Buying a car in this market

The only problem with that plan is that major parts are almost as hard to come by as cars themselves. I mentioned my experience with the body shop a couple of posts above yours. In my many chats with the manager over the course of 2 1/2 months, he mentioned how hard it is to get parts for any cars right now and certain high-demand vehicles like Toyotas and Hondas in particular. He was having to resort to buying parts from junkyards just to complete jobs. His parking lot had more cars on it than a lot of new car lots in the area.

 

I don't care anything about the year. Miles are everything for me. I bought a 12-year-old Camry last October, but it had only 78,000 miles on it. Paid just under $10K.

Fewer than 100K miles and less than $10K is a combination I wasn't even seeing in a Corolla, let alone a Camry.

 

Just bought a new Subaru Outback having owned a 2012 Outback for ever so slightly under 10 years. We bought that one new also. Given what we paid and what we got as a trade in, the lease cost for the 10 years would have been $172.50 per month. In the long run, buying usually beat leasing.

 

I don't understand why anyone would lease, unless it's to live beyond his or her means. It's like renting your residence instead of owning it. At the end of the auto lease, what do you have? Less money and no wheels.

 

I just hope my 15-year-old little bitch wagon stays mobile until this passes because right now a monthly payment for a new car would be tough.

 

So what we have found with a solid day of car shopping is that the middle-age cars barely exist, not that they were easy to find before. And used Camrys are, in general, going with crazy high prices (and a surprising number of high mileage ones are being sold by the dealers).

We found one dealer that would let a new one go for sticker and we are awaiting the paperwork on that. Another had a car we preferred and told us it was sticker price, only to get there and find a $5,000 market correction surcharge. I'd have bought that car for sticker and they wouldn't come down a penny.

I know, you say, get an Accord, get a Mazda. But this is my wife's car. Other than her car from high school, she has only driven Camrys, and she doesn't want to change her mind just because someone crashed into her and the economy is crashing around her. And I'm OK with that. She works hard, and it's basically her money that runs our household, so I'm happy for her to drive what she likes.

 

Great car. Glad you found one.

 

"market correction surcharge"

 

My brother-in-law owns one of this car as always and leases the other always. He's an old GM guy who used to work in a GM factory, and he loves having a new car every couple of years. He also understands leasing isn't the greatest thing. So they buy one car which they keep for as long as you keep new cars, and the other one they get a new car I think every 3 years. He gets to drive new cars but they're not locked into two leases.

 

For people who can write off vehicle expenses, leases are often tax advantaged.

It’s not the same as a house because it’s a depreciating asset. If you get a low interest rate, you are basically just buying the depreciation and then at the end of your lease payment you have an option to buy at a fixed price. If the car is shitty or no longer suits your needs, it’s an easy out.

Many people who finance the purchase of a car will find themselves in a negative equity situation after a few years. That’s never good, and unlike a house that asset is only going to keep going down.

 

I know, right? Awful.

Saw that on our sales contract and countered with a hard no.

Miraculously, thanks to the series of aforementioned foul-ups, they sort of shrugged and said 'ok.'

 

A year-plus ago, we were sort of looking for a new used SUV, something in the Tahoe/Yukon line, something with three rows, the better with to separate our kids, my dear. We didn’t look very hard because we didn’t have the cash on hand, and even used, those are expensive. We test drove a Subaru Ascent with all the options. Nice, but the continuous transmission was strange. Ran like hell down the highway, though.

Long story longer, we’re gonna drive our 2013 (bought used in 2015) Forester XT until the market cools off. If I’m really lucky, I’ll be able to get a good used 4x4 Tacoma in a few years to replace my 1991 that was totaled six or seven years ago.

It’s hell being poor.