going to buy a really old car, can you keep it to used cars purchased with less than 4-5 years. This should be cool.

1. Year, Make, Model of Car
2. Price New - approximately, guess so we can see the depreciation
3. Year purchased - how many years old when bought
4. Price Purchase USED, % depreciation in that time
5. Miles when purchased
6. Where'd you purchase it from - dealer, private party, family
7. Good or Bad used car purchase experience

TIA

[sk24iam]

I bought my 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee in 2006 for just over $15,000 from a Jeep dealer. It only had 40,000 miles. It's been a great purchase, no problems or maintenance costs. It came with a warranty as well.

[Cassandra]

1. 2006 Dodge Stratus
2. I *think* $20-25,000 but I'm not sure.
3. I bought it in 2008 so it was two years old at the time.
4. I bought it for $10,500 out the door (including sales tax), but they were asking for $15,000. So about a 50% depreciation.
5. $38,842 miles on it when I bought it. I have since put on about 6,000 miles.
6. I bought it from the dealer.
7. Very good. The dealer seemed very willing to work with me and were willing to do a lot to get my business. They were a little pushy, but not nearly as bad as I heard car salesmen can be.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

sk24, could you give more details.

[tripods68]

Bought my 95 Altima 3 years ago for $3K cash. Found it on local Craiglist. It had 76K mileage at that time. Now it reads 102K. Primarily use it for work commuting 7 days a week. The body has some ding but nothing major. As long the engine is in excellent conditions, it was worth it paying for that amount. It's now leaking oil due to old valve seal cover and some leak on in the radiator. That will need to be replaced in the next month or so. Other than that, AC and power windows still works. It passed SMOG a year ago and replaced two front tires for being misaligned. Got that fixed and still running good with regular tune up every 3500 miles.

[frito833]

1. Year, Make, Model of Car 2 - 2002 Nissan Xterra
2. Price New - $26,000
3. Year purchased - 2009
4. Price Purchase USED, % depreciation in that time $3,000. I can sell it for 9k so depreciation is a little over 50%
5. Miles when purchased - 65,000
6. Where'd you purchase it from - dealer, private party, family - family
7. Good or Bad used car purchase experience - Best purchase I've ever made. I actually enjoy driving. Big upgrade from my 96 Nissan Sentra.

[project15]

1. Year, Make, Model of Car - 2003 VW GTI
2. Price New - $25,000
3. Year purchased - 2006
4. Price Purchase USED - $15,000, 40%
5. Miles when purchased - 45,000
6. Where'd you purchase it from - VW Dealer
7. Good or Bad used car purchase experience - Fantastic and I would buy from this dealer again. Got free carwashes for life and came with a 2 year warranty since it was CPO

[sk24iam]

sk24, could you give more details.

1. Year, Make, Model of Car- 02 jeep Grand Cherokee
2. Price New - approximately, guess so we can see the depreciation- 28,000
3. Year purchased - how many years old when bought- bought in 2006, 4 years old
4. Price Purchase USED, % depreciation in that time- about 15,000 before exteneded warranty. about 50% depreciation
5. Miles when purchased- around 40,000
6. Where'd you purchase it from - dealer, private party, family- dealer
7. Good or Bad used car purchase experience- good

[maat55]

I bought my 2002 Ford Exployer Sport Trac in 2004 I think, paid 14k, it had 45k in miles, I do not know how much they sold for new.

I bought at a dealership and it has been an excellent truck.

I will not do it again though. I will pay cash for an one owner likely from an individual.

[Alex_Adviser]

By purchasing a used car, you can save a lot of money. A new car depreciates quickly in the first few years and after 3 years, it is worth only about 60-70% of the original price. In fact, as soon as you leave the dealership, your new vehicle is suddenly worth $1000-$2000 less. When purchasing a new car you basically are paying for its fresh "new" aroma and warranty.

So if you are getting a deal anywhere for a price less than 60% of the original price after 3-4 yrs of car usage then i would say that its the best bargain for you.

[disneysteve]

1. Year, Make, Model of Car: 1998 Toyota Camry
2. Price New: Not sure. Maybe 23K-24k.
3. Year purchased - how many years old when bought: August 1998, less than 1 year old
4. Price Purchase USED, % depreciation in that time: I paid a little over $18,000. Again, not sure of original price
5. Miles when purchased: 11,000
6. Where'd you purchase it from - dealer, private party, family: Toyota dealer
7. Good or Bad used car purchase experience: Excellent. I am still driving that same car 11 years later


1. Year, Make, Model of Car: 2000 Toyota Sienna
2. Price New: Not sure. Maybe 30K.
3. Year purchased - how many years old when bought: September 2002
4. Price Purchase USED, % depreciation in that time: We paid about 21K. Again, not sure of original price
5. Miles when purchased: 34,000
6. Where'd you purchase it from - dealer, private party, family: Toyota dealer
7. Good or Bad used car purchase experience: Excellent. We are still driving it 7 years later

[MonkeyMama]

1. 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan
2. $24k
3. 2006 (1-year-old)
4. $12k (depreciated 50% in first year; has depreciated 50% since)
5. 30k miles
6. Dealer
7. Okay

In the grand scheme of things, this was a good purchase.

Having only bought extremely used cars from private parties in the past, I am not that impressed. Car has a lot of electrical issues. IT's not the car itself - it's the year/make/model. I am actually lucky not to have more problems, reading the reviews.

On the flip side, this is by far the NICEST vehicle I have ever own. Lots of room, looks sleek, and is far more luxury than I am used to.

LAL - Check out Edmunds.com for detailed vehicle reviews - industry reviews and consumer reviews.

Dh loves dealers though and I never saw the point of wasting all my money (nor did I enjoy being treated like crap when trying to car shop with him. TERRIBLE dealer experiences). BUT he bought a prior rental, for $8k with cash, and they treated us like royalty. In the spring they are just trying to get rid of their 1-year-old inventory. On the Dodge they had a pile to choose from and we were even to haggle it down a bit. So having been abused by the dealerships in the past (mostly because we refused to finance), this is the only way I will buy. (Advertised as "1 at this price" deals in the paper). Just as much dealer BS as ever, but they at least treated us like they may want our business - imagine that!

Reminds me though, some of my friends got the BEST deals on NEW cars by buying when the new models rolled out. Dealers often price their 1-year-new vehicles at 1-year-old prices, to move them and make room for the new vehicles. I have never seen these cars advertised, but know quite a few people who got some amazing deals on new cars.

In the past when we had less money I prefer to buy a 5-10-year-old car with virtually no miles. "Granny cars" from rich grannies who need a new car every few years. So easy to find where we live. I bought a 7-year-old Mustang convertible with only 15k miles, for like $6k. Of course the thing cost $25k new, or about as much for a newer one with 15k miles. These cars tend to be garaged, well taken care of, and immaculate.

[nmboone]

Ooh! I do enjoy talking about my car! Not because it's terribly fancy, but you should have seen what I was driving before.
1. Honda Civic EX, 2003
2. Approx. 17-18k.
3. I bought it 2 years ago. It was a 4 year old formerly leased car.
4. I bought it w/ TT&L approx. 14,000
5. It had only 45,000 miles on it.
6. I got it from a dealer. It was a certified used.
7. It was a good experience. My only wish is that I could have gotten more out of the deal like a CD player (tape player had to be replaced!). But I had extremely bad experiences from other places and I liked the dealer who was not pushy at all.

[zetta]

1. Year, Make, Model of Car -- 1997 Isuzu Rodeo
2. Price New - approximately, guess so we can see the depreciation -- no idea
3. Year purchased - how many years old when bought -- 1999 (2 years old)
4. Price Purchase USED, % depreciation in that time -- $15k, in 2005 I traded it in to a dealer for $2k, but might have gotten $3-$4k selling it privately (DH didn't want the hassle)
5. Miles when purchased -- 20k, was 105k at time of trade-in
6. Where'd you purchase it from - dealer, private party, family -- Saturn used cars
7. Good or Bad used car purchase experience -- Excellent. Only repairs were to replace battery, starter, and tires. I was not good about keeping the oil changed. Only reason I sold when I did was I was pregnant and we wanted side air-bags, etc.

1. Year, Make, Model of Car -- 1991 Nissan 240ZX
2. Price New - approximately, guess so we can see the depreciation -- no idea
3. Year purchased - how many years old when bought -- 1993 (2 years old)
4. Price Purchase USED, % depreciation in that time -- $10k, think I did a trade-in in 1999, don't recall how much I got for it
5. Miles when purchased -- 27k, was about 95k at trade-in
6. Where'd you purchase it from - dealer, private party, family -- private party
7. Good or Bad used car purchase experience -- Good. Started having little problems around 90k miles (gas flap got stuck, window got stuck), plus I wanted an SUV to take out to the desert.

You guys have got me thinking -- DH insisted on new cars in 2005/2006. I've really got to work on convincing him to go used when we replace them. He'd like to replace them around 2013, I say we should hold out until at least 2015...