Whole New World--buying cars with cash....

[coffee]

I've never bought a car with cash. Always financed with a dealer. I wont do that again.

We are giving up both our vehicles in the bk and have to replace both of them with cash. (We need 2 cars, no way around it unfortunately)

Others who have bought cars with cash after bk. What did your cash get you? What kind of car, what mileage? Are you satisfied? What was your expirience? Do you plan on financing in the future or are you sticking with a cash only policy?

[kenshirley]

It's tough for many to come up with enough cash to get something reliable.
Many go through car lots that do their own financing. They spend a little more for the car but get something with lower mileage.
There is a dealer not to far from here I talked to that went through a BK himself as a new car dealership a few years ago. Now he has a used car lot and carries his own contracts.
We talked to him before we decided to file and made our decision about ours. He says most of his customers have recently filed BK.
We kept what we had as the payment was low as was the mileage.

[HHM]

It really depends on how much cash you are talking about.

In any event, review this post about how to approach a cash purchase.

http://www.bkforum.com/showthread.php?t=22332

However, even with a BK, you can get financed.

[LSUTiger32]

That is the goal for us. I bought a used car for $2500 and it's been wonderful. I have a plan to begin putting away $100 a week into a car replacement fund. That way at the end of a year I can take $5200 and my $2500 car and upgrade to something around $7500. Do that one more time and take my $5200 and my $7500 car and probably get something new after two years. It can be done.

[coffee]

We are looking at around $2500/vehicle also. I'm just curious what other peoples money bought them. What I may be looking at for my price point and how people went about it.

I'm not worried about being financed. I dont want to go that route again.

HHM-thanks for the link, it was very informative!
LSU-what kind of car and was it high miles? Have you had to put work into it so far?

[Jefferson24]

I have found that if you buy from an individual your tax burden is much less in Illinois, it may be the same in other states too. In Illinois the dealerships will charge you the regular sales tax rate. If you register a vehicle you purchased privately you have to pay the tax then. The tax I paid for my van was $80 (private party), the jeep I financed at the dealership which I bought for less than my van, I paid around $450 in tax.

I will always buy private party from now on.

[downsized]

Go check out the used car list at craigslist. It'll show you what's selling for what amount cash.

[hurtininaz]

I bought two cars in cash off craigslist - a 1990 4runner for 3500 and 2001 Tacoma for 7500. I am happy with the purchases but both required work upwards of $1500. Have a mechanic take a look at the vehicle before you purchase - no matter how nice it looks! The same vehicles would have cost me the same price as the purchase from a dealer. I am in AZ no tax paid on private party sales, registration was unreal cheap for the older vehicles.

[LSUTiger32]

I got a 2000 Taurus with 91,000 miles. I put about $300 into it just doing some minor things like changing the oil, front end alignment, new tire (one was bad), etc. It's up to 104,000 miles now and it's been reliable to this point. Just search around and don't bite on the first thing you see. There are good cars out there for decent prices.

[coffee]

Best car I ever owned was a Ford Taurus!

[Sazabelle]

I went from a leased 2003 Dodge Ram Quad Cab to a $3000 1998 Chevy Lumina. Talk about going from one extreme to the other. I bought it from a guy who was selling it for his mother. Boy oh boy was I excited to get rid of that $400/mo. car payment!!! Never, ever again will I buy or finance a brand new car.