AI meets BFC: Car Buying Thread: No Rentals and No Salvage Titles

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > AI meets BFC: Car Buying Thread: No Rentals and No Salvage Titles

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Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Proposed Budget: Less than $10k?
New or Used: Used
Body Style:

Sedan, suv, or hatchback.
Don't want a big vehicle.
Prefer 4-door but if 2-door is a big difference then that's okay.

How will you be using the car?:

Mainly just day-to-day city driving.
Somewhat occasionally driving ~3 hours on highway to a different metro.
Somewhat less occasionally driving up big mountains for snowboarding.
Generally just driving myself.

What aspects are most important to you?

Longevity. I don't want to have to buy a car again for a while after buying this car.
All wheel drive.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2021 05:56

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 01:42

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

KillHour posted:

Do you live in a state (CA) where chains are required without AWD? If not, Prius, Corolla or whatever other small Japanese hatch/sedan you can get a good price on. Hatch is probably better for the cargo space.

If you're unfortunate enough to live in CA or similar, you're probably going to have a really hard time finding a reliable long-term AWD car in your budget. We're talking Subi with 6 figure mileage here...

Thank you for the response.

I checked out carvana and it looks like I�d need to expand my budget to $20k before I find something quality.

Does hat sound about right?

# ¿ Apr 8, 2021 05:50

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

I didn�t realize it was that much of a trade off / tension.

AWD is to help safely go up steep snowy mountains.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2021 16:03

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Thanks for the information, thread. There�s still a lot I don�t know about cars and the car buying process.

RAV4s, CR-Vs, and crosstek all look good.

# ¿ Apr 10, 2021 07:22

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Throatwarbler posted:

PSA: You can get the Prius with AWD now.

These 2021�s I�m looking at are starting around $25k. Hopefully used ones will be at a plausible price point for me in a year or so.

But the ground clearance seems super low. Idk if they�d do well going up a snowy mountain.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2021 01:36

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

How quickly, and by how much, do new car model MSRP drop?

I'm interested in the RAV4 Prime, will there be any significant price drop in 6months? A year?

https://www.toyota.com/rav4prime/

# ¿ Apr 18, 2021 04:17

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

LionArcher posted:

Proud owner of the Lexus hatchback. Offered the guy 9 and he took it. So stoked. I have a better looking Prius.

No vehicle looks better than the Prius. The Prius is testament to cold blooded efficiency. A stoic steed for the modern day knight.

# ¿ May 19, 2021 07:28

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Nomyth posted:

Proposed Budget: The big boy job I got last year is starting to give me the (over)confidence I need to look at sporty and/or legitimately hot cars and destroying their warranties with a tune as soon as I'm tempted. 80k salary with no rent to pay for the next 2 years but Timetable for when I can actually afford the car is fluctuating because I am also spending used car prices on my gun hobby insanity and gacha games that I never should have let myself into

New or Used: Absolutely new. I will not settle for less than a '22 BRZ, or a FoRS, or whatever the heck Toyota is going to try and spit out as a GR Corolla next year. Miata RF with the top never down is also a consideration. gently caress the sun

Alternative northern Continental US weather/SHTF hellscape option: Outback Wilderness trim or other safari'd dumb thing that isn't a Porsche. (I'm not very good at planning trips to be during good weather) I don't have feelings one way or another about electrics. gently caress Elon and the earth TBH

How will you be using the car?: I want an autocrossing/tracking (maybe dirt tracking if the safari option) daily driver do-it-all as my only car and and definitely not what I have right now.

What aspects are most important to you? For insurance purposes, I'm a 33 and a guy and my skill at driving is probably middling at best. I can't drive stick because I never hung out with the cool kids. I've changed spare tires before, but I've never bothered to spend the effort to change my own oil on my non-hot '14 Fiesta, so I'd rather not have to have myself wrench on this new car. I'm most likely going to need one of those newfangled auto-stopping sensor system thingies to compensate for my inattentive jackassery. But enough self-deprecation, I want a light AF car that I can toss hard

So as you can tell, this isn't really a practical decision for me even though I might want to be more serious about it. But hey, ask me about how I chose the Chrysler TC by Maserati as my first car, that I had to get towed and repaired just to get off the lot. I need to live out the boy racer fantasy that I was previously too young/depressed/poor/busy to have, please indulge my perpetual mid-life crisis with a decision on one of the cars above or any similarly-classed cars

Prius

# ¿ May 27, 2021 04:13

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

The thread loves the Prius when people ask for mileage and reliability. The Prius holds the gold medal.

What other cars are good for mileage and reliability?

Anything even close to the Prius?

# ¿ Jun 30, 2021 05:53

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

KillHour posted:

This. A 5 year loan at 2.49% puts you at about $17k max financed for your target of $300/mo. That's about the best rate you could hope for with great credit on a new-ish used car in the US if you finance through a credit union. 1.99% might be possible based on where you're at, but it would be exceptional and would only save ~$4/month.

Remember to factor taxes, registration and whatever bullshit dealer fees your state allows into your calculation.

This is a good post and I appreciate your effort!

# ¿ Nov 28, 2021 20:02

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Gonna prowl car max and see if I can find a Subaru that needs a good home with a very broke driver

# ¿ Jun 25, 2022 21:43

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

nitsuga posted:

Buy this goon�s Accord: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3515402&perpage=40&noseen=1&pagenumber=31#post524382131

Dang, looking at that thread, cars with a lot of miles are going for more thousands of dollars than I was expecting.

# ¿ Jun 27, 2022 08:09

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

knox_harrington posted:

You have the perfect personality for a Tesla

# ¿ Jul 1, 2022 06:20

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

That means you suck, op

# ¿ Jul 1, 2022 06:20

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Prius with ground clearance would be nice

# ¿ Jul 2, 2022 02:39

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

DNK posted:

That�s a rav4 hybrid

I looked at car max in my area and 10 of 12 rav4 hybrids available are 2021 models.

Did the new model suck rear end or something?

# ¿ Jul 2, 2022 03:33

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Nitrox posted:

There are always cars to buy, but at what price? Inventory is overflowing because people aren't willing to pay double of what those prices were 2 years ago. Some do, of course. But interest rates are climbing, and that is also a factor.

If nobody is buying the cars then why aren�t prices coming down ?

# ¿ Jul 2, 2022 15:54

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Tyro posted:

There are Prius lift kits available.

There are some fun image results of this. I would love to get a total 7+ inch clearance and continually blast limp bizkit while I head up the mountain. We simply must keep rollin� rollin� rollin�

# ¿ Jul 2, 2022 15:58

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Get your wife the biggest hummer available.

# ¿ Jul 3, 2022 17:49

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Twerk from Home posted:

That feature is a thing that only the Chrysler Pacifica has, and the hybrid one does not. So it sounds like you have a non-hybrid Chrysler Pacifica in your future!

I am shocked that so few minivans have stow and go

# ¿ Jul 12, 2022 17:06

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Subaru new 2023 crosstrek�s are listed as less expensive than used crosstreks.

What am I missing?

# ¿ Jul 25, 2022 20:35

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

How long do buyers sit on the allocation lists?

We talking closer to a season or closer to a year?

# ¿ Jul 26, 2022 00:36

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

It is time to give up on my dream of owning my own home and instead time to replace my car

It will be nice to have something safe and relatively modern.

Everything is expensive and I don�t like monthly debt service but I only have like $35k in liquid savings.

What a time to be alive.

So what, I just go to a bunch of lots and test drive poo poo until I find something I like, then try and get that make/model cheaper on car fax or carvana?

# ¿ Sep 21, 2022 16:39

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

I think I finally need to just bite the bullet and buy a replacement vehicle

# ¿ Oct 21, 2022 08:58

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

tater_salad posted:

Can you wait awhile. It's like a bad time to buy something still.

I know

At this point it�s a pretty beat car.

I also don�t know if it will ever not be a bad time to buy. I�ve been waiting for it to be a good time to buy for like a year.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2022 08:33

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Car play, less than 80k miles, decent ground clearance, awd/4WD, good visibility from the driver seat� trying to pay $20k or less. So far that seems unlikely.

Any recommendations?

# ¿ Oct 22, 2022 08:41

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

I appreciate the advice, friends

What�s the goon consensus wisdom on how many miles should be on the car? Is it dumb to get a used car with over 100k miles?

# ¿ Oct 22, 2022 19:14

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

I need to start test driving cars so I know what works for me and what doesn�t when I�m perusing the listings.

This seems like it�s gonna suck :mad:

Mustache Ride posted:

Not sure where you are but there's plenty of options if you look. Although I'd strongly suggest you get a 3rd party inspection or at least Carfax first.

Also, if you're in the south east now is when the flooded cars hit the market so stay far far away

this is a neat resource, thank you

Ornery and Hornery fucked around with this message at 05:25 on Oct 26, 2022

# ¿ Oct 25, 2022 07:30

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

My current car is has a title of �totaled� or whatever but it still runs. The aesthetics are beat to poo poo because I got hit and the insurance would pay to repair it because the repairs are more than the worth of the car.

What�s the best way to get the most value when I sell it? Junkyard? A dealership and see what they give? Craigslist for parts?

It�ll drive you from point a to point b so I figure that�s got to be worth at least a couple hundred bucks.

# ¿ Oct 25, 2022 07:33

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

I�m going car shopping this weekend. And next weekend.

If I want to test drive a bunch of stuff, do I just call up a car max lot and say �hey can I test drive a bunch of stuff?�

# ¿ Nov 4, 2022 22:30

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Aye aye

# ¿ Nov 5, 2022 09:47

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Mustache Ride posted:

Naw some credit unions have a Buyer's Check thing where they will pre-approve you up to a certain amount and you just spring it on the dealer when you make a decision.

I've negotiated the price down to one below my pre-approved amount, they take me to the finance guy to prove they can get lower rates, I say "sure run your rates and we'll see" and when they come back with double the rate I whip out the check and show the rate and make them sign it.

Heck yeah, power move

I�m gonna do this

# ¿ Nov 8, 2022 06:07

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

But the graph and shot makes me think I should try and wait a bit longer???

# ¿ Nov 8, 2022 06:09

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:

A dude kept making GBS threads up the AI new car thread with questions about financing so now you all get a financing post.

There are three ways to finance a car, broadly. I am leaving out leasing for the purposes of this discussion and I'm ignoring BHPH operations because you should never gently caress with BHPH operations.

1) You BYO financing. This involves you going to your bank and or credit union and getting preapproved for a loan for a given amount (which should be more than the price of the car you intend to buy; the preapproval amount is a maximum), term, and rate. The preapproval is valid for a certain period of time, typically 30 days. Once you pick a car, you tell the dealer you are bringing your own financing, and they'll work through the process with you. You may have to do additional legwork and paperwork as a result.

2) You use the manufacturer's captive financing. These are entities like Toyota Motor Credit, Volkswagen Credit International, etc that exist to move cars. The manufacturer's financing arm loans you money when you buy one of their cars. Since the purpose of captive finance is twofold - make money on loans, and move cars - and those two purposes are not necessarily fully aligned, you can see some really, really good interest rates from captive finance. We're talking 0.9%, 1.9%, 2.5% etc. You typically have to have excellent credit to qualify for these rates and the terms of the loans are generally non-negotiable. They are highly standard and the structure is fair to the consumer (no early repayment penalties etc) Note that in many cases, financing from the manufacturer is in lieu of manufacturer cash incentives. You'll see stuff like $1K cash back or 0.9% financing, meaning you have to pick one or the other.

3) You use dealer-provided financing. This does not mean that the dealer is loaning you money; the dealer is brokering an auto loan for you through a (usually) highly reputable lender (think Ally, BoA, etc). The dealer is allowed to make money on financing by marking up the interest rate; the extent to which they can do this is limited by the loan originator and usually is no more than 200bps or 2 percentage points. You can negotiate this interest rate and the dealer may give up some or all of their markup. They also receive back-end compensation from the loan originator, so you can sometimes get a better deal off of dealer-provided financing from the same originator. Generally speaking, these loans are fairly standard (no early repayment penalties etc) because they come from reputable lenders, but you should be careful to read the fine print.

In all of these cases, the loan originator is going to hold your car's title until you pay off the loan.

What does this mean and how do you use it?
1) Always have a BYO financing option. This allows you to benchmark the dealer and captive finance offered rates, and allows you to exert some leverage over the dealer.
2) You don't have to use your BYO financing option. If the dealer or captive finance is going to beat your BYO financing rates, you should use those options.
3) If you are considering a captive financing option, make sure that a) you aren't giving up cash incentives and or b) giving up the cash incentive still makes financial sense. Run the numbers.

I appreciate all your effort posts.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2022 13:27

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

I keep getting anecdotes of �the person knew exactly the car and trim they wanted, they contacted dealerships and told them exactly how much they were willing to pay, and bam got their car super easy�

Idgi. If it�s that easy to be like �this much money for the car� then where does the impression of carsalespeople ripping you off come from? Is it all the �paint warranty� and �duck-proof grill� addons?

# ¿ Nov 15, 2022 16:07

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

What are the resources for checking out car safety ratings?

# ¿ Dec 27, 2023 07:21

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Guinness posted:

iihs.org and nhtsa.gov/ratings

Thank you, comrade

# ¿ Dec 27, 2023 20:40

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

What are good hatchbacks or CUVs with decent headroom?

Main advice that comes from Reddit is 1) �avoid moon/sun roofs� and 2) recommendations for vehicles which are medium suv or larger.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2023 17:28

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

zedprime posted:

You can't internet shop size or shape constraints. Make a list of cars on your other requirements then go sit in them.

I have done some sitting already and I will go on sitting in cars. Thank you.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2023 17:45

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 01:42

Ornery and Hornery: Oct 22, 2020

Motronic posted:

We're in a weird spot in the car market and if I were looking for what you're looking for there is simply no way I'd accept an $8k discount for something that much older that probably had a hard life on the interior, who knows what service it got (that's still in an age range where "none" is possible and it's still driving) and is now out of warranty coverage. Especially for family hauler duties.

Idk what�s up but yeah a lot of used vehicles I�m finding are only like a handful of thousands cheaper than new cars and idgi

# ¿ Dec 29, 2023 17:48

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > AI meets BFC: Car Buying Thread: No Rentals and No Salvage Titles

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