LogFAQs > #932961541

It took me a looooong time to realize that you can get just as good of cars for $1000 (or even less if your lucky) as you can off used car lots for $3000+, which are just as good in general as buying a 4 year old car for $10k+.

I bought my Saturn (2003 I think it is) for 4k, about 3 years ago, from a used car lot (Actually part of trading in my old car). I could have bought the same car for under $1k from someone directly, or from an auction.

Recently I got a Chrysler Town and Country for $950, It's blue book is almost $4k, runs great, no problem, had it 6 months. Waaay better deal. I can turn around and sell it for $3k easy if I end up not using it this spring/summer.

So yeah, you don't need to buy new (new is a horrid loss of money), or even fairly new (used but less then 3-4 years and low milage). If you have tons of money to waste, go ahead, but you can get along just fine with cars around $1k, and worst case scenerio something goes wrong/breaks, and you scrap it for $300 in parts and/or value of the metal. Unless that happens right away (and I still always have a mechanic check it out before I buy, so I have never had something go wrong right away) you have gotten your money's worth out of it easy.

It's actually ALOT better in some ways, my wonder (loved it) Toyota Avalon (which we got barely used waaay back in 2000 (was a 1999), was great, but I had to get repairs over the years on it, a new belt ($1000), the drivers side door hinge/cord broke (another $1000) etc.

If you have a big investment in the car and things break and need to be repaired, you repair them. If you bought the car for $600 (or $500 like my friend just did), and something breaks, you sell it/scrap it, and get a new car.

It's cheaper often to buy another, then to fix your current, especially if you can sell it for parts, or bring it to a scrapyard (many will even come pick it up for free).

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