Car advice needed.

[JPD]

I've always driven a car that was owned and insured by my parents, the car I have been driving is having some issues and while I've gotten some advice from friends, I would love more advice, since some of it had been contradictory.

Option 1. Buy a used car from a dealer, having to finance about half of it.
Cheapest car I found at a dealer is around 9,000 - I have around 4,000 to spend
Pro- Newer car, less likely to have issues
Cons- I'll have a loan, and I'd much rather avoid debt if I can.

Option 2. Buy a much cheaper and older used car from a private seller, and keep it maintained. - Around 2-4 g for initial purchase, then yearly maintenance.
Pros- No loan, so no debt
Con- Have to get my own insurance, dad can't threaten to take car away

Option 3. Get my dads car repaired and renew the registration.
Pros- Probably less money outright depending on what the issues is, stay on my parents insurance so no new insurance bill
Cons- It would still be in my dads name, so even if I pay to fix it up, he can still legally claim it as his. To renew the registration, his car tax bill would have to be paid, and I know he doesn't have the money for that. (as far as I know)


I'm mainly leaning between option 1 and 2, but closer to 2, but option 3 keeps popping up in my head.

[Mel]

We just bought our first car using option 2. We were considering option 1 if we hadn't found a suitable car using option 2, but it all worked out, thankfully.

Con- Have to get my own insurance, dad can't threaten to take car away

The second part of this "con" makes it a pro IMO.

Option 3 wasn't an option for us, as we're both in our mid-thirties. Yes, you read right, we just bought our first car in our mid-thirties.

Anyway, Good Luck!

[JPD]

Do you mind if I ask how you found the car you bought? I'll be 30 in a few months myself.

[mathnerd]

I'm an option 2 type. If you look, you can find cars the same age as the ones the dealers have, and they're generally less expensive through a private seller. The con here is that you don't have any sort of guarantee that the car is in good shape mechanically. If you're comfortable with mechanics, inspect the car yourself, or insist to any private seller that you be able to take it to a mechanic you trust to do a pre-purchase inspection. The last car I bought, I brought along a floor jack, 4-way and a tool bag of basic tools. The buyer was a little shocked to see a chick jack the car up and pull off the tires (and also dig through the engine and crawl under it, etc), but I spotted a few issues that knocked a few grand off the final selling price, even though they only cost me a couple hundred to fix.

[Ophbalance]

Is CT in the US (I presume so)? Autotrader is a good site for looking up used vehicles, if that's the case. It can find both dealer and private party sellers of used cars. I used it to track down the dealer that sold me my Prius back in 2009. Though you didn't ask about make or model, given the budget, I'd look for a Prizm or Hyundai. The Prizm was a Corolla by another name and Hyundai's made after '99 greatly improved in reliability and value.

[Sapphire Silk]

Do option 1 or 2.

Option 1 works if you can afford the monthly payments. If you can afford it keep the term as short as possible to reduce overall interest paid. It'll have a warranty, and if something goes wrong in the warranty period you have options.

Option 2 works if you want to avoid the car payment. However all private car sales are AS IS. Meaning if you run into a problem 5 minutes after the sale you are SOL. So before you buy, have a mechanic you trust go over the car very very carefully. Don't trust the owner's mechanic, who will probably feel more loyalty to the owner than you even though you are paying the bill. Get all maintenance records if possible; if the owner doesn't have them it probably hasn't been maintained very well, making the car more of a risk.

Option 3 is a poor option. The fact you imply your dad threatens to take your car away from you is a big red flag. Owning your own car makes you more independent. It's not worth the short term savings.

Paying a car payment for the first time, plus my own insurance, was tough at first. I quickly realized just how expensive cars are. But once I learned to budget, it wasn't a big deal and didn't impact my disposable income as much as I feared. Once I paid it off, I viewed the extra cash as a bonus (I'm about to do this again, I pay off my current car next month).

Keep whatever car you do get as long as you can. Learn to do as much of the maintenance and repairs as you can. Some things can easily be done by the owner, and save you hundreds of dollars.

As for insurance: if the car is 5 years old or older don't get comprehensive insurance (if you get a loan you'll be required to have it until you pay the car off), and keep your deductible high to reduce your premiums. Just get liability.

[bbbr]

#3 raises the specter of fixing the car and then having your father take it away for what ever reason. You're out the costs and he has functioning, registered and insured vehicle. Happened to friend of mine a few times in college until he wised up and stopped accepting his fathers "hand me down" (but not really) cars. Something would happen and the car would be yanked away as punishment and returned whenever the father felt like it.

If you're comfortable with your fathers car and it's ability to go the distance once repaired- inquire about buying it outright and get the title/insurance/tax bill in your name. It's got the advantages of private buying (you know the history of it, no loan and you can carry however much insurance you want) with out the issue of the car being yanked back for whatever reason.

[Sapphire Silk]

#3 raises the specter of fixing the car and then having your father take it away for what ever reason. You're out the costs and he has functioning, registered and insured vehicle. Happened to friend of mine a few times in college until he wised up and stopped accepting his fathers "hand me down" (but not really) cars. Something would happen and the car would be yanked away as punishment and returned whenever the father felt like it.

If you're comfortable with your fathers car and it's ability to go the distance once repaired- inquire about buying it outright and get the title/insurance/tax bill in your name. It's got the advantages of private buying (you know the history of it, no loan and you can carry however much insurance you want) with out the issue of the car being yanked back for whatever reason.

Don't pay dad's taxes for him. It would probably be more than the car is worth. The OP could try to buy the car itself, but Dad needs to pay his own taxes.

[JPD]

I have talked to my dad and he is willing to sell me the car, so it would be in my name. Before I decided I'm going to take it to a mechanic and see how much it will cost to get it to pass emissions, and what type of maintenance it needs.

[Mel]

Do you mind if I ask how you found the car you bought? I'll be 30 in a few months myself.

We found it through Kijiji.ca, a classified ads site in Canada. We searched on that site for a couple of weeks and we were about to give up and try an Auto Trader magazine, but the one we bought popped up on the site soon after.

We did come close to going through a dealership and doing option 1, but I'm happy we found the car we did. It went through a Motor Vehicle Inspection (mandatory yearly in my province) days before we bought it, so we knew it was fit for the road.

[Sapphire Silk]

I have talked to my dad and he is willing to sell me the car, so it would be in my name. Before I decided I'm going to take it to a mechanic and see how much it will cost to get it to pass emissions, and what type of maintenance it needs.

Good. Check the blue book value and make sure it's worth the investment.

[wolfie]

Hyundai's made after '99 greatly improved in reliability and value.

One caveat on that - an arbitrary year isn't going to make much difference. For example, there's likely to be far more difference in reliability between a '95 and '96 (or '00 and '01) Elantra than between a '96 and a '00. Why? Because '96 through '00 (straddling the '99 cutoff) are one "generation" (i.e. basically the same car), while '95 belongs to the previous "generation" and '01 to the following "generation". The second "generation" ('96 through '00") Elantra is a pretty good car - I'm happy with my '96.

If you're hung up on getting a post-'99, get a "generation" that starts after '99 (Wikipedia gives "generation" information for lots of cars, just look up "Brand_Model". Definitely avoid the Mitsubishi-designed 4-cylinder engines - after around 100,000 km (60,000 miles), they get into "check the gas and fill the oil" territory. Shouldn't be a problem if you stick with post-'99 - the last year for the Excel (used to own one of those) was '94, and (former co-worker had the same problem) only the 1st generation (up to '95) Elantra used Mitsubishi-designed engines.

Whatever car you get (but definitely do this if it's a Hyundai), try jacking it up using all 4 jack points. Older Hyundai products tended to have the jack points rust out from the inside - they'd look good, but not support any weight.

[protege]

If you're comfortable with your fathers car and it's ability to go the distance once repaired- inquire about buying it outright and get the title/insurance/tax bill in your name.

Depends on how well you know the car....and how well your dad has taken care of it. Shiny paint and a clean interior can hide a multitude of sins. With that said, I'd never buy one of my dad's cars, mainly because up until now, he didn't really maintain them. His MG was the exception. When I took that on, it was already a mess, and I knew what I was getting into. I'd taken most of the car apart--I knew it was going to need the engine rebuilt, it had no brakes, etc.

If you don't feel comfortable assessing the car's mechanical condition, get a mechanic (or someone you trust) evaluate it. If everything checks out, you could land yourself a bargain.

[JPD]

Don't pay dad's taxes for him. It would probably be more than the car is worth. The OP could try to buy the car itself, but Dad needs to pay his own taxes.

The taxes due on it are about 120, and while it does need some work, my parents are willing to sell it to me for 500, which is great since it's about 1 grand less then KBB, and 2 grand less then what anyone else is selling this kind of car for.

Also, since my parents owe me some money, instead of giving them cash, I'm subtracting 380 from what they owe me, and so other then the cash to pay the taxes.

Now I just have to find a mechanic I trust. I've gotten some recommendations from friends, it just seems each one that gets recommended, has another person that doesn't recommend that place.

[Sapphire Silk]

The taxes due on it are about 120, and while it does need some work, my parents are willing to sell it to me for 500, which is great since it's about 1 grand less then KBB, and 2 grand less then what anyone else is selling this kind of car for.

Also, since my parents owe me some money, instead of giving them cash, I'm subtracting 380 from what they owe me, and so other then the cash to pay the taxes.

Now I just have to find a mechanic I trust. I've gotten some recommendations from friends, it just seems each one that gets recommended, has another person that doesn't recommend that place.

Now that's getting to sound like a deal.

Find out why they recommend or don't recommend a place. If they can't tell you specifics about the service either way, you can ignore that advice. I mean, remember where we are here. Sometimes bad recommendations are sour grapes from an SC.