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Are there really ANY good cheap cars available? Cheap I mean $0-$1000.00.Has anyone bought a car in this price area and been satisfied. Was it from a private party or dealer. Thank you
No $1000 will be perfect. If you have the knowledge and skill to work on it your self it can be a good deal. However if you can't and need to pay some one to do the work they aren't the cars for you
Public auctions. You can buy a Civic or Corolla in running condition for sometimes few hundred bucks. If you have a buddy that frequents dealer auctions, they have drawings and $1 cars.
Associates. I bought 91 Civic from associate for $250 and ran her everywhere for a year.
You need to be able to do your own work on cars. If you can then, yes, you can find good cars for under $1k. In general, though, you'll probably have much better luck if you bump up the budget to $3000.
I bought a $500 car that was one of the most reliable cars I've owned.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tarajane2013
Are there really ANY goodcheap cars available? Cheap I mean $0-$1000.00....:
Cheap and good... = A tall order.
I buy them all the time. Looking at a $600 one tomorrow. But... for yrs I bought from towing company auctions. $35 minimum bid, and I drove many home for that price. (Local city sold 600 cars / week at towing auctions). Scrap price is higher, and that raised minimum bid to $125. Bit rich for my blood.
I find a few for free hiding in the neighbor's brier patch. (Stealthrabbits).
50 mpg since 1976.., no dinosaurs or fossil fuels required.
For a non-mechanic... get a Used Saturn from a one owner Librarian that used it once / month.
Never buy a CHEAP car from a dealer. That is a recipe for FEEDING the mechanics forever.
Are there really ANY good cheap cars available? Cheap I mean $0-$1000.00.Has anyone bought a car in this price area and been satisfied. Was it from a private party or dealer. Thank you
You're not going to get anything for under $500, unless it's an inside deal. Salvage yards are paying close to that for dead cars.
If you're paying $500 - $1000, you better figure on it being butt-ugly and/or in need of some serious work.
I concur on the police impound auctions. You can get some great deals there as I have. But sometimes they go for more than their worth. Just pick one you like, set a price you want to pay, and if you don't get it, wait until the next auction. You will eventually get what you want for the price you want to pay. Here they have the auctions every two months. I know it's not your cup of tea, but I paid $75 for a 83 Buick LeSabre wagon than I drove for 5 years with nary a problem. I know that sounds far fetched, but it is true. You won't get THAT lucky, but you'll do ok.
Decent cars under a grand are still around, but are increasingly rare. I see people asking three times that for clunkers these days.
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