Buying a used car

probably going to buy a new used car in the next few months - our 95 corolla still runs pretty well but i'm constantly paranoid it's going to break down. this is one of this situations where i feel like an idiot because i don't know anything about cars. so i'm trying to learn.

right now my question is where we should be looking. since i don't have any knowledge, i'm worried about getting ripped off, and i'm not super-comfortable haggling, though if i know it's part of the process i will do it. my only real experience buying a used car was at carmax, where you do not haggle. not haggling is appealing to me, and i have the impression that carmax is reliable in that they will not sell lemons. is this an accurate impression? do the prices at carmax balance out despite the lack of haggling or do they end up being pricier? also it seems like authorized dealers are pretty reliable re: quality of the cars (ie they won't try to scam you) - is that true?

seems weird we don't already have a thread about this

Don't you need to get it checked officially? You can't sell your car secondhand unless you have it checked out. Even stricter than the yearly check-ups. If it's needed (in your country), maybe you could have it checked anyway? (Trying to bump the thread with this stupid post.)

If it's NOT needed... and so on and so on. Migraines, hate 'em

I've found this site useful for advice, reviews, and pricing:

Edmonds

i had no luck with dealers. they bait-and-switched me on what they had in stock (via internet listings and over the phone), tried to upsell me to crappy new cars, basically everything you hear about used car dealers is true.

then i hit up craigslist, emailed with a bunch of morons and shutins and scammers and eventually found one dude who was as tired of and disgusted with the whole practice as i was at that point. then i bought his car. no problems so far. i think as long as you are assertive and do your research and are careful craigslist is a totally viable way to go.

i found a used civic for a decent price in college just by spending a few weeks on craigslist. i brought a buddy who knows a little bit about cars, and the people whom i bought the car from had no problem providing me w/ a bunch of paperwork documenting how and when itd been serviced, plus i did the carfax thing. i guess i still coulda gotten burned but tbh it seemed pretty low-risk, i mean i knew these ppls address and stuff, seemed clear they werent trying to have one over on me

For a slight premium you can get a program car ('certified used' etc.) that comes with a warranty from the manufacturer.

Yeah, that's what my girlfriend and I did with our car. Went that route just in May.

Certified Used is generally a solid bet. Carmax, as well, is a good option.

Carfax reports are only as good as the shops the previous owner went to. If the previous owner regularly went to the dealer for service, you'll see that. If they didn't, you don't know how little or how much that car has been serviced. It's basically good for finding out where the car's been located and whether or not it's been wrecked.

Anyone used Beepi to buy or sell a car? Only available in a few states in the US so far I think, but we just used them to sell a car and the whole experience has been fantastic. They send someone out to inspect, drive, and photograph the car, give you a guaranteed price, and if you agree to it they have 30 days to sell the car on their website or they'll buy it from you at the guaranteed price. As a seller you avoid having to deal with tire kickers, lowballers, test drives, and haggling, plus get a very fair price (at least in our experience -- several thousand over KBB dealer trade-in value, and just a little under KBB private sale value). As a buyer you get a pretty comprehensive report on the car and a 10 day full refund policy if you're not happy with it for any reason (car returned to Beepi, not the seller). They've been super helpful throughout the whole process. Supposed to be picking up the car tonight; assuming that goes well I give them two thumbs up.

Sounds nice. I wonder their cut is from the seller.

We were the sellers . . . In our case they advertised and sold the car for about 12% more than they paid us. Don't know if that's a typical markup for them or not. They're sending a flatbed tonight to pick up the car and do a full service and detailing before delivering to the buyer.

based on conversations w/ people it seems like buying a certified pre-owned is the way to go? i like the idea of having a new car, just seems expensive, certified pre-owned seems like a better deal and might help me avoid unforeseen circumstances and a feeling of getting ripped off that i might get w/ a regular used car

ha I forgot I started this thread. we are looking to replace the car we bought back when I started it!

how concerned should I be if a car’s history report shows that the owner took it in for various servicings and inspections (battery, engine, brakes, etc) four times within two months when the car was a year old and had less than 15,000 miles? no accidents or issues disclosed in the report

if it was a new car, sometimes there are break-in services that need to happen, I wouldn't trip on it too much... what kind of car?

Hybrid CR-V

IDK, I think an owner who brought it in for a bunch of (possibly unnecessary) services and inspections is a selling point... that sounds like an old lady car

battery probably means the ev battery and not the 12v. brakes shouldn’t need to be checked within the first 15,000 miles or year especially if the car has regen braking which i think the cr-v has - unless there was an issue.

does it come with a manufacturer warranty?

i’d prob get a pre purchase inspection and give the mechanic the carfax you have but if it was an issue with the engine may be hard to figure out during a ppi

to andy’s point if it was brought in as part of a dealership 10-point 10,000 mile inspection or w/e probably fine but if it was brought in specificially to address a battery or engine or brake issue that’d be a red flag for sure

yes, agree

hmm I’ll probably hold out for one with a more definitely clean record. we’re not in a rush and there seem to be a lot of the hybrid CRVs around. thanks all

battery probably means the ev battery and not the 12v. brakes shouldn’t need to be checked within the first 15,000 miles or year especially if the car has regen braking which i think the cr-v has - unless there was an issue.

The 12v battery in the original Hyundai Ioniq EV was an atrocious piece of shit. Yes EVs still have to have one and nothing works when they go. The founder of the company that made the chargers for the charging network I built. During a couple of days software testing at the factory this Ioniq was lent to us and if we let itself switch off then we’d have to go and get a petroleum car to jump start it so it would turn on and w recoils charge the traction battery.

I think there was a recall on it - and it seems that a lot of cars around that time went from lead acid to lithium ion 12v batteries to save weight and space and some of the early ones were not good.

my 12v battery on the PHEV can drain quite quickly under certain circumstances/behaviours and throw up errors on a log during service but they are "point in time" and during the actual service its showing up as perfectly healthy