I'm actually in the market for a car, and I actually need one before next week...
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"Don't blow this, Gene!"

How much we talking here? $200? $500? :) But seriously, how much are you looking for, ballpark.

DJ

I'm in the market aswell..how much are we talkin here?

Ballparks are for weenies. Tell him to stop sniffing ass and put a price on his merchandise.

:)

$10,500.

Jdogg's ride is the shizzle

Then why is he selling it?

Because he needs a truck.

poor jdizzle...help him out guys!

I'll give him $5000 cash for it. :)

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"Don't blow this, Gene!"

add about 8k to that and you can have an xterra.

After I paid off my car I vowed that I would never again have an interest bearing loan on a depreciating asset such as a car.

it's the latest craze!

Take heed to Midnight's words..
I plan on staying away from that kind of situation aswell.
which has me without a ride

][-][ //-\\ ][_ {()} ][

I ask 10,500...but for people I know or game with I will drop the bottom line to $10,000.

Thats the bottom line cause Jdogg says so.

Since there's a little bit of damage to the driver's side, JDOGG will take $250 off the asking price.

Yeah, not gonna happen. I'm looking more in the $300 range :).

DJ

Hub, I consider the car loan Christina and I had to be our biggest financial mistake. It's not a big mistake, sure, but I regret it. 5 years later the loan is paid off and I have a decent car, but we should have driven beaters that we could have afforded and put the difference into an interest earning vehicle instead of paying interest on an asset that depreciates.

It's not very "cool feeling" to drive a $1000 beater when you're 16-21, but you soon find that nobody gives a crap what you drive. That's my .02. You're a smart guy for foregoing transportation rather than incurring debt. I'm not judging anyone for having a car loan. Hell, I had one until last year. I'm saying that I honestly regret it and I hope others can learn from my mistake.

Driving a beater is fine, but there are drawbacks as well. If you can find something for around $1000 there is a likelihood it will have high mileage and not be in the best condition which will lead to increased repairs. Then there are times when you find a deal and it might drive forever with minimal cost. I drove a free beater from 16-18 and ended up paying for more repair cost then the thing was worth. I vowed that I would never own another money pit and thats where I am now. I'm almost 23 now so looking cool is not my thing, but having reliable transportation to work and school is. In my opinion getting a smaller loan, warranty, and reliability is better than paying less and fixing more. I guess it just comes down to buy what you can afford.

Good advice, Midnight.

I drove my last car until it would not drive any more. No air conditioning. Windows would not roll down. Sunroof leaked. Carpet was mildewed. It was a piece of junk (an '87 Acura Legend) with 250,000 miles. The dealer wouldn't give me more than $200 for it. And the future wife still liked me.

Going into debt and buying a low-cost vehicle is one of the best investments I've made in myself - almost as important as a college education.

JDogg, as you point out, almost no advice holds true 100% of the time for everybody. There are also benefits to extremely low interest rate loans. Whenever you finance something at an interest rate at or below inflation, you make money by paying in future dollars, which are worth less than present dollars. I don't know of many loans below 2.5%, but when you look at the marginal rate above inflation, low-interest loans aren't horrible, like a 20% APR credit card. My last car loan was at 4.5%. That was 2-2.5% over inflation. Was the premium over inflation worth the reliability--possibly so.

That being said, I've known plenty of $1000 beaters that survived a lot of years. A certain red civic with a black racing hood comes to mind. I also had a high school friend with an early 90s Honda CRX that got over 30 MPG and made it many years.

My brother in law had a Honda CRX that he drove into the ground. It was like the car that wouldn't die. I remember he drove that up until after he had married my older sister. Granted, it was a piece of junk... but it was built to last.

I'm looking at a '99 Toyota Camry that I will probably end up buying if I don't find anything better between now and Sunday. I refuse to finance.

Unfortunately, if you go to a dealer, it is much harder to get information if you tell them you do not want to finance... so far, out of the 5 dealers I have called or talked to, Jerry Damson is the only one who has actually called me back or set up an appointment for me to come by and look at what they have for around $5,000.

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"Don't blow this, Gene!"

Working with dealers is an overall horrible experience even if you plan to finance. Your particular experience is probably due to the fact that they won't make much money on a $5k used car, and you probably won't choose to buy from them if you are purchasing in cash (you'd get a better price from a private party). It's also just difficult for young people to get dealers to take them seriously.

An old trick when dealing with auto dealers is to never discuss possible trades or methods of payment until you've agreed to buy the vehicle at a certain price. However, usually this means you appear as if you'll be paying cash, which usually works in your favor. It's strange that your situation is the reverse.

I haven't dealt with an auto dealer in 6 years and I have no plans to deal with one ever again. Their profit margin is dependant upon you being uninformed.

I picked up a 1982 TC3 Turisimo, (think Charger with a 1.7L Golf engine and Gold 4spd), for $900 in early 2003. Had that car until I left VA in October of 2006 and drove it harder than you could imagine. A grand total of about $3000 in maintenance over the 3 years. New front end after snapped tie rods, new carb, new alternator x2, (very interesting story), and new tires. That's about it over 3 years. Toughest car I've ever seen, original engine, 1,000,000+ miles on it, and it'd take me home and back without a hiccup, (700 miles one way). Granted, the mileage decreased over the years from about 30mpg to around 20mpg, but it was still a badass little car, and when I got new tires it was like a whole new car :).

DJ

Something to think about: There are THX'ers on this forum that have bought $3-5k cars in the last year or two and have already paid for them through the gas savings versus driving their other vehicle.

Beaters usually have a low start-up cost. But they also can prove to have a low total cost of ownership through increased fuel economy. Of course, this depends on your current fuel economy.