1985-1998 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
By good cosmetics, I meant cars that are owned by people that things don't HAPPEN to all the time. One good dent or faded paint can just be age. The interior should still be decent. A 2 year old car is still fairly new here. Depreciated maybe only 15 to 30 per cent. At ten years of age, depreciation is closer to 70 %. Go back 15 years and it's more like 90 or 95%. Insurance is fairly cheap for liability alone. That's assuming you're 25 years old. Below that age it can get pricey for a male. Rule doesn't seem to apply to females. I think 25 is the magic number so try and age yourself a bit. Insuring the value of the car adds a lot to it and there is no need with a ten year old vehicle. The rule is that if 1 to 2 years of (collision/comprehensive) premiums equal the value of the car - - then you self-insure. Liability alone (required by law) is typically between $150 to $200 every six months. Fairly cheap. My sons, both around 20 to 21 years of age pay that amount every month! But their driving record sort of supports the insurance company's insistance on the higher premium. Don't know what the case will be with you as a "furiner". Charlotte should be a cheaper area to insure in (as compared with, say, New York or Washington, D.C.).
Good deals in cars can sometimes be found in people's yards. Best to look at people who have late model cars getting rid of old model cars. These folks often buy just because they want something new - - not because the old one is falling apart. Someone in a '94 selling a '92 I would be more careful about. They didn't trade up just for two model years newer! My Pastor bought a 40K mile '94 Cadillac for $9000 from the yard of a neighbor in a $300K house. That was a good deal! (I can't speak on what the cost of keeping up that car will be but this is what they like to drive.) He got a $40,000 car that looked like new. Similar to the kind of deals we get driving 9000's. Older Volvo's are also a good deal here. More plentiful than Saab's and at least somewhat similar in look and feel. Fords are my favorite in domestic brands. If you like V8's, Late 80's Lincoln (made by Ford) Town Cars are an excellent example of the large, rear wheel drive, American luxury car. '86 to '89 are fuel injected (23 to 25 miles per gallon fuel economy - - just a bit worse than a 9K auto), they have a cast iron 5.0 liter engine that is almost bullet proof, and the auto transmissions easily go 200K too. I ran an '86 to 340K miles with no major mechanicals. Now stuff like the electric window motors were a lot of hassle but a reasonably mechical guy can deal with this stuff and you're looking at a fairly limited time period in which you plan to own the car. Avoid anything newer than '90 on Ford's big 8's. They went to an aluminum engine in 1991 that is smoother, more powerful, more economical, and very short-lived. My '91 with identical maintenance was burning oil by 190K miles and blew a head gasket at 210. The 90 model is probably OK. It had the newer body with the older engine. The air suspension is troublesome and expensive (on the new body style) but can be changed out with $20 worth of junk year rear springs if it should fail (ask me how I know). These cars are typically being sold by older retired folk and have had good maintenance. Interior condition is a good indicator of what kind of life they had. The years I mention are all generally available or under $2000 and are NICE cars! For comfort and luxury. Not for handling. That's Saab!
Flat paint is mostly determined by whether or not they were garaged. In the U.S. we typically fill our garages with junk and keep our $30,000 car out in the driveway under the sun and weather. We can talk more. I live in Atlanta which is near Charlotte. I think Peter Ingram is here also.
posted by 66.21....
, Sun, 28 Mar 2004 15:31:55
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