Beware Buyer: The Used Car Listings
December 17, 2008 by Grant
This is the third part of SeattleAuto.net’s series on Buying a Used Car for Under $1,000.
You’ve got your car requirements down: that was the easy part. Now comes one of the hardest aspects of buying a used car, finding the car you want.
In our Craigslist search for our $1,000 car, our query came up with over 1,000 results. Information overload? Just a little. But we’ll show you how to sort through the junk and find the real diamonds in the rough. Here’s a sampling of actual listings that came up for our search:
1987 Honda Accord – $600 (Suquamish)
new clutch and tranny. needs brake pads. has tabs till April 2009
Not “bad”, but certainly lacks details. No odometer reading, no pictures and no other information whatsoever! The owner saying that brake pads are needed is a luke warm sign, as they are being honest, but we also have to wonder if that also means new drums or rotors will be needed. Passing up for now.
1998 Honda Civic – $750 (Black Diamond)
Front end damage. New Tranie (spent over 1000.00), Automatic, Good Motor, Make offer
This listing includes a picture of the car with a smashed front bumper and bent hood. This isn’t even street legal at this point, with who knows what kind of damage to the engine compartment. Even with the supposed good motor and transmission, this is still a pass.
88 jeep cherokee – $800 (graham/parkland)
i got a 88 jeep cherokee for sale it has the 4.0 4wd auto siting on 30×9.5 high millagge 262,000 has no carpet no headliner it use to be my off road rig its not the perfect rig it has dents dings but it still starts and drives like a champ it might nedd a new ac pulley but i got that in the back of the jeep
So far, the best out of the three highlighted, this seller has put down a good amount of information and has claimed that the car drives well. The problem with an off-road car is that it is driven hard and has probably accumulated lots more muck underneath the car body than most other cars – which means a high risk of rust.
1991 Acura Integra LS – $900 (Seattle)
Red DA 91 Acura Integra/186k miles/Automatic/Power Everything/Ac and Heater/Runs and Drives great/Clean Title/Clean Straight Body/Just needs distributor and it doesn’t have the back seats.
Now, this listing doesn’t sound like a bad deal on the surface if the listing is honest about only needing a distributor cap. A distributor is an easy fix, but will also require the vehicle to be towed back home or to a shop to fix it first. That alone will be $200.
Checking on Kelly Blue Book, this car in fair condition goes for $1,435, though that also means the car is in reasonable running condition. Assuming this Integra does need work, the cap and tow will probably cost about $500, so this car is being sold for a fair value. Not a great deal, but still too much for us.
1989 Toyota Corolla Wagon – $700 (Seattle)
1989 Toyota Corolla Wagon, DX
White, good condition, runs great & reliable.
Gets great gas mileage.
240,000 miles.
Has new starter, battery, & wheel bearing as well as some other misc things.
Now this looks like a pretty good start. The buyer is honest about the recent fixes, the car is said to be running well, it’s a Corolla – a reliable model, and is also a wagon. Why is the wagon a bonus? It means that in the history of the car, it probably was owned by a family, rather than a single individual. We like the idea of a family owned car because adults tend to treat cars better both in maintenance and how they drive the vehicle.
I send an email off to the owner asking about the VIN and a time to check out the car – but get a quick reply from a lady that the car has already sold.
Geo Prizm, 5sp, new tune-up and tires – $995 (Monroe)
Toyota built 4cyl. with no mechanical issues for less than a $1,000.00 Interior and exterior are both average, miles are just over 200K but like I said she runs flawlessly. Needs tabs, clear title and as far as I can see, all painted areas are original so no accidents.
This listing seems very close to the last listing, with a few pros and cons. The nice thing is that it’s 5 years newer and also has 40k less miles, while being only $200 more. For those who don’t know, the Geo Prizm is actually a Toyota Corolla, just with a different label, much like the GMC Yukon and Chevy Suburban or Mitsubishi 3000GT and the Dodge Stealth. Sometimes, car companies work collaboratively on projects.
If you’ve been observant, you’ll already notice the warning flag with this listing: the lack of tabs. If this car won’t pass emissions, we might as well be dumping money down the drain, so it’s important to get that squared away.
I call up the owner and am met with a man on the other end. I tell him that I am inquiring about the Prizm and would like to know the VIN number and also when the tabs expired. He gruffly replies that “this isn’t the kind of car you need that for” and proceeds to tell me that it’s pointless to title check a car that “isn’t at least $10,000.”
Of course, that is completely false – you should check the title history for every car you’re thinking of purchasing. It does validate what we’ve said however that if the paperwork isn’t in order, there’s probably something fishy going on. I wouldn’t be surprised if this car couldn’t pass emissions or had some broken history.
1994 Ford Escort Wagon – $500 (duvall)
I have a 1994 Ford Escort Wagon with 1.9 motor. Good running order all around.
Car is great gas saver, 153,000 miles. This is a 5 speed, Light Green in color,clean inside and out.
Looks like a solid listing for the price. The 150k miles is a plus compared to a lot of the 200k+ listings that we’ve been looking at, so I shot off an email asking for a VIN and other details and got it back pretty promptly.
1998 Chevy Prizm – $1200
1998 Chevy Prizm. Has 224k miles but runs great. In good condition too.
This is short and sweet, but to the point. Good model, only 10 years old, is said to run great and is $500 below Kelly Blue Book for a “fair” price. Shot off email asking for VIN, any major vehicle work and if the car is manual or automatic.
1998 Ford Escort ZX2 Sport (Puyallup)
I am selling my 1998 Ford escort zx2 sport. It is in good condition with a newer transmission and alternator. I am asking $1200 but I am willing to negotiate. Ask for T****.
While it might look like we’re selectively choosing Escorts and Corolla’s – it just happens that these cars are being listed. But it’s also a good sign, because it means that these two models are fairly long lasting if there are multiple listings for these types of vehicles. This listing says a newer transmission was put in, which is great (if verified by receipts). KBB puts a fair market value on this at $900 assuming 150,000 miles, so this listing may be a bit high, but the seller indicates they are willing to negotiate. Sent an email off here and we’ll see where we are.
geo PRIZM toyota corolla fuel efficient … automatic – $700 (lakewood)
This car is a gas saver. It has a 4 cylinder toyota motor replaced at 125k so right now it has about 60k miles on it and the body has 182k. 4 door. passed inspection/emissions. good tabs till sept 09. Heater and ac both WORK excellent. IT starts right up.This car runs and drives. . This is my daily driver. have old reciepts of new battery starter alternator etc. it has good tires aswell.cd player included theres a tiny crack on the winshield but does not affect the view at all.and the axel might need to be changed.makes some noise
This sounds like a strong description, but then ends with that little “axel [sic] might need to be changed”, which is most certainly not a good thing. An odd noise can be many issues that only a mechanic should diagnose, so this is probably the reason it’s listed at a low price for this Prizm.
1992 Mazda MX-6 – $1,395
Brand new clutch passed emissions test runs great and gets 30 to 35 mpg
Higher than we want to pay for, but Mazdas also have a fair amount of reliability – short of the early RX series where they started using their rotary motor. The exterior pictures look good, the car is loaded and the new clutch and emissions passing is nice. The mileage is a bit high as is the price (KBB says $900 for the priced out features), but this may be a possibility.
hyundai accent coupe 1999 (redmond)
EXCELLENT CONDITION WITH 97K MILES,NO PROBLEM WITH ANY PARTS OF THE VEHICLE OR ITS BODY,CD AUDIO PLAYER,BEEN USING CAR FROM PAST 10 MONTHS N THERE WAS NO PROBLEM WITH ANYTHING,GOT REGULAR CHECK.SELLING IT ONLY BCOS IM LEAVING THIS PLACE AND YOU CAN GIV ME A CALL AND THEN WE CAN TALK ON THE PRICE OF THE VEHICLE
I HEREBY ATTACH THE PICTURES
This seller put their full name into the listing, so we Googled their name and found out that they were a software developer with Microsoft. This is a perfect low risk type owner that we like, while the seller did not post a price. KBB says about $1,100 for Accent in fair condition, so this may be a great deal if we can bargain. Low miles, Hyundai is fair in reliability (good engines, not so great transmissions).
Now with all these listings, a few more we didn’t list and a few good prospects, it’s time for the waiting game to hear back from everyone. After that, we can evaluate the cars and go out and check them out for the inspection.
Next: Used Car Inspection 101 (coming soon)
Did you do the used car inspection on these cars “Buying a used car for under 1,000. Dec 2008 article.
Hi Theresa. Actually, in this rare instance, we did not do a inspection on the car that we ended up buying. The reasons will be explained in the follow-up article (it’s late, sorry), but the car was priced very well and I knew it was going to be going. The owners were very solid, the records checked and everything in my stress test worked. Otherwise, I would *always* suggest getting a mechanic to look it over.
When can we read the next part of this article?