Some folks will blow five grand on a cruise. Others will take it to Vegas. The adventurous among us may even decide go to Central America during the off season and find that the country they’re visiting is now under martial law. Some freak out. Others buy a nice drink at a cafe and people watch. We all have risk tolerances when it comes to life’s pleasures, and cars are no different. The question with buying any car though is not whether you want to get some bang for the buck. But whether you’re willing to get the ‘education’ that comes with it.
An education always costs money… or time. I once spent over a year working at one public auction before I was willing to buy one of their vehicles. Why? Everything seemed like junk and when the big seller told me that most of his rides came straight from the tow and impound lots, I decided to bide my time. Eventually I found a late-80’s Subaru wagon for $425 that had a cleaner interior and nicer tires than the rest of the junk. One water pump later and it became the official beer car for my Hashers group. Those little wagons could hold a lot of brew and I always came home with a surplus. A few months later I sold it to a stockbroker. Made money. Spent money. Had fun. An easy life.
But these days life is a bit more serious. Wife, kids, bills… and a lot less free time than years past. The cars I buy now can have an immediate impact on the long-term bottom line. Thankfully, over the course of the last decade I have probably inspected and appraised at least 50,000 vehicles. That helps out an awful lot. But still it’s not a perfect world. Buying cars at auctions is full of risk and the public ones tend to have the worst inventory. So where should you start?
For the inquisitive and mechanically inclined, I would start with two different types of vehicles. the government owned mule and the new car trade-in. Why? Well back in the good old days you could get records straight from the dealership or glovebox. I would sometimes pull out a brickload of maintenance records that would tell me an awful lot of the prior owner’s priorities. These days there are privacy concerns which means no more bricks… but not so with a government vehicle. Virtually all of them are fleet maintained and contrary to myth, not every car is an abused police interceptor. One friendly call to the local ‘maintenance department’ and you can usually discover who had it, what had been done, and what will be needed.
I’ve bought many a Crown Vic, Lumina and Taurus from public auctions that had far more money sunk in recent repair work than the final auction purchase price. A dent here or a stained seat there, and most public buyers (and dealers) sniff their nose at that mechanically sound sled. They don’t bother to open the hood and find the recent tranny replacement or the rebuilt front suspension. County and city auctions can command a price premium depending on where you are. But when these vehicles are sent to the local public auction, they are blended in with hundreds of less viable vehicles with a final selling price to match.
In the next installment I’ll cover new car trades. Like the government vehicles, you can still learn an awful lot about their past. But the tricks that can be played here are far more sophisticated.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. BTW I still say you could make millions putting all of your knowledge into a book.
I have wondered about “old” government vehicles. Occasionally I’ll see a 1st FWD generation Malibu, a late 90s Subaru wagon, old Jeep Cherokees, Buick Century, ect that has seen government work. Yeah the interiors stained or it has a busted rear power window switch, but I was currious about the level of maintenance done on them and what the goverment’s guidelines were for how long to keep a vehicle or get rid of a vehicle.
Years back I bought an ’86 Carrera Targa. I earned a PhD with that SOB.
I’m currently getting a master’s on a Mazda that involves odo fraud, four different state Attorney Generals, two potential criminals, four eBay sales on the same car, a soon-to-be-filed lawsuit and lots of money thrown away. Drove me so crazy that I stopped caring about the dollars I was supposed to be saving and bought a new car.
Worst mistake ever was buying a 77 Mustang II that a lady had traded in on a new Reneault Fuego. Put more money on repairs over three years than I paid for the car. Worst two was after changing the leaking gas tank car stopped running. After two days in the shop, lots of parts changes and road tests (always towed b ack) it turned out to be a kink in the fuel line. It was fine as long as the leaky gas tank provided suction but once replaced it the kink stopped fuel from reaching the engine. Then on the way home one night it felt like I had been rear ended but no car behind me. What had happened is the rear springs just dropped due to corrosion. Like I said, worst mistake I ever made.
As bad as your experience was, I can guarantee you the lady who bought the Fuego had a worse one :)
Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.
Buying a used vehicle with over 100,000 miles is always a gamble. It’s tough to get the whole story with regards to maintenance, even from the local pastor and his wife , because most people don’t know a serpentine belt from a timing belt.
My most recent purchase, I subtracted the cost of a timing belt replacement from the average trade in price and made my offer. It took the poor fellow a day to respond, but it went well. The vehicle is fine for my needs.
If I’m buying used rather than new I’m competing with people like Steve. The price I get is going to be the next bid increment above what anyone knowlegeable thinks the car is worth. Isn’t it a fact that any non professional at a public auction is going to get fleeced?
Steve, ON-ON. I have a 92 Dodge Dakota that my dad gave me – we used it for several years as the beer truck for the BVD H3 here is east central Florida. Glad to see you got some good use out of that Subaru.
BVD H3 Beer Meister ’07-’08
Another option: a car from a well-maintained corporate fleet. I’m fortunate in that my BIL is a regional manager for a company that had historically purchased fleet cars for their disctrict and regional managers to drive (sadly, their policy is changing to a monthly car allowance). All of them are maintained by their in-house mechanics. Most of them have been your typical economical fleet queens – Chevy Cavaliers, Malibus, and my BIL loved the Pontiac G6 he drove. When my niece stopped driving her 2002 Cavalier that he’d bought for a song at fleet retirement, I bought it for my son. It’s still going well at 180k miles.
The cream of the crop has been the Pontiac Vibes they included in the fleet, which are now nearing retirement. My BIL picked up a 2005 for himself last year with 160k on the odo, and I’m anxiously awaiting an opportunity to grab one for a daily commuter. Good reliability with Toyota mechanicals (OK, there are the accelerator issues…), 30+ mpg, and he gets 20% off low blue book.
C’mon Vibe…!
I drove the car model in the picture for five years. It had a wonderfully responsive transmission, a quick throttle, and plenty of torque. The rest of the car was crap, but I’ve got to give props to GM Powertrain.
Most GM powertrains are diamonds in the rough, while the rest of the car leaves a little (or a lot) to be desired. When it comes to GMs, I trend towards anything with a 3800 (series I, II, or III).
I went half-way through my bachelors program in college with a 92′ Regal that had leaks, rattles and a number of weird electrical problems. The 3800 was a stout piece that never had any problems. And then I sold the car for a pittance because I finally got tired of it.
You hash? Sadly, I discovered it immediately after I left Milwaukee for a town bereft on any hashers so haven’t had the opportunity to join.
About a year ago a family friend was looking for a cheap car for their teenage son. I reccomened a local dealership who has plenty of ex govt fleet cars. Must buy them by the dozens. At that time they had a plethora of used “classics” and one 03 Olds Alero. They wanted way too much money for it. Were were able to bring it down. But the car was in such great shape it was worth it. The think had little over 23,000 miles on it, and still had the new car smell. Was on an army base in Virginia and probably didn’t even leave base.