Cheap Car Recommendations?

Where is a good place to get a car under $3000.00?
privately or from a dealer?
Kiddo needs something fairly dependable. I gather it will have to have a lot of miles to be cheap, but what kind of car is still good at over 100k miles?
She wants something small and economical on gas. So what should I look for car buffs?

BTW Kiddo is going to College Yeah!!!!!!!

 

got mine from a lady on hwy. 50,it's a ford explorer and i found it on craigslist for under $3000.

 

autotrader.com


you can put your price range in to do your search

 

Bought my last one ( '03 T&C Van) about a year a half ago right here on the 4042 Classifieds. Had 89,000 miles and bought it for $4000. Still runs great.....now if I could just keep it out of the way of other cars. :?

 

All but the VW are GM vehicles and have been trouble free and all 3 have 100 to 200k on them. Just have a reputable car mechanic look at it before finalizing it.

 

what about a chrystler sebring? any good?

 

craigslist

 

craigslist

 

with high mileage get something like a honda civic, accord, corolla, a little GM type (cavalier, coblat) car something like that will do well.

 

speaking from personal experience, I would look for a honda accord. I had mine for 13 years and it was still running like a charm...sold it to a lady in Cary and she was thrilled to get it. I am constantly seeing honda's on the road that are 10, 15, 20 years old, so I know they are good cars. Check out Craigs list...that's where I sold mine. Then take it to a good mechanic to be checked out prior to the final transaction. Good luck!

 

Nissan are good cars too. I just sold mine that was 18 yrs old and had 194,000 miles on it. Its still a great daily driver that got 24 mpg.

 

No they will give you nothing but trouble.

 

The resale value might make a difference to you, but one of the best American cars that will go 200k miles + in many cases are the Crown Victorias and Grand Marquises. There's a reason law enforcement uses them and then often cab companies buy them at auction and run them ragged. They are solid BOF platforms and their powertrains are easy to maintain and repair since they share mechanicals with the police interceptors. Of course, they are V8s and will get about 20-24mpg on average. If you're not going to be carrying more than one passenger at a time, another strong contender is a 4 cylinder Ford Ranger compact truck and they get great mileage and are known to last a long time.

 

We have an acura, i think it has like 185,000 miles on it, runs great, we are thinking of selling it, the air needs fixed, when you are sitting in traffic, it will get warm, nice and cold if your not in traffic, 4 door sunroof, but yes they last on miles

 

<<<< has an 01 Nissan Maxima with 201,534 THOUSAND miles on it.


LOVE that car. I will probably cry when I have to get rid of it...after 500,000 miles. :lol:

 

Agree totally. We have found our cars off ebay and done extremely well w/ all of them. Carmax we had no issues with either. Good luck & congrats to your daughter!

stephanie-- mom to 7

 

I can tell you this much. Don't bother with this ad from the 40/42 classifieds. I posted his response to my e-mail.

Automobiles
Ad Number: 138357
Date Posted: 06/27/2010
Contact: Marcus Hernandez
Johnston, NC






Hello,

Sorry for the delayed response, but I'm in Mexico City (Mexico) right now and I have been very busy.Anyway,thank you for your interest in buying the car. The car is located in US right now and has US papers.Why is the price so low? I am going trough a divorce, and I had to move out of USA I cannot register the car here, as it is made for USA, according to USA standards. So all that I want to do now is to sell the car at this price, because I need to sell it fast(I already made a deposit here to buy me another).The title is clean and you will have absolutely no problems to register the car in the States.

I will tell you a few words about the car..

My 2003 Toyota Corolla LE Sedan 4D with automatic transmission it is in immaculate condition with 91,000 Miles, rust free , no scratch and hasn't been involved in any accident. The motor runs very well.The interior looks great( NO SMOKING).This car needs nothing,the title is clear ,it is not a salvage one.

I want this transaction to go smoothly enough as I am caught in the middle of some very important events and have little time at my disposal. I already have tones of emails so I hope you understand that I need to sort them out. The car is like new, in perfect conditions,accident free, no scratches, no special marks, no need for additional repairs what so ever. a genuine road runner ready to be yours, but only if you shall understand and you won't make me loose time as it has already happened to me.


Here are all the photos of my car. The pictures are recent, and they were taken right before preparing the car for sale.
The car is exactly as shown in the pictures: http://s977.photobucket.com/albums/ae255/happymexican/my 2003 corolla/

The price is $2,500.00 USD THIS IS MY LAST PRICE.I will not negotiate the price.I will take in consideration only those buyers who are really interested in buying the car ,to be sure that I don't waist my time with endless discussions.This way,I shall be assured of the serious intentions .

So if you are interested please email me back for next step.

Regards !!

~~ Marcus ~~

Second e-mail:

Hi again,
Look how we will do this step:

Before leaving I had prearranged shipping and also the payment with MoneyBookers. so my presence in U.S isn't necessary(The car is locked in a MoneyBookers warehouse Montgomery,AL ready for delivery).The price of car $2,500 includes all the shipping costs and insurance, so you won't have to pay any extra charges.

Here is what I suggest: we will use MoneyBookers which acts like an escrow service , you make a deposit of 30% the price of the car in a MoneyBookers managed trust fund ( they hold the money until you receive the car ), I send the car over( the car will be delivered with the title, owner's manual, 2 sets of keys, service records, and of course the bill of sale authorised and signed by me),I will offer a 14 day period from the day you receive it from the shipping company,you can inspect it, take it to a mechanic to check it out, drive it and then if you decided to keep it, you'll confirm to MoneyBookers the sale so that they can start paying me and then you send me the remaining money. If, by any reason, you will not be satisfied with it ( even though I can assure you that it is exactly as described), you can return it at my expense for a full refund of your money, no questions asked.I think this is more than fair for the both of us.
NOTE: The deposit (down payment) is refundable, and is just a security measure, to make sure that you are serious, and that I am not going to ship the car, and loose time and money.

So if you are interested to go ahead with the deal, please reply with your full name and shipping address so I can ask MoneyBookers to open a case! After, they will contact you explaining all the details regarding the payment..
I'm looking forward to hear from you.

Thank you,
Marcus

 

Please tell me I'm not the only one that thinks this is a scam.

 

It is a scam. That's why she said not to bother answering the ad.

 

Kiddo and I have seen this mess before. Two other occasions it was a service man who was on the west coast and would have the car shipped via the air force or army to my door. (yeah right). Another time the car was in Hawaii..oooooo....exotic....
The sad part...someone, somewhere will believe this stuff.

yes we are still looking for a car...