How to Buy a Used Car for Under $1000
Buying and owning a car on the cheap need not be an exercise in low-balling and frustration. Most real gearheads will tell you that you haven't really enjoyed an automobile until you've owned one that's worth less than the insurance deductible required to fix it. Owning a really inexpensive car is a very freeing experience, the automotive equivalent of finally confronting your nightmares and going to school in nothing but a pair of boxers. Buying one that suits your needs may require a few Machiavellian tactics, but if you follow these simple tips, then everyone will wind up happy in the end.
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Instructions
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Use every resource at your disposal to get a feel for the market before you step out the door, and find out what $1,000 will get you. This step is perhaps the most crucial, since vehicle market values will vary by the time of year, the price of gas, the political climate and -- quite literally -- the price of tea in China. This is particularly true of vehicles that are either very good or very bad on gas, a constantly changing factor that has an enormous influence on used car supply and demand.
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Drive to the most -- ahem -- financially challenged part of your county. Start tooling around neighborhoods in the middle of nowhere, and look for old cars sitting in someone's yard. The best deals out there aren't listed, they're not sitting on the side of the road with a "for sale" sign, and they're never, ever, ever sitting on a dealership lot. Look for a yard with several cars parked in it, with one car noticeably newer and better-kept than the others. That's the homeowner's daily driver, meaning that the rest are probably just sitting there.
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Examine your target car from a distance. Cars without license plates are good, cars sitting in waist-high grass are not. Extreme rust, horrible paint and dented bodywork is a good sign; odds are that the owner parked his car because is looked terrible, not because it broke down. Beat-up looking cars usually run better than pristine cars in the same price range, simply because that's all they have going for them.
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Pull up to the house and lightly tap your horn a couple of times. Once you get the homeowner's attention, tell him what you're there for and ask him to escort you to the car. Even if he tells you that it's not for sale, ask to look at it anyway. Inspect the car for obvious damage, get some history on it if possible. If the person who answers the door knows nothing about the car, then have him call someone who does.
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Look at the car up close and examine for obvious problem areas, and make notes of things that will cost you money to fix later. Keep your focus on what makes the car safe and reliable, not what makes it pretty. Spiderwebs and dead leaves are fine, dry-rotted tires, loose steering components, massive steering wheel slop (with the engine off) and spongy brakes aren't. Look closely under the car for signs of leaking fluids, particularly dark spots in the dirt or spots of sand or blackened grass in the dead grass under the car.
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Check the car's fluids, and be extremely wary of fluid that looks too new. Bright green antifreeze, crystal-clear oil and ruby-red transmission fluid in a beat-to-death 1981 Caprice may have been the owner's attempt to either deceive a potential buyer or to fix a problem with a fluid change. This is especially true of transmission fluid, since changing fluid is usually the first thing that an owner does when his transmission's clutches or torque converter start to go out.
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Start the car if possible. Odds are that the car's battery is either dead or missing. If the owner tries to tell you to come back later, then offer to pull the battery out of your ride and hook it up. Once you get the car running -- assuming that you do -- keep an eye, ear and nose out for anything unusual. A car that's been parked for any length of time will stutter and smoke a little while it warms up, often the result of dust, bugs and spiderwebs consumed in the fires of combustion.
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Allow the engine to warm up a bit, then quickly blip the throttle to see how quickly it responds. Don't be surprised if it stutters a bit; gasoline does go bad, and engines don't like it. If you suspect bad gas, open the fuel tank filler cap and smell. Bad gas has a very strong, rancorous stench, like sour milk in a sewer full of acetone. You'll know if it's turned. If the gas is bad but the engine runs, expect it to stutter a bit.
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Recheck the fluids; if they've changed color, smell or texture in any significant way, then you'll know that the owner just changed them and hasn't driven the car since. Bad sign. Get in the car and put your foot on the brake if you haven't already. Give it a couple of quick taps and then hold it. A pedal that immediately sinks to the floor could indicate low fluid, air in the lines or a bad master cylinder. One that seems firm at first and then slowly sinks to the floor could indicate a bad master cylinder, leaking slave cylinders or leaking brake lines. If the ABS light comes on after eight or ten quick stabs, expect to buy a new ABS accumulator or pump.
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Leave your foot on the brake and put the transmission into drive, neutral and reverse. If it acts weird and you've already determined that the fluid level and quality is adequate, then the tranny is probably hashed. A bad transmission is a deal-breaker when you're looking at a sub-$1,000 car that you actually plan to drive. Walk away. If the transmission does work and the engine doesn't stall or stutter when you put it into gear, then go for a test drive around the property if possible.
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Do a few quick left-right-left transitions and one or two quick stops to ascertain the condition of the suspension. Take it slow at first; you don't want to find out about a broken ball joint at 60 mph in a 1-G turn. Feel for how the car reacts to inputs. You're not looking for outright handling capability, you're listening and feeling for signs of imbalance in the suspension. Does it roll more in a left turn than in a right? Does it pull to one side? Does one wheel regularly lock up? To you hear a squeak, rattle or clunk only when turning one way or the other? All of these indicate something busted in the suspension.
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Estimate what the required repairs will cost you, and subtract that from your original offer. Subtract another 40 percent from that, and then let the seller talk you up by about 20 percent so he feels good about it. If he seems stuck on more than you're willing to pay, then pull your money out, start counting it to "see if you have enough," and then tell him you weren't really looking for that particular model, anyway. If it's a car, tell him you wanted a truck. If it's a truck, tell him you wanted a boat.
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Put a little bit of pressure on the seller by telling him that you were just passing through on the way to look at another vehicle, and that you're from out of town. You're leaving in two days and you'll be back on February 2nd, 2140. At this point, you've covered all the bases of high-pressure salesmanship that a used car salesmen would use on you. You've found a person who needs what you have, you've made him feel good about the purchase and you've instituted a time limit on the offer.
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Make an excuse to leave for about an hour. This will give you time to think about the purchase, and to give the seller time to look around his house and think about all the things he could buy tonight for $700 in cash. Return with a look on your face like your contemplating a kidney donation. He'll panic, probably drop the price a little bit and take whatever you offer, as long as it's green. Congratulations; you've just bought a car for less than a grand. Just remember that you'll still need a few hundred to transfer the title, tag it and insure it.
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Tips & Warnings
Don't feel bad for that old man with the car. He didn't even know that he wanted to sell it till you showed up with cash in hand. The First Law of Salesmanship: People don't always know what they want until you tell them what it is. Some people smoke, some people drink and some people hoard junk they don't need. Trust it; even in spite of your blatant manipulation, he'll ultimately end up far happier with a few hundred bucks in hand than an old car in his driveway.
Do not, under any circumstances, go crawling around a car that isn't yours if you haven't met the owner first. Odds are good that anyone with an old beater in the yard also has a couple of large dogs and a gun.
References
- Photo Credit Image By: Christopher Ziemnowicz, Source: Wikimedia Commons
