Was the teenager yours or someone else's? If not yours, what size check are you getting? Carfax is a good source for checking easy stuff. You don't have to know a mechanic to take in your car; most mechanics will check out a car for you for a nominal fee.
Type of car? Hondas, Toyotas, are good bets. If you want to go American, check out Cadillacs and Chryslers. The luxury models usually are better engineered. The old adage of not buying a used car off the lot of a competitor company still holds some weight, but, then again, some GM dealers may want a Ford off their lot. The oldest cars I see still on the road are Jeeps. They seem to last and last.I have an 18 year old one that is still in tip top shape.
Luckily my kids can’t drive because they are too young. The mom works at an ortho clinic and instantly recognized my last name and had a heart attack because she thought I would be driving something nicer than a Honda Accord. The poor girl was crying, but luckily neither one of us was hurt.
I am definitely not a car guy so the premium cars are out for me. I’ve had 2 Accords since 2003 and absolutely love them, but the past few winters my wife has gotten the minivan stuck in the snow so we’d like to get a smaller SUV. I really like the CRV because of the gas mileage and size. The stupid thing s just retain too much value and what we are looking to spend would be roughly the same age as the Accord that got wrecked. The Suburu dealers have some that are just a hair over what we want to spend, but would be 2019 models which I could drive for a long time or hand off to my daughter in 6 years. I used to practice medicine in Toledo and have some lovely stories about Jeep workers.
And yeah I've had some experience on that front. Do your homework on what car you want and what a fair price for it is. When you go in, know what you want and exactly how much you're willing to pay for it.
Basically my approach is let the dealer know I'm ready to write a check for $XXXX amount (not $XXXX amount and then they add the taxes and fees on top of it...I'm writing a check for $XXXX amount). If they want to turn down your money, that's on them. Sooner or later as long as your offer is fair and you've made it clear you're ready to cut them a check, someone will take you on your offer since it's been my experience that car dealers like acquiring money.
And to second CurtOne (can't believe I'm doing this), I'm pretty partial to Toyota's myself. I've driven Toyota 4Runner's for the last nine years, and I'll probably be driving them for the foreseeable future. Super reliable, never had a major problem with either that I've owned, and the one that got totaled when I got t-boned held up great.
Nebraska is weird. So you buy the car from the dealer and then go to the DMV to pay the licensing and sales taxes. So I can only negotiate the price.
I’d consider a Toyota, but the RAV4 has horrible gas mileage and the bigger SUV’s would give me a panic attack.
I kinda like the look of the Suburu’s and they get me close to the gas mileage of an Accord V4. I think I’m going in that direction. We have a neighbor that works at the dealership and my wife reached out to his wife so know he knows I’m coming. It is going to be awkward if this doesn’t work out, because I really like Accords and my wife still thinks I’ll buy one.
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