Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Whats the price point to buy a decent used car?

We have a daughter turning sixteen shortly and I am starting to look for a car for her. Safety and reliability and inexpensive upkeep are key considerations.

Hard to do for less than 3K. 5 is better.

I went out looking for something $4k-6k. People on Craigslist were unreliable to show/allow for a look, so no luck there. The used inventory on new car lots seemed to start at 10k, so ultimately found one on a used car lot for $6,900. A bit more than I had hoped for, but I was ready to get it over with. 2002 RAV4 with some cosmetic blemishes, but checked out as sound at the independent mechanic.

I think there's still a residual effect from the inventory lost during cash for clunkers. I'm personally driving an '05 Titan with 173k on it and hope to make 250k+ before replacing.

My wife and I drive nothing but beaters. I don't want to make payments. Downside to this is you have to know when to cut your losses and get rid of them, and realize that they will have little if any resale value by that time. Just to give you an idea, our latest purchase was a 97 Plymouth Voyager with 147K miles on it. We paid $1,150.00 for it. Good tires, and everything works except the cruise and the air conditioning. We don't expect these beaters to be perfect. My goal is to drive them for $100.00 per month counting what we pay for them and what we put into them maintenance-wise over the course of ownership. We've only gotten burned once-bought a liittle Mercury Lynx off a lot just to have it blow a head gasket a month later. Our last one was a Grand Caravan that we drove for 7 years and put well over 100K miles on it-drove it to the junkyard and got $200.00 for it. 'Beats having to pay to have it towed in. We always look for stuff under $2,000,00 with some rust on it. 2K beaters are really getting tough to find with any life left in them though.

We just went thru the same problem. The wife said 3 grand. So we both looked hard at graigslist and dealer sites. We found that 3 grand would not get much let alone 4. The used car market is great if your selling, kind of like guns.... I think the market is a direct reflection of the economy, people are holding onto what they got.
Anyway we bought a 2000 impala, one owner, 132,000 miles from a dealer. We got lucky. It came in on a Friday night and we got it Saturday afternoon. 4800 out the door.
The impala is a nice solid car that seats 5. We like the idea of a bigger car for the two young drivers that are in training.

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The damage that government does typically lasts for a while. Government intervention seems to most often hurt people who are responsible and careful with their finances, like people who are looking for reliable and affordable used vehicles.

I'm still upset with the damage the government-promoted housing bubble caused, observing how this recession that resulted from that government meddling has hurt so many people.

Last car I bought was for $600, my daughter did well last month with $6000.00, but she did not get 10 times as much car.

As much as the traffic will bear!

Remember Obama's cash for clunkers? It destroyed a big chunk of used vehicles, driving up the prices for the ones that remain.

I just put 30,000 miles on a 1990 GMC half ton I bought for $1,000. Just got an offer for it for the same money. All it took was a new radiator, and LOTS of fuel.

Have an eye on a 1996 Tacoma with 167,000 miles on it right now. Took the last one to 330,000 without any expenses to speak of. Waiting for the guy to accept $3 K. If I can drive 150,000 miles for $3K, I'll be happy.....

I would say if you get lucky $5-6,000