Written for the average working person who needs transportation without taking out a loan. In general, someone looking to spend $500-$6000
This will be covered in two sections. How to pay for it, and inspecting the car itself.
Throughout the page you will see anecdotes or reinforcements from other sources in the form of outside links or quotes. You should read through the entire page before clicking any links, as they will often lead to 15-30min videos that only serve to reinforce the idea already presented.
This is not for someone looking for a perfect car. This is just to get a decent transportation without making a newbie mistake or breaking the bank.
The first two things you need to decide when purchasing a car is:
- Budget
- Goals
An easy and widely accepted guideline, is not spending more than 10% of you annual income on a vehicle. For example if someone's taxes say they earned $29,000 last year (approx. $14/hour) then they should consider spending $2,900 or less, since the DMV and miscellaneous repairs are not free.
$50,000/year = $5,000 car. Notice something here? You need to be making 80k a year to afford that fancy $8000 truck! Do not fall for the trap of financing something you can't afford, you are much better off saving your money and making a down payment on a first home than financing a $10,000+ SUV. You can absolutely screw up your ability to buy a house for years because your sedan isn't paid off yet.
I highly recommend to anyone; avoid having a car payment, if at all possible. I'm on the hook for another three years and it sucks. Buy what you can for cash unless you're in dire straits.
My old car was needing $300 repairs on a monthly basis for about five months, so for that amount of money I could have driven something new and far more reliable. That was my logic for buying my new car. Now, I still have over $8K in debt to pay off from it when I could have kept the old car and been debt free--even with costly repairs factored in I'm sure I wouldn't have had a $300 repair every month for three, four, or five years.
If you need to finance a car for more than 36 months; you can't afford that vehicle. Take a longer term, and you're going to be CAR POOR for years. Leave your ego at the door, and buy something CHEAPER!
Ideally the goal of the car should just be to get from A to B without incurring any major repairs in two or three years. But realistically you may have some other goals, like ease of carrying kids, cargo space, etc. Write down your goals before looking at specific models so you can make sure you don't end up with something that doesn't meet your goals.
Fuel economy should not be big concern unless you are using the vehicle for work like delivery or taxi. Do not get caught up thinking you must have a certain amount of fuel efficiency. Unless you are driving thousands of miles a month, the savings will be negligible. Saving $22 a month in gas is only $264 a year.
Hybrids are generally not worth the added complexity, if you are buying at this price range, the battery is likely near end of life. Almost all hybrids have an auto-stop feature that combines the alternator with the starter. So not only is the car starting-stopping more often, if that part ever needs replacement it could cost thousands.
You want the car to be in good shape, but that's not the same as never been scratched. Learning absolutely everything to check for can take many of hours of study. This page, this, this, and this can give you a good baseline. Ideally you would research all the known problems with the model and year you are interested in, but this often isn't practical if you are targeting a certain price, rather than a specific model.
Priority:
- how well its been maintained
- how likely it is to need major service while you own it (2-5 years)
- how well does it drive
Important things to check for when scoping out a car that also don't take hours:
- Title: The name on the title must match the seller's drivers license, or at least the last name if they are selling it for their spouse. If you are dealing with a salvage title, know how it works in your state. A salvage title is not popular but can be the source of a steep discount. If dealing with a salvage/rebuilt/etc title, it is highly recomended to research the VIN and find an image of the damage. Lien titles are a no-go because you have very little way to know how much is still owed on the car.
- Engine Codes: Using your engine scanner check for any engine trouble codes. Also, check under the "I/M readiness", You should see completed or good on all available monitors, "N/A" (Not Applicable) means this car doesn't check that, if you see more than one with "INC" (Incomplete) that means the seller cleared the codes less than 100 miles ago, a good sign you need to walk away (or go on a really long test drive). Ideally you would not see any incomplete tests.
- Blown head gasket: Check under the radiator cap while the engine is cold. Testdrive for 15-20mins and leave the car running while you inspect the rest of the vehicle. Check for excessive white smoke in the exhaust. Hopefully with your testdrive and other chatting, 30mins or more have elapsed; ensure that the engine heat gauge stays around the halfway point or lower. 3/4th up the gauge is getting too hot, walk away. If it goes to the top of the gauge, its severley overheating. Turn the car off and walk away. If the car does not have a engine temperature gauge, you CAN use your scanner. Most cars and trucks should stay under 205°F (96°C).
- Blowby: With the oilcap and/or dipstick off and the car running, check for blowby by holding your hand over the opening and checking how much air is coming out. Most engine designs will have some, but if it feels like the same amount that is coming out of the tailpipe, that engine is more on the worn side. It's not a walkaway, but you may not want to be spending top dollar on it. If you buy a vehicle with a lot of blowby, you will want to keep an eye on how much oil it burns because that engine is nearing end of life if you let it get too low.
- Automatic Transmission: Is the fluid red? Good. Brown or black may make you consider walking away depending on price and severity. Test drive and check if it shifts smoothly multiple times is often the best you can do, especially if there isn't a transmission dipstick.
- Exhaust: Hold your hand or leg up to the tailpipe exhaust. It should be very even for a 6cyl+ car. Should be basically even for a 4cyl. If it is misfiring or badly sputtering, could just be a bad sparkplug, could be a bent valve; not worth the risk, walk away.
- Stop and Go miles: Check the brake pedal and drivers seatbelt for excessive wear. If the brake pedal is worn down to metal in any area, that is typically a walkaway in my book, but the price and other conditions can be factored in.
- Rust: If you live in an area where cars succumb to rust, you should learn how to identify surface rust from rust that is about to end the car. If you aren't near that kind of area, a quick quick check that its not covered in rust and visible holes will suffice.
Less-Important:
- Engine sounds: Lsten at the top and bottom of engine for uneven sounds. Noise at the top of the engine, while not ideal, are less concerning than noise at the bottom of an engine. A rattling timing chain or timing engine codes are a walkaway. A little timing rattle on startup is OK, but not on acceleration.
- Suspension: While test driving, turn the radio off so you can hear everything. Make hard turns, turn and hold steering at max left and right. Using the car's open door, lever the vehicle up and down listening for noise. With a big press, check that the car absorbs the change quickly.
You should be buying something with a timing chain instead of a timing belt. A timing chain with decent oil changes will last 250k miles or more. A timing belt will typically costs $700-1100 at a shop and should be done every 100k miles depending on the exact car; negotiate that into the cost and have it done. Unless you can see the timing belt service on carfax or an old looking mechanics sticker; assume it has not been done regardless of what the seller says. If you know the engine uses a timing chain; you can ask if the belt has been done recently and the seller says yes, you know you are dealing with a liar. This is an easy way to catch car-flippers in less than 30 seconds, which is a walk away.
If you are comfortable visiting wrecking yards or the junkyard; it can be highly benifitial to buy a car that is avaible there. If you don't do that kind of thing, you can also buy a vehicle that was produced and sold in large quantities which typically ensures that parts are commonly available.
Not sure what model matches your prefrences? Try these:
- Asian
- Buick
- Chevrolet
- Ford (2011-2014 Focus, 2006-2012 Fusion, 1998-2012 Crown Victoria, 2006-2010 Explorer, 2005-2009 Mustang)
- Honda (2007-2011 Civic, 2013-2017 Accord, 2006-2011 CRV, 2012-2017 Oddesy)
- Nissan ([2000-2006 Sentra (1.8 or 2.0 4cyl)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nissan_Sentra#Fifth_generation_(B15;_1999), 2002-2006 Altima (3.5 v6), 2000-2003 Maxima (3.5 v6), 1996-2004 Pathfinder (3.5 v6))
- Pontiac/Saturn/OldsMobile *good place to find a discount
- VolksWagon (2008-2012 Golf, 1995-2005 Jetta, 2003-2008 GTI)
- Fuel Economy (1995-2001 Metro, 2004-2009 Prius, 2010-2014 Insight, 1999-2006 Jetta TDI)
- Around $1500