Mainly looking at people who's had their used car for a little and it's been pretty fair. Maybe it needed tires or breaks but no major issues like engine or transmission issues that put it out of commission shortly after purchase.

Would Love to know the car you got, the price you paid roughly and rough idea of miles at purchase

One of the more reputable used car dealerships nearby doesn’t sell any used vehicles for under $5k. Is it safe to say that that’s the lowest one should pay when buying a used car or truck outright? Whether it’s a dealership or fb marketplace.

In other words, where is the line drawn between good quality used vehicles & junk / beater cars? (With some regard to regional pricing differences, etc.)

I bought a 2008 corolla maybe 7 years ago for 2k and its been great. I've been very lucky with my car as I've beat it up for years. It's almost 280k miles now, still runs good, but the entire bottom of the car is rusted and the exhaust system is now gone. It's very unpleasant to drive with how loud it is. I don't think another $1200+ is a good idea for an exhaust.

I'm very cheap/frugal I hate spending money. I could buy a new car in cash but I hate the idea. I'm looking at a Honda Accord 2009 at 200k miles for $3500, which to me it sounds somewhat high.

My strategy is buy something used from Honda or Toyota, and drive it till it's dead, which might not be as good as maintaining a nicer car around 100k mark.

Since I'm very cheap what is a good budget system for a used car? How many miles do you shop in?

I will start off by saying that the only aspect of a car that matters to me is the financial aspect of the car. I care about how long the car will last me and how expensive the maintenance will be. What is the idea budget for somebody looking to buy a car for just purely commuting purposes. Where does the price increase stop tapering off in terms of practicality? Is ten thousand dollars a rough estimate? 5000$? Could I get something even cheaper? Should I be willing to put even more money? I am sort of asking this from the angle of like taking the amount of years the car will run divided by the price of the car and than of course factoring in how much will be spent on maintenance.

Maybe price is a bad way of thinking about it and I should think from the perspective of miles. If so at what mileage is the best value mileage to buy a car at?

Looking at getting myself a new (to me) car. Given I only drive ~5000miles a year or less, I wanted to get an older used car but the market just sucks still.

For example a 2020 Corolla with 50000 miles is 21K OTD where I live, while I could get a brand new 2024 Corolla for 26K OTD (MSRP). I could get a car with closer to 100K miles (which doesn't matter too much to me as long as it runs well) for probably ~10K. Is this worth it? I've never owned such a high mileage vehicle which makes me nervous for maintenance and general safety a bit, especially as I just lost my current car in a total loss accident.

I don't particularly anticipate owning this car for years and years. At least 1-2 years, potentially more. (Uncertain on my situation if I will need to move away and sell the car).

APR is lower on new vehicles but I don't mind paying huge down payment or fully in cash if need be. Its less about the monetary cost but more about the value proposition for me. I can afford the new vehicle just fine but don't necessarily need/want it. I personally would be happy enough with an older reliable car if it runs no problems. But if it's only a few thousand in savings (or even if it's $10000 in savings, if resale holds up it doesn't seem like a worse value to go new?).

New cars I'm most interested in is the Honda HRV (would be the Civic Hatch but that's actually more expensive), or the Subaru Impreza base trims. Either of those is roughly 26/27K OTD paying MSRP.

I've seen a 7-10year old Honda Fits with 50-80K miles selling for $15K.. as a low mileage driver I'm wondering if considering a new car is just dumb, or actually ironically the best value for my money?

Never bought a car on my own and from the prices I’m seeing in my area I’m considering going with a new car. I’m seeing used cars with 40k miles on them that are 80-90% as expensive as what dealers are advertising for new ones. I’m a newbie so I’m wondering if dealers will really tack on fees/try to screw me to a degree that would make it worth buying used instead. I’m looking for a mid-sized sedan daily driver that I can use for a really long time, probably until it gives out.

I need a car because I am starting a new job in another state (I had the same car for 14 years, until I was in an accident, and was surviving using ride share for the last 2 years). I’m having a difficult time finding a reasonable price for a car. I’m open to buying a car with high mileage but want to ensure it will last for 10 years (looking at Honda, Toyota, and Subaru primarily). Every car I find ranging between 70-100k miles, but the prices are wild. This is my first time trying to purchase a car on my own, so I could use some advice on how to find the best deal.

I am seeing minimum car prices above 11,000 on carmax and other dealers. I know people who have bought car in 4000 and it works good for them. I am first time buyer and know nothing about cars. What should I do, where should I look. Please help!!!

I am currently in the market for a small, low mileage used car. I do not intend finance, I will use part of my savings. I am 27 year old have about $42k in savings and made $43k after taxes last year. What is a reasonable budget for a car?

Here's my initial theory, which I fully admit could be very wrong and missing something super obvious: new cars clearly have a larger price tag, but if we assume that you run them into the ground as you would an old car (theoretically, for the purpose of this experiment), the new car would last longer because it has more of its life ahead of it; therefore, you would need to replace old cars more often, which results in more "cycles" of purchasing a car and therefore the initial price tag is misleading as to the total cost.

Simplified: if a given car lasts 10 years, then you'd need to buy a new version every 10 years. If you buy a used version that's already 5 years old, you'd need to replace it every 5 years, which means that, over a life span, you might be spending less on the price tag, but you're buying more vehicles.

I ran a simple test and found that buying a used car for $7,000 cheaper, that already has 40k~ miles on it, would require an additional 0.69 cycles. This is enough to make the cost of the vehicles essentially the same long-term (over 40 years), except obviously in one scenario you have the benefit of a new car along the way.

So...what am I missing here, or is the benefit of buying used primarily just that you have a lower monthly payment, even if it's not as beneficial long-term?

Hi, everyone! :)

My husband and I have moved to Los Angeles area recently. We'd like to buy a used car but we're pretty limited on a budget. $10k is definitely a cap for us but even that is still a big amount. So I would like to know the proper price range of used cars in Greater Los Angeles (Orange County). How low can we go still being able to, you know, actually use the car? Or do we maybe have other options given the low budget?

I can't find much that seems justifiable for the price you're paying . Used prices for any models of basic cars I'm looking at vs their new counterparts I'm only spending marginally less to get a substantially more aged/driven car. Full coverage insurance isn't a crazy difference, and the peace of mind of a warranty, being the original owner, and knowing you're getting something brand new instead of something already a couple years old. If I'm spending 10-15k to get a used vehicle in good condition, it's still usually halfway through its life in age/miles. Before COVID I was used to under 5k could get you a very nice dependable daily, and now not only did prices go up, people couldn't afford to pay repairs as much, as a result the used cars we get have that much more little things wrong with them. Especially if I plan to purchase outright and avoid financing or are able to get low interest, it seems like a new car is the smartest choice if you need a car

With the current used car market, I’m finding it hard to tell whether I’m getting a good deal. Previously, I feel like mileage and age were taken into more account for pricing. Now, there are 3-5 year old cars with 60-80k miles basically selling for their original MSRP.

For example with hypothetical Camrys:

2023 Camry SE with 2 owners, 1 accident and 46,000 miles = $23,400

2019 Camry LE, well maintained with 81,000 miles = $19,998

2015 Camry LE with 120k miles, 1 owner = $17,340

And all of these compared with a brand new LE for $28,000 OTD

What’s your approach? Does this just mean that these used cars are holding their value? Or am I getting jipped?

I currently have about 4000 saved up for a car. I still live with my parents and I need this car to get to work and move out. But I'm wondering, is it worth it to spend 4k on a used car rather than 1-2k? It seems like a bit of a gamble considering how many things could go wrong on both cars and how much it would suck to drop an extra 3k to have it just break down on me. Is there a sweet spot for price or should I just spend what I have on as nice a car as I can get? Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Hello, friends! I know this is a far from ideal time to buy a used car, but I've found myself in a situation where I will probably need one in the next few months (in short, moving somewhere where public transit alone would make life difficult). Because I've been living outside the US, I've never had to deal with buying a car, so I have a lot of questions. How old is too old? How many miles are too many miles? Are there fancy safety features that more expensive cars have that are worth it?

I'm not a car person at all-- I actively dislike driving, and would try to use public transit as much as possible even if I did own a car. I don't want to spend a lot, but I also have enough savings to buy something decent, and I don't want to get something so cheap that maintenance costs and stress (and safety issues?) will cancel out the savings. What's the sweet spot here, in your experience?

What the actual hell is wrong with the market right now? Been saving up for a while and I thought 9k would be a solid number to get a good car, but these car prices are killing me. Facebook Marketplace is flooded with sketchy cars and people. People asking for ridiculous amounts for really old, high mileage, salvage title cars. Dealers asking for an arm and a leg for cars that are damn near 10 years old or older. I keep hearing the ol "It's a Honda/Toyota, at 100k you're just breaking in the engine" as an excuse for selling these crappy high mileage cars for ridiculous prices. Some of them have terrible history or maintenance records and people still expect new car prices for ancient relics. Am I going crazy? Where and how can I find reliable and reasonably priced vehicles for sale? Any advice would be appreciated. I'm thinking of saving 12k MAX for a accord coupe from years 12-15. Is that at all possible?

I’ve been looking at what you guys say is too expensive. I can tell that some of us are still thinking of pre Covid prices and pre hyper inflation prices. This is the deal.

The average new car is about $50k. That means many buyers have switched to buying used cars. Sellers know this. This means the used cars are expensive also. $5000 hardly buys you anything, hell $10000 gets an ok car.

If you have to get something cheap then expect repairs. Labor repair hours are high. Between the technician time there are so many insurances, utilities, rent, all those things that regular people need to survive that we think is expensive and business have those same expenses plus more.

Trying to save money? Get the car checked before you buy and get on YouTube and learn a thing or two on how to fix your car.

You can’t be “poor” and unskilled. Those two things will keep you broke. Cars don’t run on magic. Some things can be intimidating but others you can do. Learn how to help yourself a little and that $5000 could be a gem.

I've been passively looking at cars for the last few months, I have a '12 Jeep Liberty with 193k miles and 375 miles per week commute, so I'm a bit worried its going to die on me soon. Anyway whenever I look at cars on sites like AutoTrader, a new 2025 Subaru Impreza is like, 25k. Then a 2020 with 73k miles is 23k. Same with any other make/model I look at, Mazda 3, Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic etc. Each one is down maybe 3k-5k in five to eight years. Isn't the idea that you should used since it loses so much value within a year or two? Something seems off when the "it lost value" is at a 2014 with 130k miles on it for 14k.

HOW to find a good deal on used cars? When I say used here I mean what I believe most americans think of thinking used like 7-15 years old. Not 3 or 5 which are only technically used. I'm looking for 10-13 years old, just cause I want a vehicle where replacement parts are still available for it.

• I've tried craigslist, auto trader, carguru, autotempest, facebook marketplace.

• I've tried going on google maps and just typing "auto dealer" "auto sales" and such. All you get are big name and overpriced dealers. It doesn't show smaller more local auto dealers unless you already know and type their business name like "A&G Auto" or "Value Auto". And if you just type in "auto" wayyy too much information comes up. From auto parts stores like autozone, advanceauto, oreilly to collision repair shops, to the big name overpriced dealers, to window tint shops, to body shops, to auto tool shops like harbor freight.

• It's not really a practical option to just start driving around all the neighboring towns, and hoping you picked the right obscure not-a-main road that a local dealer happens-to-be on.

Any individual "private parties" with good deals are either too old or too internet illiterate to list their cars on any of the online places. But even facebook marketplace, its just a bunch of scammy dealers disguising theirselves as people. Same for those other online places. And big name dealers don't carry cars older than like 2016.

And whats with prices? 2019 I got a 15yo car with 110,000miles for 1300$. And a big name dealer ship was selling a 2008 car, 11 years old for 3000$. I know inflation has been hard but for a car of the status I got in 2019 now they want 7000$??? Absolutely no way in hell I'm paying those prices.

# So back to my original question. HOW do you find a good deal?
What's the process? Where do you look?