Grim news for buying a car post BK

[imaloser]

oh - i should have clarified - less than 10 years old - so....the mr2 and truck don't count because it's not an accord/honda/civic/corolla - however, the only one left is that 2000 corolla ve which would be a very good buy ! ! !

all other cars you listed are well over 10 years old.

[debtmonster]

I bought a brand new Honda Civic years back. I put 44,000 miles on it in 1-1/2 years. I went to trade it in because I was going through a divorce and the car was in both of our names and the dealer only wanted to give us $4,000 for it as a trade. We paid $13,500 for it brand new. The car was in MINT, showroom condition without a single dent or scratch. We kept damn good care of it and waxed it regularly. Just because the cars are for sale at certain price doesn't mean they are worth it.

You can go to the auction and buy the cars cheap.

This car is one of those good deals...
2005 Honda Civic EX 40,000 miles - $6,990

The trade-in value is $10,125. That's only a couple thousand more than the $5,000 target. Most people pay a lot more than $7 grand for a decent car. I bet you this car would sell for $12,000 or more on many dealer lots.

It's always nice to be able to buy cars for thousands less than you'd get if you traded it in at a dealer.

You have to look hard to find deals like this. For $7,000, you could have a super nice, reliable car. I'd rather have a 2006 since that's when they changed styles. But at least the 2005 is the last year of that style, so it should have the least amount of problems.

You need to buy from private people most of the time. Sometimes you can get a good deal from a dealer if they bought the car cheap from a repo auction.

[imaloser]

yeah - that's an excellent deal. and i agree to stay away from dealers - you're better off selling your car outright - you could have gotten a few thousand more for it. which is what i do. sell my car and then use the cash from that and whatever else i have saved and buy another one - cash.

[debtmonster]

yeah - that's an excellent deal. and i agree to stay away from dealers - you're better off selling your car outright - you could have gotten a few thousand more for it. which is what i do. sell my car and then use the cash from that and whatever else i have saved and buy another one - cash.

The problem was that we owed like $10,000+ on it. We had to trade it on another car just in her name when we got divorced.

I would love to have another Honda Civic again. We need another SUV. We have dogs that we carry in a dog cage and need the space to carry the cage wen we travel. The cage won't fit in the back seat of a sedan. That's why we were looking at a Honda Pilot or CR-V. But either one of those are like close to $10,000.

Or something like this 2004 CR-V with 60,000 miles for $8,500. How much would something like that sell for on a dealer's lot? Wasn't that thing close to $23,000 when it was brand new in 2004?

[StartingOver08]

yeah - that's an excellent deal. and i agree to stay away from dealers - you're better off selling your car outright - you could have gotten a few thousand more for it. which is what i do. sell my car and then use the cash from that and whatever else i have saved and buy another one - cash.

Imaloser has it exactly right - this is the key to sound purchasing. Most of us got here because we strayed away from what we know to be the right thing. We would not have upside down vehicles to deal with at all if we stopped financing them!

[debtmonster]

Imaloser has it exactly right - this is the key to sound purchasing. Most of us got here because we strayed away from what we know to be the right thing. We would not have upside down vehicles to deal with at all if we stopped financing them!

I wouldn't finance neither if I could find a way to get free transportation for at least 6 to 12 months. That would give me time to save up cash money. Problem is, every job I've had was always a long commute from where I lived and I needed a reliable car at that very moment. I had no choice but to finance. Going through this foreclosure will hopefully help out if I can stay here for at least 1 year rent-free. Instead of paying $1200/mo. to live here, now I can stockpile cash to put towards a vehicle without financing. This will be our only break.

[banca rotta]

so you would rather take the thousands of $$$$ in depreciation hit as you drive it off the lots???? try reading HHMs sticky about buy NEW cars.

[debtmonster]

It just sucks that cars can't run perfect. People often destroy them. They hit curbs, crash them into things, don't do the proper oil changes or use synthetic oil... That's why I hate used cars. Every single used car I've ever had in my life has had nothing but problems... even ones that were 1 or 2 years old. The only car I bought new that was a major headache was a Saturn Hybrid that had tons of electrical problems. I gave it back as a repo and now they want $8,000. That's gonna be part of my bankruptcy.

[ready2puke]

Checked on that car, it seemed to good to be true since i have a 2001 CRV

The problem was that we owed like $10,000+ on it. We had to trade it on another car just in her name when we got divorced.

I would love to have another Honda Civic again. We need another SUV. We have dogs that we carry in a dog cage and need the space to carry the cage wen we travel. The cage won't fit in the back seat of a sedan. That's why we were looking at a Honda Pilot or CR-V. But either one of those are like close to $10,000.

Or something like this 2004 CR-V with 60,000 miles for $8,500. How much would something like that sell for on a dealer's lot? Wasn't that thing close to $23,000 when it was brand new in 2004?

That I'm trying to keep.. Looks like has a salvage tittle...I heard (dont know why) stay away from those. Maybe thats why is soooo cheap

[debtmonster]

That I'm trying to keep.. Looks like has a salvage tittle...I heard (dont know why) stay away from those. Maybe thats why is soooo cheap

Oops! Sorry, didn't see that. Sorry for posting that. NEVER, EVER buy a car with a salvage title unless you saw what the car looked like before the accident.

That one was a salvage, but there's a lot of others out there that don't have a salvage title.

[nomoneytree]

debtmonster here is an idea... I am a military spouse. You are within a decent driving distance of many military bases (JAX, McDill, just to name a few) and when we military folks are getting deployed either to the Middle East or on overseas orders, we have to get rid of our vehicles dirt cheap! We have a very strict timeline, if we haven't gotten rid of it before we leave, we have to store it and then figure out how to sell it from abroad, which is a pain. Check around for deals from military members needing to get rid of their car quickly, they will work with you on negotiating the price,especially if it is paid off because it must go. I would hit craigslist in the Jax and Tampa area and see what you can find.

[debtmonster]

debtmonster here is an idea... I am a military spouse. You are within a decent driving distance of many military bases (JAX, McDill, just to name a few) and when we military folks are getting deployed either to the Middle East or on overseas orders, we have to get rid of our vehicles dirt cheap! We have a very strict timeline, if we haven't gotten rid of it before we leave, we have to store it and then figure out how to sell it from abroad, which is a pain. Check around for deals from military members needing to get rid of their car quickly, they will work with you on negotiating the price,especially if it is paid off because it must go. I would hit craigslist in the Jax and Tampa area and see what you can find.

That's a great idea... but this is not gonna happen for at least a year before I can save up that kind of cash for a car. With saving just a few hundred per month after the BK, it would take a good year at least to come up with a good $5,000 cash.