Used car for student

french22

french22

Filing Flight Plan
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french22
Dear all
My son is studying in California (I’m living in France). After a couple of months there using bicycle and public transportation he decided to go for a driving licence.

He will soon need a car and neither his student budget nor my cash status will allow the buying of a nice fancy car.

He started to look for used cars and asked me for advice. My problem is
- I don’t know a s.... about used cars market. I have no benchmark about prices
- I won’t be present when the car will be bought and he knows nothing about cars.

Where should he go to be offered a reliable offer ? Used car dealers in the area ? Online car dealers such as shift.com ?

We are looking for a compact car, manual or automatic shift, price range 5,000-6,000 USD

Thanks for your help.
 
Personally I think used car dealers are a ripoff. I would look for a 5-10 year old Toyota Corolla with under 50,000 miles on it through Craigslist or a similar trading site. That should fit within your budget.
 
We bought a Honda Element for the lower end of your price range from a Honda Dealership and love it. Getting a Cult Following as the modern iteration of VW bus of the ‘60s.
Some are four wheel drive. Back seats can be folded up against sides behind C pillars or easily removed. Can swallow an incredible amount of stuff. “Suicide opening” rear doors with back hatch and drop gate. Good mpg. See a lot of them on the road in VA and the Carolinas and they show up on Used Car lots a good bit.
Bought it as an “airport car” but find we’re using it a good bit for general use. Think it would be a great car for a college kid.
Would suggest he contact Honda dealers in his area - we’re still getting calls with offers of Elements that have gone on sale at dealers. If buying from a private seller suggest a prebuy inspection at a dealer of that make
 
Sac Arrow said:
Personally I think used car dealers are a ripoff. I would look for a 5-10 year old Toyota Corolla with under 50,000 miles on it through Craigslist or a similar trading site. That should fit within your budget.
Click to expand...

Yep. Can't go wrong with a Toyota or Honda IMO.
 
wrbix said:
We bought a Honda Element for the lower end of your price range and love it. Getting a Following as the modern iteration of VW bus of the ‘60s.
Some are four wheel drive. Back seats can be folded up against sides behind C pillars or easily removed. Can swallow an incredible amount of stuff. “Suicide opening” rear doors with back hatch and drop gate. Good mpg. See a lot of them on the road in VA and the Carolinas and they show up on Used Car lots a good bit.
Bought it as an “airport car” but find we’re using it a good bit for general use.
Would suggest he contact Honda dealers in his area - we’re still getting calls with offers of Elements that have gone on sale at dealers.
Click to expand...

Do love the Element for utility, but I don't consider low twenties to be good mileage. I drove on for a while. Fun to drive.
 
The general way I approach used car buying is to look up car values on a site like autotrader.com and truecar.com. The sites show the cars currently for sale, the asking price and what a fair market value on the car is, with really good filtering tools. You pick out the car you're interested in, go to the dealer and see it, test drive it and if you like it, agree on a price, pay for it and drive away. Despite the prices quoted, they are usually at least a little negotiable.

At that price range for compact cars, I'd suggest a Mini Cooper or a VW new Beetle. Both come in standard or automatic and you should be able to get one around 5,000 for something that is a pretty good car. The trick on price is that you can always find cars in every price, it depends on condition. For example, I just looked up a 2006 MINI Cooper with 85,000 miles for $5,450. If I want to pay more, I can get one that is newer or has lower mileage. The price may be different in California, you didn't say where.
 
1. $6,000 will get you a good car at the higher west coast prices. But if you look deep enough, and not get proud over the model, model year, features, or cosmetic items, you can find a reliable car with decent gas mileage for half that.

2. My suggestion is to set a budget number that is a particular "1-year all in" number. Meaning that the budget you set includes not just the car purchase, but the first year's worth of insurance, maintenance, repairs, etc. Otherwise, a $6000 car can turn into a $8000 car if you have to perform repairs that the prior owner didn't do.

3. The website www.AutoTempest.com is a good aggregator of used car websites. Much like Kayak.com and Expedia.com aggregate travel sites, AutoTempest collects info from all the major used car sites and helps you narrow the results to those that will help you. One of the filters you can apply is the asking price. So if you want to see what is offered for $2500 or less, you can filter the search that way.

4. Have a third party inspect the vehicle. Many repair shops will do a pre-buy inspection for a small amount of money (like $100-200). Have them look over the car for any mechanical, electrical, or exhaust issues before you buy the car. It is better that you find out that repair are too extensive before you own the car. Allows you to walk away if needed. And you're only out a few $100 bills versus a $1000 plus.

5. Do an information search on the vehicle before you commit to buy. https://www.vehiclehistory.gov/ is where you can find out some history on the vehicle. With all of the catastrophic events that have happened in recent years, many vehicles that should have been labeled a total loss and sent to the shredder are still out there on the road. Searching the NMVTIS database can tell you some of the history about the car or truck. Another site for this is www.CarFax.com

6. Adequately insure the car. And strongly consider full coverage versus liability only. If $5000 is a stretch for the two of you, then you need to protect that money. Yes, the cost of the insurance is a bit more. But if this is to be a car for 3-4 years, the added cost is very little when compared to losing not just the $5000 for today's car, but the added $5000 to replace it with something similar.

7. Make sure the counsel the young man on the very bad things that are associated with drinking and driving.
 
Follow AggieMike's advice. Look at a mid-2000's Honda Civic. Use AggieMike's point #4.
 
Toyota Camry/Corolla, Nissan Altima/Maxima, Honda Civic/Accord. Any of those should be readily available due to being high volume.
 
Recently saw a DYI car mechanic video where they guy purchased a Honda Del Sol for less than $400 cash. Needed about $200 worth of parts to fix a few wear/tear items. But the end result was a nice looking and safe car for a really good deal.
 
Yes - two more thumbs up for what AggieMike said. Nothin' significant to add.
Personally, I'd suggest Asian, and in particular Mazda3. YMMV, pun intended.
 
I’d go for an older Honda Accord,high mileage,is no big deal. At 80 k miles ,change the timing belt water pump,and your good for another 100 k.
 
May want to consider a Mazda 6. A little less popular than an equivalent Honda or Toyota, but typically priced accordingly. My family has had a couple of them and I'd trade my BMW in a second for either one of them back. Both were incredibly reliable with the Ford 3.0 V6. One had the manual, the other had the auto. May be a little tight on your mileage requirements.
 
Dear all
Thanks for these so useful replies. It helps me a lot.

Kudos for AggieMike detailed answer.

About drinking vs. driving, I hope he understands the stakes as he's flying too.
 
Used car from a dealership. I bought a Jetta for my daughter from the local VW dealer. Good car, good price, no BS, good follow-up service.
 
Last edited:
french22 said:
About drinking vs. driving, I hope he understands the stakes as he's flying too.
Click to expand...
Don't leave it to hope. Take it on yourself to educate him on the consequences.

Search for and read the past DUI and alcohol threads. A common theme is that when it comes to alcohol offenses and the FAA, it doesn't take much to put the pilot far behind the curve. And to regain an ahead position requires lots of $$$ for testing, and major dedication to a sober lifestyle.
 
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