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Handyman

Used Car Buying

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Hi Car Guys - 

So my nephew from the totaled car thread is looking to buy a used "certified" CR-V from a Honda dealer. He's looking at lease turn-ins that have around 30,000 miles on them. I've only bought used cars from civilians, never from a dealer. Anything he should look out for? I know they sometimes have some ridiculous tack on fees for things. 

Online, it looks like a CR-V with that mileage is priced by the dealers around $17000. What's a good offer to pitch with? If the car was being traded into a dealer, most of the online info says you could expect $13,800 - 14,200 range. How much profit is a dealer looking to make on a used vehicle?

 

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Just FYI, some dealers (in my experience, the bigger “highway dealers”) advertise a car as “Certified Pre Owned” and then try to tack on $1,500-$2,000 to the sticker price to deem it “certified,” saying that that’s an add-on item. The car isn’t certified as is while sitting on the lot. Pure garbage. 

I bought my car new, but I mentioned to the sales guy that my sister was having a hard time finding a CPO car for this reason. He just shook his head and laughed. Pointed to the lot and said, “There’s one right there. Whatever the price on the window is, that’s the price, plain and simple.” 

She bought that car later that day. 

 

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Tell him to buy a Pontiac Grand Prix.  3800 Series 3 (04-08) V6 engine is damn near indestructible. Huge trunk.  Plenty of inexpensive low miles ones around if you look.  I consider low mileage for these cars anything under 100k.   Properly maintained ones will easily last another 100 - 150k.  Cant say enough good tgings about my Grand Prix.

If he's set on that particular car then I second checking out Enterprise car sales and other rental agencies that sell cars.  The cars should have been well maintained.  I've heard good things about buying this way.

Good luck.

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10 minutes ago, gleninjersey said:

Tell him to buy a Pontiac Grand Prix.  3800 Series 3 (04-08) V6 engine is damn near indestructible. Huge trunk.  Plenty of inexpensive low miles ones around if you look.  I consider low mileage for these cars anything under 100k.   Properly maintained ones will easily last another 100 - 150k.  Cant say enough good tgings about my Grand Prix.

If he's set on that particular car then I second checking out Enterprise car sales and other rental agencies that sell cars.  The cars should have been well maintained.  I've heard good things about buying this way.

Good luck.

You and the Grand Prix 

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Hondas make great engines , trans is the weak point on some models. research the year and model for issues, most money made on the car lots are from used cars. Research sales cross reference, car gurus, true car, ebay craigslist, etc like a homework assignment

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We used the USAA car buying service for my wife's new 2015 CVR. Took all the hassle of negotiations out of the equation. I know Costco has a car buying service. I liked the simplicity of the deal. Near invoice for a popular car with a very clear out the door price. I would imagine car buying services would work with used cars, too.

I have bought 2 new Hondas and 1 used Nissan from Honda of Toms River and I have been pleased with the dealer.

As for the CRV, tell your nephew it is a great car (not really a secret). We are at about 90,000 mies without any issues at all and the car still drives like new. The CVT took some getting used to.

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6 minutes ago, 1LtCAP said:

that's not to say bad stuff about honda….

You better not, I own one. Best vehicle I've ever had. I was always a fan of the Big Three, and jumped off that band wagon. Boy, am I ever glad!

 

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4 minutes ago, Sniper22 said:

You better not, I own one. Best vehicle I've ever had. I was always a fan of the Big Three, and jumped off that band wagon. Boy, am I ever glad!

 

I still am. I drive a ford expedition. soon to be an excursion. stang for fun. mom's in a Taurus. but when a customer asks me what to buy for their kid, 1st thing I tell em is to avoid vw/audi at all costs......2nd thing is buy an accord or a corolla or camry. 

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While on the topic of cars. The CRV is excellent, but ...... My 2010 Scion xB is currently at 215,000 miles without a single repair. Ever. All I do is change the oil, filters and replace tires and brakes. It is a Camry 2.4L drivetrain under a boxy body. I recommend the xB as great car to all who will listen. They stopped making them a few years back. If they still made it, I would buy another.

It will go to my soon to be 17-year-old son.

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yea but the xb's ugly. :)

 

 i just scheduled a customer with an 07 camry 2.4 for an engine rebuild. i'm subletting that out, 'cause i can't afford to have the bay tied up that long. it's only in the 120k range. very rare for a toyota to fail that early.....

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10 hours ago, 1LtCAP said:

I still am. I drive a ford expedition. soon to be an excursion. stang for fun. mom's in a Taurus. but when a customer asks me what to buy for their kid, 1st thing I tell em is to avoid vw/audi at all costs......2nd thing is buy an accord or a corolla or camry. 

Lol. I’ve always had great luck with VW. 

I’ve had 2 Jetta’s, 2 GTI’s, and now a new Tiguan for Mrs Tex. 

Never had a lick of problems with any one them. 

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2 hours ago, Displaced Texan said:

Lol. I’ve always had great luck with VW. 

I’ve had 2 Jetta’s, 2 GTI’s, and now a new Tiguan for Mrs Tex. 

Never had a lick of problems with any one them. 

oh you should see some of the bs i deal with with them. i'm actually at a point where i won't do much more than basic maintenance

on them. it's not that i don't like them. it's just that there's so much wrong. hell.....even the simple job of a timing belt isn't.

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Lol. VW/Audi doesn’t make it easy to work on, I’ll grant you that. 

I do all my own maintenance and troubleshooting, but I’m smart enough to know when I’m above my ability or equipment. Fortunately, other than wheel bearings that were killed with my pothole incident, my VW’s have been nearly trouble free. 

 

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