Some context: i've never needed a car, because i've mostly lived in cities where you can get around using transit.
I've recently moved to a rural area where unless you have a car, you're shit outta luck on the weekends, because there are either no buses or one bus a day to move around. I can make it decently far riding a bike, but it is not a substitute for a car, unfortunately. I make a modest salary, and while i don't have a lot in the way of savings, i just saw a car the next town over for sale for a very low price (under 1000). I spoke to the owner and they were very clear that the car is pretty old (1999) and needs some work, but that it still works regardless.
Considering that the car would be mostly a convenience, and that gas/insurance shouldn't be too much of a expense... am I dumb for jumping in on this bargain? might I be in over my head in case the car needs a whole bunch of repairs?
If you're comfortable buying a shop manual and doing your own repairs, it could be a good deal. If you would mostly be using a mechanic to do repairs and maintenance, there's a large risk that it snowballs into a money pit.
I disagree. Even if you wanted to learn mechanics this is bad advice. You want to learn car mechanics? Buy a vintage car to rebuild while you have access to your actually working good vehicle. That way your struggles and failures don't force you to tap into money you don't have, don't leave you late for work, and so on. This is not the way to go about this.
Keep in mind the goal here isn't "learning mechanics" but "getting a cheap used car on a budget". If you can't afford a newish car that won't need maintenance, you probably can't afford to have a mechanic do the service on an older car either.
I'd agree with this, but only if you want to learn how to work on a vehicle. If not, you're gonna defer to a mechanic once things start getting complicated, and thus expensive.
Yeah, I think that's the crux of my point - if you're willing to get a manual and tools and learn, an old car can be a money saver. I wouldn't expect them to rebuild a motor, but replacing shocks, or ball joints, swapping alternators, etc, are all pretty simple with a good manual and the right tools, and they'll all be quite expensive if a mechanic does it.
Right, but I mean "want" specifically as in they kinda have a yearning to do so. Buying because they think they're willing to do so before they find themselves staring at an open hood is a trap.
Lemme tell ya, I just bought new (twenty year old) transportation to be my reliable get-around and it blew a head gasket. I have no yearning to tear it down and replace the gasket but I know what I'm doing next weekend and it isn't fun.
If it's an Asian make you should be fine, American would require some research, European best avoided.
Just remember that it's still a significant time investment to keep older stuff running. My parents always preferred a new car or lease cause they didn't want to deal with maintenance/repairs.
Also see if the timing belt has been replaced, there should be a sticker in the engine compartment. It's a $1k job that you probably don't want to do yourself since you have to take the engine half apart.
It needs to be done at 10yrs or 100k miles, and there's no way to know if it's going to fail. If it does fail, it will probably destroy your engine.
Just something to be aware of and plan for when buying an older vehicle.
Always nice to find an old car with a timing chain, saved you the headache of dealing with a belt
Still gives you more warning than a belt, which is good if you just need a commuter that won't suddenly explode on you
Can it be a good deal? Yes. Can you end up in over your head with a worthless rust bucket? Yes.
The usual advice applies: have the car checked out by a mechanic you trust before buying. Especially with old cars shit is starting to break that isn’t on the main sequence of repairs or big stuff can be on the way out.
Keep the cost of a tow in the car somewhere.
If you grow to rely on the car, build or buy a two car carport so it’s got a little protection from the elements and look around for a spare shitty old car.
It’s a lot easier to deal with a breakdown when you can just use the other car till the broke one is fixed.
Lmao I'm not sure I understand this advice comrade. should I buy an old beater that could be a money sink?
no, you should buy two
Seems like cat-in-the-wall logic to me
It’s how poor rural people are. You’re either in hock over a ten year old Kia or have two busted ass twenty year old Toyotas.
Do not do this. It will be a money sink. If you are asking strangers on the internet this question you almost certainly don't have the knowledge to do the kinds of repairs an aging vehicle needs. It will become a sunk cost and you will feed it far beyond the time you should have cut your losses. You should look into a better vehicle if you really need one. Even if you need to make a small payment for a good working used vehicle you will end up saving so much more in the long run over what you would spend to get the repairs done to the vehicle that admittedly needs repairs now and in the future.
Don't buy a "fixer upper" vehicle if you are not mechanically inclined and knowledgeable. Just don't.
Since the owner was clear upfront that the car needs work, they would probably not object to having a mechanic look at the car first to determine how much the repairs would cost.
The seller might know a trustworthy mechanic, but online reviews can help a lot. I found my mechanic through reviews, they don't charge me too much and don't tell me my car needs something fixed/replaced unless it actually does.
Have you fixed cars before? Do you like doing it? Do you maintain enough money (say $500 minimum) on your account to pay for unexpected tows/parts on short notice? If you answered "no" to any of those questions I would advise against buying a fixer-upper unless you already have reliable primary transportation (which can be mass transit, assuming it can get you to and from work while your car is laid up).
That satisfied, getting into fixing up your own vehicle is really rewarding and I highly recommend it. Anyone can learn the skills required, though I would make sure the car you're getting doesn't require a ton of expensive specialized tools to fix (usually you don't have to worry with the more affordable brands that float around craigslist).
What's your budget? As someone who's delt with driving a car on its way out of this world, it can be a real nightmare
My 20 year old car sucked up a lot of money but I think the mechanics took me for a bigger ride than the car has
Some old cars are easy to work on and some are pieces of shit.
What model is it?
Second what everyone else says about only doing this if you want to do maintenance and repairs yourself. Watch some ChrisFix videos. You should have some mechanical inclination (owning a bike is probably enough) and be prepared to slog through old forum threads. You will also need to spend a hundred bucks or two on basic tools (jack, jack stands, socket set is bare minimum). Parts are cheap but you might pay a shop $100 an hour or more for labor if you're not DIYing. Highly HIGHLY recommend finding some car friends to give you advice. On the selection process, on the buying process, on maintenance.
When you buy the car it'll probably have a couple hundred bucks / few hours of stuff that you want to do to be comfortable in it. Backup camera, tie rod ends, deep cleaning interior, whatever. All used cars are like that I think. If you want, bring it to a mechanic for a prepurchase inspection to make sure that there's nothing really fucked up about it, as in safety hazard or "engine will blow up in 300 miles". That'll cost like a hundred bucks.
I bought a shitbox for $2300, raced and drove it for a year, and sold for $2400 when I was ready to move up. I invested a couple workdays of personal time and probably $2-300 of parts; I came out so behind because the market cooled down while I owned the car. Compared to the alternative of buying like a $10-20k nice used car it was still the better option I think.
Also, I recommend getting insurance quotes before you buy. Especially if you are a young man with no driving history it might be more than you think. I had to call like ten places before I found one offering a non-insane price for the minimal legal policy.
figure out exactly what work you would need to do to get it in an acceptable state. if you're replacing the engine, it's probably not really a deal.
You might be over your head because old cars have old parts that break, and even being confident in your own skills might not be enough. You're more than likely going to be committing multiple times the value of the car in maintenance/insurance/gas/etc. It's probably a good idea to get an estimate of what it'd take you to run the car yearly. Do some research on common problems with your car (or the platform itself) - more than likely there's an old PHPbb forum with some information you can use to get a sense of what's going to happen at what mileage.
