KenK wrote in news:XnsA2D767493ADD6invalidcom@130.133.4.11:
With respect to buying from private parties, I'd agree that's probably true.
However, I've bought at least five used vehicles from new-car dealers, and have yet to get a stinker. They've all been good, and one was spectacular -- another might have been, eventually, but it didn't live long enough: my son totalled it when it was still relatively young. By contrast, out of seven or eight used cars I've bought from private sellers, I've had two stinkers, and two more that were so-so.
Obviously new-car dealers take stinkers as trade-ins from time to time, but for the most part, they send the stinkers to an auto auction or a junkyard right away, and keep only the good trade-ins on their own lots. They don't want to ruin their reputations by selling stinkers, you see.
nutjob wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:
Or you may need to be less paranoid.
My son bought a 1993 Ford Probe -- which is mechanically identical to a Mazda MX-6 -- in
2007, and by 2010 we were starting to have some trouble finding parts. Rebuilt the transmission in 2011, and needed to replace a spacer ring in one clutch assembly -- had to order the part from a dealership 800 miles away, and it was literally the only one available anywhere in the United States.
Based on that experience... I have *zero* difficulty believing that the OP's mechanic is having trouble finding parts for a Mazda that is by now 27 years old.
Ed Pawlowski wrote in news:a6p4g9dprk71kpsj2931riqncq2p7pl86c@
4ax.com:
OTOH, I bought an '84 LeSabre in '91 at about 53K miles, and sold it ten years later at 211K, still running strong. The only really significant repair was a transmission rebuild at about
Any information is handy, but not all repairs are entered into the system. Dealer service is likely reported, but not a little shop. Good thing to know if applicable, when was timing belt replaced. I did find that when I bough a Subaru.
Generally speaking repos are NOT a good deal, because when they can't afford to make payments the generally also do not look after maintenance. Personally I would be quite leary of buying a repo more than a year old. I generally buy low mileage 5 year old trade-ins for my cars. My trucks? Whatever I can get cheap in good condition. My current truck - a Ford Ranger - was an exceptionally well kept16 year old truck with 307,000km on it that needed a clutch release cyl and had a cracked windshield. Other than that you could have set it on the showroom floor. Anyone would have believed 30,700km. It's up oer 320,000km now coming up 2 years later - and the only issue I've had is a squeaky u-joint - so I replaced them both. Paid $1500 for it, with box liner and cap - appeared to never have carried a load. I added A/C this summer.
For the little mileage you put on, find a good larger car - one that has poor resale due to poorer fuel mileage. Get one in excellent nick, with low mileage and you have a car for the rest of your driving life.
My wife's "new" car was purchaced just over 2 years ago -2002 Ford Taurus - had 58000km on it - looked like brand new -bought it "as traded" - but safetied, from a local Ford dealer, They had sold it new and serviced if since new - the old gal who owned it decided she was going to have ONE MORE brand new car in her life. Cost us $6500 and the only thing we've spent on it in 23000km is a set of tires and oil changes. The last couple I've purchaced that way we have kept for 12 years. Sold the one for $1700 when I was finished with it, and scrapped the other one (body rust).
What ever you do - DO have your mechanic look it over before you buy it. I'm a semi-retired "wrench" myself, so I just check it over closely myself - I know what to look for.
An 88 Mazda was pretty well the last of the real mazda trucks - and at their BEST they were trouble. Parts will be scarce for sure - I'd believe the mechanic.
Toyota and Mazda are two different animals - and parts in Asia and parts in the USA are also totally different situations with an asian vehicle.
But +1 on buying something that is not in high demand - a big old buick or plymouth with low mileage in good shape can be a VERY good choice for an older person who does not do a lot of driving. Easy to get in and out, parts readilly available at reasonable cost, easy to fix, reliable - Even an ex police vehicle can be an excellent buy - very well maintained - and dirt cheap. Get a detective's car and you often get a VERY low mileage vehicle that has been lightly used. A friend bought a 6 year old crown vic - detectives car - with something like 100,000km on it for under $5000. It was picked up at a local police auction by a dealer friend for him.
It's pssible for a totalclunker to have a clean carfax. If nothing was ever serviced or properly repaired, there would be no record of problems. A bad carfax is generally a good reason to think twice, but a clean carfax doen't necessarilly mean ANYTHING.
I would not personally get a repo. If they couldn't afford the payments they probably aren't very responsible and probably didn't keep up on the maintenance.
People sell vehicles for all sorts of reasons. In the case of a truck it could be that they had a baby and need something better for a baby seat. Or it was the husband's vehicle and he died. Or it's an elderly person and they can no longer drive. And of course as you mentioned, some people just do trade in every 2 or so years. I know people like that.
Should be no problem taking a vehicle to your mechanic if you are serious about buying it. Any dealer would allow you to do this and if buying from the owner and they won't let you, then look somewhere else.
When I have gotten a vehicle, I usually look at Consumer Reports to see which ones had recalls or problems. Sometimes this information didn't even come out until after I purchased. Like leaks, rust or brake problems. Or the Ford Windstar I am now driving that has had so many recalls since I got it, I lost track of the count!
I have been lucky with my last four vehicles. This one and the last one were purchased from my BIL who is a mechanic and sells used vehicles. Alas he lives in PA and I now live in WA so not likely we will get any more from him.
Prior to that, I bought one from my trusted mechanic. For a time, they sold
2 or 3 used cars at any given time. That car was super reliable and needed nothing aside from routine maintenance. I sold it years later for about what I paid for it.
Prior to that I got a 74 Dodge Dart that I heard about from a neighbor. His friend was selling it. We knew of rust damage which we fixed and it was also repainted. And two weeks after I got it, it threw a rod and the engine blew. My mechanic said it was one of those fluke things. Nobody could have predicted it. After those things were fixed, no major problems and once again I sold it for almost what I paid for it.
Only car I had that was a real lemon was the 70 Maverick. And I think they all were. I was lucky to get it to run for two weeks straight without needing some sort of repair. And to do the inherent brake problem, it was three different colors when I sold it. This after I had it immediately repainted. In other words, I kept hitting stuff because it wouldn't stop! And I had to put on new body parts.
So... What I have learned is... Don't bother to buy something that needs painted. Even if I don't like the color, just live with it. Paint is expensive and you might not get a good paint job. Which is what happened to me. The paint chipped off. So it wasn't worth it. And don't buy something that already has known rust on it. Now if you live on the East Coast, some rust might be inevitable as they use salt there on the roads. No salt here in WA so our vehicles shouldn't rust.
I prefer to buy a used vehicle that is 2-4 years old. Enough time has gone by that the price should be pretty affordable and you will know of any known problems inherent to that vehicle.
3 of mine did have known problems. One was just a piece of crap. I sold it for $200. The other just needed something along the lines of maintenance but it was a rather expensive thing (can't remember now what it needed) and I did disclose this to the buyer. Third one needed a transmission. I gave it to my BIL (the mechanic) to sell for scrap or whatever. Instread, he held on to it until business was slow, put a new (used) transmission in it, sold it and mailed me a check for almost what I paid for it! I had bought it from him. He knows that I keep my vehicles up well.
Another thing that I just thought of. With all of the hurricanes and flooding we've had in various places, you'd also want to make sure that the car didn't come from there!
Ok...so the years are wrong. They were both late 60's cars. My apologies.
The stories, however, were not BS. Do you remember the vacuum operated windshield wipers the AMC's of that error used? My 66 Rambler Ambassador used the same design.
I've got two years more of ownership than you. I've had at least 26 cars in that time and hope to have maybe two more. Cheapest one I bought was $15 in about 1975. I had to put $100 into it though as it did not run.
And electric conversions were available - and well worth installing. The vac wipers were actually not too bad if the vac pump on the fuel pump was working - otherwize the wipers stopped when you went up hill. (early Chevies had them too!!!
I remember riding in a chevy of around 1955 or so that had the vacuum wipers. When the driver would give it gas or let off the wipers would stop and then go back to normal speed.
Often those are the best ones to buy if you know the history. A friend bought several cars from a dealer over the years that were about 2 years old and had very low milage on them. They belonged to a wife of an exective of a large company. They were traded in just because someone of that social status did not want to be seen driving a car older than about 2 years. The cars had way less than 10,000 miles on them, had been serviced by the book and in a garage most of the time.
Actually, when the vac pump on my fuel pump failed, the wipers stopped working completely. I pulled the 2 hoses from the pump and connected them with a straight-through. _That's_ when they stopped whenever I went up a hill. ;-)
I also had to fabricate a bracket to hold a 'normal' brake light switch near the brake pedal after the pressure switch on the master cylinder went bad.
Do you recall what was special/different about the radio in some Ramblers from that era...that special feature that prevented you from replacing it with a newer radio?
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