I think I need to find a car...
 

My son has been driving my Corolla and he got in an accident last week. No injuries but the passenger side doors were damaged. He took it to the body shop yesterday and they told him it might be totaled. And I realized, of course it will be totaled. It's a '93 Corolla with 225,000 miles. Getting it washed costs almost more than it's worth.

We won't know for sure until Monday or Tuesday but I'm assuming we need to find another car. My experience has been to drive a car until it starts to need too many repairs and then spend a lot of time thinking about what I want and finally buying a new one. Now I need to find something used that will be reliable but fairly inexpensive (cheap). And I need to do it quickly.:eek:

Where do I start?

Japan.

Well, how cheap is cheap? I'd start at a Honda dealer.

I am a huge fan of Toyota. Our experience has been that you can drive them forever. I sold my eight-year-old Camry with 225,000 miles on it and got over $3,000 for it a couple of years ago (bought a used Lexus which is also a Toyota product). I really hadn't put much money into the Camry beyond oil, tires and brakes (and the oil changes were only, on average, every 10,000 miles - I am not a maintenance hound).

We've had five different Toyota vehicles over the years and every one of them has been a winner.

You also have a co-worker who knows a thing or two about cars.

I don't think we live in the same car universe.

Yes, I like Toyotas.

How cheap? It depends. Maybe $5,000? Basically the amount of the bonus I'm getting this month. Usually the bonus goes for a major plumbing repair. Apparently my condo knows that I'm getting the extra money.

You should be able to get a pretty good used car for $5,000 cash. You have the upper hand if you don't need to finance. Good luck!

Nissans run forever - I see 5 of my 1994 Maxima every single day on the road.

I vote for Honda or Toyota. I've had both and run them forever.

I have a 93 Honda Civic that I love. Honda and Toyota vehicles go forever- they're great cars!

I say Honda or Toyota, too. I really liked Hardin Honda in Anaheim. They were pleasant. More pleasant than the Costa Mesa and Long Beach Honda dealerships.
:)

I'm glad no one was hurt in the accident.

HA! That's the site of my first attempted pickup by a car salesman.

:D

Another happy Nissan gal here...

My biggest concern is showing up at say, Cerritos Auto Square, with that clueless aura that car salesmen pick up on so easily. (We've got a live one!) I usually go in knowing exactly what I want.

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll look for a Toyota but keep Honda and Nissan in mind. It looks like it's going to be a question of how little can I spend versus the age and mileage of the car.

It's not just figuring out what type of car you want, but how much you reasonably should expect to pay and how to avoid buying a problem. You'll pay less for a used car from a private party than from a dealer. Plenty of books, online guides, etc. about buying used and new cars.

Yes, but I don't know if I have time to do the research. I'm kind of nervous about buying from a private party and buying someone else's problem.

What about buying new? Use the five grand as a healthy down payment and you should end up with low monthlies.

Or only put three grand down and use the other two for reserves.

Was the Corolla the only family car? Or do you have another one. The reason I ask is if you have your own car and the Corolla was just the boy's, then give him your hand-me-down and get yourself the new one.

Just a thought.

Hey, don't I remember you saying that you care less about what happens to your car once you've paid it off? Guess you ought to be careful what you wish for. :eek:

I love my Mazda 3. They have been out for awhile (I think since 04 - GD?). Great car.

Yes, '04 was the first year. They are unlikely to be available in her price range. But some of the older Mazda's (626, for example) can be good options (Mazda's a little hit and miss reliability-wise, so research would be in order).

Right - I was throwing it out there because of Kevy's suggestion.

I'd really like to avoid a car payment for a while longer. I drive a 2001 Saturn and I'd thought about handing it down when I was ready for a new car. That's how Dylan got the Corolla. But I'm thinking I'd rather get something that would suffice for a few years until he can handle this financially on his own. (That will happen, right?) Because I'm not ready for a new car just yet.

Yeah, throw that back at me.:p This car has been beyond that for years. But it's been reliable for all these years and probably would have been for one or two more. So it's annoying that some doofus runs into it and now that's all over.

The settlement on the Corolla was way more than I expected so that was good news. I guess they use the Blue Book value to determine if the repairs are feasible. Then they go to an outside company to determine the street value, what similar cars are actually selling for.

We went car shopping and found a '96 Camry with more miles than I would like but I know it will last. It's clean and the body is in good condition. There wasn't much in my price range even though I upped my price after getting a reality check. I could have gotten something cheaper if I had the time and patience to check out private party ads but I just don't.

We had a great experience with one salesman who actually took the trouble to show what they had in inventory that met my specs. I told everyone I was looking for something under $10,000 and all the other salesman wandered around showing me stuff that was higher. The Ford Expedition was the last straw. When I said it was too big (besides being too expensive) the salesman said, well there's a minivan... Why don't they listen? We bought the car from the salesman who listened. Get a clue, people.

Listening is a good thing.

Did you get to see the breakdown? When I got my check for the charred remains of my Hyundai, they gave me a sheet that showed the Blue Book value, the Edmunds value, prices for comparable cars at local dealers vs. individual sellers. Best of all, it had a breakdown of what factors added to and detracted from the final bottom line. They deducted something like $45 for the color. Damn if that wasn't an ugly color.

The only real deduction was for the high mileage. The best part was the offer to help us find a similar vehicle as a replacement. Uh, no thanks.