Now that D19 is on the verge of finally getting her license we will need to purchase a 3rd car. She has an internship this year so will need the car to leave school and get to her internship. Current thinking is she will use it through next summer when she leaves for college. Not taking to school with her. Her brother will get his permit next summer so this will then become his car.
We don’t want to spend a ton of money on the car as we realize it will likely take a beating from two teenagers. We also want something that has all of the safety feature and good crash ratings. We looked on-line last night at the local Car Max and they only had 6 cars under $10k and most of them were Smart cars (not ideal).
Curious to hear how others have handled this situation.
Depending on the size of car you are considering consider a 3-5 year old Nissan Sentra or Hyundai Elantra. I would think you could find either of those for under $10k. The hyundai should have a 5 year 100k mile warranty on it so you may find one still in warranty. They are compact cars with full airbags that will get nearly 30 miles to the gallon on average. They are in the same class as the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic but usually a couple of thousand dollars cheaper.
I was very disappointed with the offerings in the under 10k category, but I wanted something that would get them through driving 5 hours to college. Look for a high mile 2008-12 Honda, Toyota, Acura, etc if you just need dependable local transportation.
I would look at the car dealers used cars rather than carmax. Nissan Juke, toyota corolla, honda civic come to mind. I would also take a look at volkswagon. I would also consider upping the dollar amount and looking at cpos if you can.
I was going to post the same thing. Anything Toyota, Honda Lexus, per my mechanic. Also it seems all the young kids in my area drive anything VW like the Passat, Jetta,Golf and beetle. All these cars will go to very high mileage. I am looking at like 80,000 - 110,000 miles since the car will go to 250,000. With good care, timely oil changes etc.
Ie :my mechanic bought someone’s VW Passat wagon. It has 110,000. He just put in a timing chain, new tires and brakes , complete tune up etc for $4800.00. It looks almost brand new. Of course my wife /daughter don’t like it since it’s longer due to being a wagon. I also see a lot of mini cooper’s but they tend to retain their value and are pricey used.
As I look if I see anything will let you know. FYI do a carfax or like check with all cars. Many come back with car crashes/accidents I just avoid those unless like my mechanic has been working on the car for years. Also a lot of cars have water damage but should be disclosed. Ask questions if you see cloudy fog /headlights. Musty smelling carpet, rust under the car etc. Multiple owners don’t bother me but like to keep it at 2 if possible.
We have our kids our used cars, and bought new cars for the parents.
But when we did finally help them buy cars, we got just off lease Camry for both. $14,500 out the door. Less than 3 years old. Low mileage. We went to place called Carite. Maybe there is one near you.
We were going to get a used car for our daughter a few years ago but it ended up being cheaper to lease a new VW Jetta. We did it at the end of the year and at the time, the lease was less than what we were paying monthly for her cell phone. We are buying out the car now that the lease is coming to an end.
There are financing options for new cars that require little to no down payment & reasonable monthly payments. Can easily stay under $10,000 for the first 24 to 30 months.
Lease a new car for 3 years or buy a new car with zero down & 0% financing for peace of mind regarding safety & repairs/condition. Plus it will help to build up the student’s credit rating.
In our city it’s not cheaper to lease usually high taxes. Prius batteries are expensive to buy… Sometimes you can negotiate for a new one for a little more money depending on the miles of the car FYI. But she will be out of state. Hmmmm. Maybe we can lease there. Not sure what the rules are for taxing us? Is it our home address?
My spouse is a mechanic (specialty is large commercial trucks). Pretty much the only vehicles he will work on for us are Hondas and Toyotas. Our budget was pretty low, but after a month-long search we found D20 a 2004 Honda Civic with 60K miles on Craigslist for $3500. The interior looks great and it drives like new, but exterior has a few very small dings and scratches; we figure that’s perfect for a new driver who is going to inevitably put a few small dings in the car anyway. H thinks that the Civic will drive for at least 200K after he puts on a new timing belt this fall. .
Talk to your insurance company before you purchase an additional car. You want to know how it will affect your rates. Some insurer rates are really outrageous with a young driver. Also, big dealerships in a very competitive area of many dealers tend to have better deals from my experience. Also, they tend to wholesale out the trade in cars with potential problems and not offer them for sale as they need to keep their customer satisfaction high. They want you as a repeat customer. Also look for cars that are contrarian to the market.
If the Prius hybrid battery fails, which there’s about a 33% chance of failing somewhere between 150,000-250,000 miles, the dealer cost to replace is around $4,000. I still wouldn’t hesitate to buy one. Fantastic cars, inexpensive maintenance and reliable.
In fact, I’d use the potential battery replacement as a negotiating tactic. Or look for a used Prius that has already had a battery replacement.