<p>The mechanic said rental cars tend in his experience to be abused by renters and poorly maintained. That said, several relatives have bought over 8 rental cars over the years and several have bought repeatedly from rental car companies so they must feel it was worth it for them. My friend and his mechanic prefer to buy from owner–low mileage, newer cars, generally Toyotas. The mechanic always looks the car over thoroughly before any purchase. </p>
<p>When I graduated from college two years ago, the first place I went to check on a loan for new car purchase was my credit union…they turned me down…wouldn’t even give me a low balance credit card. I went to a new car dealer that offered special auto company financing for new college graduates…it was special alright…9% APR! The dealer’s finance guy ended offering me loan through a bank for 6% which I did after negotiating my new car purchase. I was just beginning my first big job, and after nine months, I refinanced for 1.7% with the original credit union that turned me down. It’s best to check all financing options.</p>
<p>HImom, you mentioned getting musty odor from a/c. I got musty odor from a/c in my new car after driving few months. How I stopped that was not setting my a/c at MAX setting. When a/c is set at MAX, the air circulating in car is closed and no outside air gets in car…crud and mold can build up with condensation in a/c lines and musty odor starts. It is a common problem in hot areas like Florida where people use a/c all year. let outside air circulate in cabin and odor will likely stop…don’t set a/c at MAX that automatically closes air circulation with outside fresh air.</p>
<p>I leased cars for all of my life, and when it comes to leasing, it is less expensive to lease new. A lot of people think leasing is more expensive, but it really isn’t. The way it works is you still negotiate for the price of the car first, then you decide how long you wan to lease it for, based on those 2 pieces of information the dealer would quote you the interest rate and residual value, and monthly payment. If a car’s price is 20000, you could lease it for 24, 36 or 48 months. Lets assume you lease it for 36 months, the residual value maybe 12000. Your monthly payment would be 20000-12000=8000 amortized over 36 months at x% interest rate. After 36 months, you could decide if you want to buy the car at 12,000 or give it back. When you lease, you are financing 8000 rather 20000, so your monthly payment is a lot lower. For some young people with less disposal income, leasing maybe a better way to go. If you don’t like the car, you could give it back after the lease ends.</p>
<p>In the past I’ve compared the buying services of costco, USAA and AAA, but I cant recall which was best. I’ve also used truecar. Anyone remember which is best?</p>
<p>The young people with less disposable income is why we lease, in addition to the fact that we are going to want a bigger and bigger car every 2-3 years for the next few years. My last car was a focus, my new one is an edge, I plan to keep driving edge sized cars until we have 1+ kids and then we might be looking into a van. Too early to say, so I don’t want to buy something now that I might not want in 3 years. When I was growing up my mom always leased and my dad always bought, there were pros and cons to both.</p>
<p>We debated buying a used car for my fiance in January when we bought the edge, we sold his Hyundai that he still owed $500 a month on for another 2 years because we couldn’t afford the payment anymore (and very expensive to insure)-- not to mention that it was extremely impractical, he needed something he could fit a baby carrier in safely. I wanted to buy him a reliable used PLPD type car to drive instead, but I only had 2k cash to spare for this endeavor and after 6 months we still hadn’t found anything and needed to unload the hyundai immediately. I didn’t have the money for a great downpayment, I didn’t want to commit to a payment longterm, nor were we ready to commit to any particular car longterm, and my experience with the “drive it until you can’t” model is that I eventually end up spending a good 5k+ over the last year or two of the cars life thinking, “just one last repair… just one last repair…” and I HATE that and it becomes a huge money sink and stressor, so I like getting a new car every 2 years. I loved the Edge, there were great promotions for it at the time, I have my big ford discount, and with the 2k I was going to put towards the used car I could bring the payment on the edge down to the same level as my heavily discounted 2013 focus for 3 years. Whatever car I was going to buy for 2k would have been lucky to have still been running in 3 years anyway, and now we have two reliable cars, so it doesn’t seem like a bad decision. So in 3 years I can re-assess our needs and financial situation and make a different decision if needed. We knew we would want the Edge for my next car, so I ended up getting the Edge and fiance took my focus to replace his Hyundai. The lease on the focus is up in October, so we can re-assess then if we can afford to keep having a low payment for the foreseeable future or if we need to buy something cheap and used outright-- I think it’s going to be the latter. Right now, we need this kind of flexibility.</p>
<p>I would say if I were single and totally career minded perhaps we wouldn’t have needed this flexibility, but that mindset is what ended us up with a Hyundai that we had to unload before we got any financial benefit out of owning the car. Fiance bought it when he was young and single and then I showed up and ruined everything! 
It sounds like the OP is considering more practical cars anyway, however. A crossover will have a lot more flexibility for you than fiance’s beloved coupe. :P</p>
<p>We have bought both new and used. Buying new definitely is less stressful but more expensive. We pay cash so no financing. We bought several cars through the Costco program and we were happy with the prices. H last car he bought from a dealer out of town with a contact of a friend.
With our used cars we have bought differently each time. My S knew several cars he was interested in. He drove one he liked at the local dealer. They were not flexible on the price and did not want to give much for trade in on the old minivan. I searched dealer inventory at multiple dealers in a two hour radius. Search all makes since used inventory isn’t brand specific. We found the same car he wanted 2 hours away for $3000 less and they gave us more then I thought the van was worth. We found searching dealer inventory online helpful versus just walking in off the street.
Another option is to mention it to your car mechanic. That was how we ended up with younger D car. He had serviced it and knew what had been done on the car.
When our oldest searched she tried Craigslist and as a young female she felt that it wasn’t the smartest way to look. She ended up at a dealer with a salesman recommended by a friend. He had her best interest at heart since they had a mutual friend. She found that to buy a used Honda or Toyota she had to pay more or get an older car. She ended up with a Hyundai sedan. She got a newer less mileage car for less. The engine of that car was great but the exterior did not hold up to the elements.
We use Edmunds to look up reviews and values. You can also find out what prices are in your area.
My friend just purchased a late model used small SUV. She looked at Rav, Honda Crv but bought a Ford Escape. She felt the car was nice and a better value.
And as someone pointed out don’t fall for that question of “how much do you want to spend each month?”
Good luck. It is exciting to get a new car</p>
<p>Emaheevul–That’s all really great advice, thank you! I’ve always been very “practical,” hence the reason I’m looking for a crossover in the first place. When you’re an entry-level Student Affairs professional you tend to move every 3-5 years, so I need something that will hold a lot of stuff. Like I said, I’ll be living on campus for at least the first several years, so I’m not super worried about gas mileage, but it is a consideration. Also, my current car is so large that I think going to a regular sedan would be a struggle for me. And, I don’t really enjoy the feeling of sitting on the street.</p>
<p>Family/children are several years away, seeing as how I’ve never been in a relationship and that’s not really a priority right now–I want to get stable in my career and pay down my student loans a bit before I start thinking about that. (I can barely take care of myself right now–emotionally, physically and financially. I don’t want to worry about someone else.)</p>
<p>mom60–the mechanic is a good idea! Unfortunately I’ll be buying in whatever town I move to next. Mom and dad need some time to get a down payment together, and I need to have a few paychecks to figure out what I can realistically afford. So we’ll see what happens. I’m really liking either Hyundai or Toyota, since I have good friends who are very, very happy with both. Either of those I would be willing to buy new. It really does seem like used isn’t as good of a deal right now.</p>