Looking for a used car -- any advice?

Last time I bought a used car it was a disaster. Paid $3,000 for an older Honda but could not even get it safetied (cracked frame, welded and covered with goop to hide it). So much for trusting another Russian (he must have been from one of the other Republics ).

I quickly checked CarCanada and LeaseBusters and didn't think much of their selections in my price range. My father in law's lease is coming up in January and for $9K I can have his Ford Focus s/w with only 30,000 km on it. So if I can't find something comparable (less $ for more km) I might as well wait.

Does anyone have any leads or recommendations?

The last time I bought a used car it was through Car Canada but that was about 8 years ago. The only problem I had with them is the financing rates were crappy.

My only other piece of advice is don't buy a car from a private seller but you already know that from your Honda experience.

wprager wrote:Last time I bought a used car it was a disaster. Paid $3,000 for an older Honda but could not even get it safetied (cracked frame, welded and covered with goop to hide it). So much for trusting another Russian (he must have been from one of the other Republics ).

I quickly checked CarCanada and LeaseBusters and didn't think much of their selections in my price range. My father in law's lease is coming up in January and for $9K I can have his Ford Focus s/w with only 30,000 km on it. So if I can't find something comparable (less $ for more km) I might as well wait.

Does anyone have any leads or recommendations?

When I bought my Focus Wagon, it was 3 years old w/72000 kms on it for 11,000 grand. I felt it was a good deal after shopping around. $9k is a steal. Great car, BTW. I may get a Transit Connect Wagon (same chassis) by the time I'm done with this car, unless they bring back the Focus Wagon.

Bottom line, if you have cash you already have a big advantage because interest on a used car will always be relatively high.

There is where having a good mechanic comes in handy. Did you buy that Honda before it was even looked at by a mechanic to see if it could be made road safe? Dangerous... I would always stipulate that the car has a safety inspection and passes it.

Some good info here:

http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/dandv/vehicle/used.shtml#buying

It's always a risk unless you truly know and trust the person you are buying it from.

Key things to know are accident history, repair history, maintenance history etc...

Take it for a drive and get it looked at by a good mechanic you trust before you agree to buy it.

Don't know if this interests you or not, but I recently stumbled upon this website for police, insurance and bank auctions of vehicles.

Here's the link for the Ottawa one.

http://www.icangroup.ca/main.cfm?P=50&L=en&Critere=&CIE_ID=98

That's an interesting site but knowing little about what a car is truly worth or how discover major issues to avoid, I don't think an auction is for me. Years ago there was a guy who people at Newbridge/Alcatel recommended. For a small fee (I think it was $200-250) he would go to the auction and find you the car given your criteria. Apparently that could save you a lot of money over buying from the dealer. The same dealers would be at the auction, also bidding for those cars, and by the time they were done selling that same car to you they would have upped the cost a lot more than $250.

Unfortunately I don't know if that guy is still doing this and, besides, I had long-ago lost his contact details.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:The last time I bought a used car it was through Car Canada but that was about 8 years ago. The only problem I had with them is the financing rates were crappy.

My only other piece of advice is don't buy a car from a private seller but you already know that from your Honda experience.

Friends of ours bought their first used car from CarCanada and it broke down on the way home. Obviously that's just an isolated incident, but I'm just not all that confident of how well they inspect/repair their cars.

As usual, having a great mechanic you can trust is the best way to go. Maybe I'll drop by Gallagher's Garage (the closest I have to a mechanic I trust -- problem is I haven't gone there that often or at all recently).

If you live in the East end I highly recommend checking out Labreche Garage just past Rockland on Ramage road. I trust them and their rates are reasonable. They also don't just blindly look at the allowable hourly charge for service. In other words if it takes them 1 hour to change a bearing they don't charge you 2 because the book says they're allowed to charge that much.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:If you live in the East end I highly recommend checking out Labreche Garage just past Rockland on Ramage road. I trust them and their rates are reasonable. They also don't just blindly look at the allowable hourly charge for service. In other words if it takes them 1 hour to change a bearing they don't charge you 2 because the book says they're allowed to charge that much.

That's big. I worked in a garage and I couldn't believe some of the hours assigned to certain jobs in the Flat Rate Book.

Unfortunately I live in Kanata.

Check it out...

http://www.gmhockey.com/random-thoughts-non-hockey-talk-f5/car-for-sale-manual-transmission-t3752.htm

Car for sale!

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:If you live in the East end I highly recommend checking out Labreche Garage just past Rockland on Ramage road. I trust them and their rates are reasonable. They also don't just blindly look at the allowable hourly charge for service. In other words if it takes them 1 hour to change a bearing they don't charge you 2 because the book says they're allowed to charge that much.

That's big. I worked in a garage and I couldn't believe some of the hours assigned to certain jobs in the Flat Rate Book.

I love telling stories about this garage. So here are a couple.

1 - I had a bearing going and couldn't arrange an appointment soon enough with Labreche so I called a few places and they all said it would be 2 hours labour at 70 plus dollars an hour plus parts. I decided to chance it and the bearing siezed out at Carling and Parkdale. I got Labreche to come all the way out and tow it to their garage past Rockland. That plus the added effort required due to the siezed bearing was still cheaper than if I had gone elsewhere.

2 - I had an old Ford Escort that ended up stalling when I didn't have the gas on. Imagine driving a manual transmission without lifting your foot off the gas in the city. Anyway, I called Labreche and he told me it had to be the Idling cellinoid (sp) and told me where to find it and that it wouldn't even require tools. I had to go to the dealership to buy the part and thought maybe the service guys would do me a favour and just pop it in since it would only take 5 minutes of their time. The service guys insisted that the car would have to be looked at to determine for sure what was wrong first which would have been one hour labour. I just did it in the parking lot myself and it only took me 10 minutes of fumbling around and looking for the part.

shabbs wrote:Check it out...

http://www.gmhockey.com/random-thoughts-non-hockey-talk-f5/car-for-sale-manual-transmission-t3752.htm

Car for sale!

There you go Prages. Problem solved.

shabbs wrote:Check it out...

http://www.gmhockey.com/random-thoughts-non-hockey-talk-f5/car-for-sale-manual-transmission-t3752.htm

Car for sale!

I *knew* I should have posted a disclaimer in SensGirl's thread. Her car is a stick shift and I need an automatic since it's for my wife's daily commute.