Used cars are still expensive

[bjl584]

I'm in the early stages of looking for a second car. Just an older sedan to run around in and use to commute to work. I figured I could find something decent for $5000 or less, but I was surprised to see most cars in that price range were 20 years old with 200K plus miles on them. Looks like I will need to expand my search to private owners or pony up more cash if I'm serious about going through with this plan.

[disneysteve]

Have you only looked at dealerships? They’re always going to be more expensive. When you’re looking for a beater, private is almost always going to win out. Plus the dealers often don’t even bother with cars like that as there’s not much profit in it for them.

Out of curiosity, I just looked at Carmax which is where we got my car and my wife’s car. On their search filters, the price filter starts at 10K minimum.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

wow that is expensive.

[crazyliblady]

I'm in the early stages of looking for a second car. Just an older sedan to run around in and use to commute to work. I figured I could find something decent for $5000 or less, but I was surprised to see most cars in that price range were 20 years old with 200K plus miles on them. Looks like I will need to expand my search to private owners or pony up more cash if I'm serious about going through with this plan.

I was also suprised by this last September when I was in a car accident and had to replace my car. I had some car replacement savings of my own and the car insurance payout, but it was very hard to find a car in good condition with lower miles in my price range. I finally wound up buying a car that was about $5000 higher than I would normally buy just to get something without having to drive somewhere else to get it. I also looked at carvana, carmart, etc., but anything that seemed to be of higher quality was far away. I always like to have a car inspected by my mechanic before buying and that is not negotiable. I don't buy into the "our mechanic inspected it" song, because as I tell them "your mechanic works for you, my mechanic works for me."

[Petunia 100]

I was surprised by used car prices last October, too. I need a bit of clearance and AWD based on where I live, so I was looking at SUVs. I wanted to stay under 20k, but couldn't find a single one that was not very high miles in that price range. I ended up spending 27k, and that is a lot of money for me; I am not a high earner. If only the old car had lived a little longer, right?

[bjl584]

Have you only looked at dealerships? They’re always going to be more expensive. When you’re looking for a beater, private is almost always going to win out. Plus the dealers often don’t even bother with cars like that as there’s not much profit in it for them.

Out of curiosity, I just looked at Carmax which is where we got my car and my wife’s car. On their search filters, the price filter starts at 10K minimum.

I was searching by price range, year range, and model.
It just pulls all results that meet that criteria whether private sale or dealership
I can filter it to private sale only, which is what I'm going to do.

[ua_guy]

Modern vehicles are pretty reliable in general, and by "modern" I mean back to the mid-90's or so, heck, even back to the 80's. Given the climate, if I needed a cheap car I wouldn't mind going way back and finding something "old" with lower miles. Just remember that tires should be newer than 10 years old (check DOT date code on sidewalls) and if the car is older than 10 years you want to make sure the braking system is gone through (mostly flushing the fluid, and inspecting the rubber brake hoses). Easy peasy!

[kork13]

Modern vehicles are pretty reliable in general, and by "modern" I mean back to the mid-90's or so, heck, even back to the 80's.

What kills me is that as much technology as exists in today's cars, manufacturers still use the same worthless "check engine" light as a generic idiot light. It tells you literally nothing, when all it would take is adding a tab on the status screen on either the driver's console, or into the integrated entertainment system. Just give me a screen to be able to view exactly what code is being thrown by the car. Drives me crazy....

On the topic of expensive used cars... While there may be some cooling off of used car prices as demand goes down (with new cars being more available as chip shortages ease), just as with any other impact of inflation, once the inflation gets priced in, it's unlikely to go significantly back down to pre-inflation prices. Perhaps for a little while, but the inflation that's already baked in is gonna keep the prices up.

[ua_guy]

What kills me is that as much technology as exists in today's cars, manufacturers still use the same worthless "check engine" light as a generic idiot light. It tells you literally nothing, when all it would take is adding a tab on the status screen on either the driver's console, or into the integrated entertainment system. Just give me a screen to be able to view exactly what code is being thrown by the car. Drives me crazy....

On the topic of expensive used cars... While there may be some cooling off of used car prices as demand goes down (with new cars being more available as chip shortages ease), just as with any other impact of inflation, once the inflation gets priced in, it's unlikely to go significantly back down to pre-inflation prices. Perhaps for a little while, but the inflation that's already baked in is gonna keep the prices up.

It's a good idea to keep a diagnostic scan tool handy. They're cheap and easy to come by. OBDII hasn't really changed since it was required starting on 1996 model-year vehicles.

The used car market has been pounded for a couple of years now. One would expect high interest rates to drive prices down, but what we're seeing is sustained high pricing and constrained inventory instead. Although I believe economic indicators to be generally good, these market conditions are a crisis of modern times. Just like housing markets in popular areas...interest rates should pommel pricing, but instead, raters are forcing existing owners to shelter in place and that's drying up inventory. Used cars - people are hanging on to their cars longer than ever to avoid the inflationary MSRP hikes of new vehicles and high interest rates. What ends up hitting the market is typically "very" well used. The good used stuff (low miles, good condition, a handful of years old - anything cheaper than "new" by a margin) goes for a premium.

[crazyliblady]

Modern vehicles are pretty reliable in general, and by "modern" I mean back to the mid-90's or so, heck, even back to the 80's. Given the climate, if I needed a cheap car I wouldn't mind going way back and finding something "old" with lower miles. Just remember that tires should be newer than 10 years old (check DOT date code on sidewalls) and if the car is older than 10 years you want to make sure the braking system is gone through (mostly flushing the fluid, and inspecting the rubber brake hoses). Easy peasy!

Yes, they are fairly reliable, but are not reliable when maintenance has been deferred.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

So many people now tell me they buy new because the used car prices are on parity with new

[JoeP]

Also consider finding a trusted mechanic who also sells used vehicles. I was in the right time and place when my old truck needed to be replaced, and my mechanic said a Texas Truck is being delivered to him the next day. He gave it a good cleaning and repaired a few things (wheel bearing, brakes, a bushing I believe) and I bought it from him. Some mechanics may do a side hustle like this, or know someone who does.

[srblanco7]

Our son has been driving a "hand me down" 12 year old Mazda. The last two months its needed significant repairs and as a result we decided it needed to go as 12 years of upstate NY winters were taking it's toll on many of the drive train components. We started used car shopping for him and I was unpleasantly surprised at how expensive used cars still are. We purchased a used vehicle about 2 years ago for our daughter at what I thought was the peak (or near peak) of the used car market and found that prices are still similar. We settled on a used (3 yrs old, 11 k miles) vehicle - which should get him thru college and hopefully a year or two thereafter.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Our son has been driving a "hand me down" 12 year old Mazda. The last two months its needed significant repairs and as a result we decided it needed to go as 12 years of upstate NY winters were taking it's toll on many of the drive train components. We started used car shopping for him and I was unpleasantly surprised at how expensive used cars still are. We purchased a used vehicle about 2 years ago for our daughter at what I thought was the peak (or near peak) of the used car market and found that prices are still similar. We settled on a used (3 yrs old, 11 k miles) vehicle - which should get him thru college and hopefully a year or two thereafter.

how much is a 3 year old 11 k miles vehicle

[srblanco7]

how much is a 3 year old 11 k miles vehicle

Nissan Rogue SUV approx $24k. To the extent there are deals in the current market I think it's for used cars (vs. SUVs or Trucks).