Buying a used Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla from a Dealer or a Private Party? (lease, vehicle)
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If you buy it from a private party you will most likely know its history, not so from a dealer unless it was serviced there.
A dealer is probably more willing to wheel and deal than a private party.
You can get an extended warrenty from a dealer not a private seller.
You take a chance with a private seller that they actually own the vehicle, scams abound.
Either car would be good if thats what you want.
Need your opinion...is it better to buy a used car from a dealer or a private party? What are the pros and cons? Honda Civic or Toyota Corolla?
If you buy from a REPUTABLE dealer, you generally get a pretty good car. Ditto for the private seller. IN BOTH CASES, you need to get the vehicle inspected by an INDEPENDENT mechanic. ALWAYS!!
If you buy a Civic or Corolla, I would NEVER buy a warranty. There are very few cars where I would consider one and you are picking among the most reliable.
I HATE to deal with private sellers. They have an emotional attachment to the vehicle and think that their car is worth a LOT MORE than it is. In 2007, I was looking at used Corolla LEs with 25k miles where the sellers wanted $14k which was what I bought a new car. When you go to a dealer, the car that they show you is just a car and one that they get paid to move.
I would NOT limit myself to those two models. There are at least ten models in that class that are competitive and at least a couple better. Personally, I would try the Ford Focus and the Hyundai Elantra also.
It depends on how old a car we are talking about. Newer off lease cars are plenty at the dealers, most of the good one are certified pre-owned but the asking price would be close to the good deals on a brand new car. If you are looking for an older car, then the dealers who sell them have bought it from the auction themselves. They do not know anything about the car and its repair history. In this case if you can find an honest owner that is selling a car with complete maintenance history then you might get lucky. Problem is some of these "private party's" are actually street corner car dealers-these have the worst of the worse as far as car quality.
As mentioned no matter what you get have it inspected by a good mechanic, estimate ~$100 for this. After market warranties are usually not worth it. If you feel the car needs a warranty then don't buy it. Most of them have a lot of exclusions and only make money for the person selling them.
You are looking at cars that demand a high resale value in the market. If you tune it down (Elantra, Kia Sephia, Mazda line), you might get a better deal.
You can't go wrong with either car. Great cars. Very reliable, great on gas and easy on the wallet (maintenance/parts etc). It will boil down to which one you prefer for personal reasons.
The new Focus (5 dr, hatch) is a nice option. Finally a Focus that rivals its European counterpart (almost the same at this point. Finally ). But since you're buying used, I'd stick with the Civic or Corolla.
I'd go with a dealership for a few reasons (You can negociate free oil changes/complimentary maintenance, warranty work, price, and few more things). I'd also go a step further to advise going with a reputable dealership, not the "buy here, pay here" crap, that won't stand behind the cars they sell.
The only downside right now is the demand for these cars, and dealers know it. They'll play with the price because of that.
Figure on paying a $1500 - $2000 mark up buying from a dealer. More if it is a newer car. Dealers often offer a warranty (or offer to sell you one). You can buy the same warranty cheaper and without paying the dealer mark up if you buy direct form the warranty provider. In my experience, dealers are more likely to lie to you about the car. Anything to get the sale. Delaers are also usually much more adept at covering up major problems with a car, and they will rarely allow you to take the car to YOUR mechanic to have it checked out. Usually they say that it is fine, but when you go to do it, excuses suddenly start popping up all over (most of the time, it is someone else is coming to look at it today so we cannot allow it off the lot. If you want it you had better buy it right now before they get here).
Advantages of dealers: 1. Sometimes they can get better financing than you can on your own (but they rarely beat credit unions). 2. They clean the car better than most private sellers. 3. Dealers have more cars and there are usually several located very close to you. This is the biggest issue. You can spend weeks driving hundreds of miles to look at private party offerings. You can go to one or two dealers and look at a dozen cars at once. Also used car dealers are often clumped together in the same area, so you can look at several dozen cars at once if you want to. 4. Dealers help you with registration and make the transaction easy.
Personally, I do not think that the dealer mark up is worth the small advantages - IF you can find what you are looking for within a reasonable time from private parties. It also makes a difference what price range you are looking at. A $2000 mark up on a car that otherwise sells for $5600 is absurd. when you get to really cheap cars it is even more ridiculous. I have seen cars that would normal sell for $1800 to $2200 offered at a dealer for over $4000. However the same $2000 mark up on a $23,000 used car does not seem quite so bad, and on a $33,000 car it seems quite reasonable. They really do clean them quite well.
As mentioned no matter what you get have it inspected by a good mechanic, estimate ~$100 for this. After market warranties are usually not worth it.
If you feel the car needs a warranty then don't buy it. Most of them have a lot of exclusions and only make money for the person selling them.
Our mechanic does not charge us.
The warranties are a big waste of money according to consumer reports and similar agencies. When someone pushes something really really hard, you know that there is big big profit in them. Profits on these warranties are huge.
For the last ten years, I've only bought cars from private party listings on craigslist. One BMW 325ix, one Acura Integra and several Honda Civics. I would never buy from a dealer. I prefer to meet the owner face to face, and to discuss with them what maintenances have been done to the car. And I can size up what kind of driver they are. I will also ask them what sort of daily driving they've done in the car. Then I take the car for a test drive. If I have any worries, I will take that car to a mechanic for a pre-purchase inspection, but I usually don't bother with that.
Otherwise, buy a car that you are familiar with and a car that your trusted independent mechanic is happy to work on. Don't use dealership mechanics, especially if it's an older car.
On a related note, check out the Edmunds forums "prices paid and buying experiences" thread to see what people are paying for new ones. I'm always shocked at what people are willing to pay for used Civics and Corollas. I'm talking about 3-4 year old cars that are only being discounted $4-5k off what a brand new one sells for with warranty.
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). But since you're buying used, I'd stick with the Civic or Corolla. 
