Buying A Used Vehicle In The Internet Age

Meet my recently-purchased "newer" vehicle, Mike, a 2006 Ford F-150.

My old van, Quartermain, hit the 275,000 miles mark late last year and I decided that it was time for something newer. He was still running reasonably well, but getting to the point where he'd soon be due for major mechanical work, and it made no sense to put thousands of dollars into a vehicle that had a market worth of less than $1000. Plus, I needed a truck.

I've always bought used vehicles, starting with my first $1,000 Datsun when I was 15.  But I'd had Quart for more than ten years and when I decided to start shopping, I found that the internet has brought a lot of changes to this particular chore, making things easier for buyers, sellers and, unfortunately, scammers. 

Well, it took some time and effort to find Mike, and I had to learn a lot. I thought I'd pass on what I already knew about buying a used vehicle, plus what I learned about car shopping on the internet.

First of all, why buy used?

In a word, money. 

A new car can lose 20-30% of its value the second you drive it off the dealer's lot. It's just the nature of the beast. A car a few years old with less than a 100,000 miles on it can easily be half the price of a comparable new car.

For example, Mike, before taxes and title, cost $8,900. A comparable new F-150 in my zip code costs $18,000 plus. Mike was four years old and had 70k miles on him when I made the deal. Because I bought him used, with, as my mechanic put it, just enough miles on him to be fully broken in, I saved $9,000+. Add in the fact that I was able to pay cash, avoiding interest on financing, and the savings are probably $10,000 plus.

Or to put it another way, I was able to afford a much better vehicle because I bought one used. Indeed, I was able to buy the vehicle I really needed, with some of the features I wanted as well,  because I bought used. 

Unless you've got enough money to buy whatever you want--in which case, why are you reading this blog?--the first job when buying any vehicle, new or used, it to decide what you can afford to pay and how much that will get you in terms of what you want and what you need. 

Sit down and figure it out. What do you need? How many passengers do you need to carry? Do you need a car that doesn't use much gas? Do you need a vehicle that can tow? Or carry cargo?  If so, how much?

Then list what you want. A/C? (In my part of Texas, that's a need.) Power door locks, windows, mirrors? Cloth seats? A GPS system? A lot of power? A certain paint color? A fancy sound system?

When you buy used, you often have to make compromises. That's just part of the deal. What you're willing to be flexible on is up to you.

In my case, I needed a truck, so I could carry round bales of hay, and it needed to be able to tow at least 5000 lbs. My small trailer, loaded with a full-sized horse, weighs 2500 lbs, but you never tow at the maximum, so I wanted double that capacity.  I didn't need power anything, other than steering and brakes, I could care less about a GPS or sound system and a three-passenger bench seat was fine. I didn't want to pay for more power than I needed, so a F 150,  Dodge 1500, Chevy Silverado or GMC Sierra would work, though smaller trucks like  an S-10 or Ranger might be a little underpowered.

I wanted a truck that was a nice color--green, burgundy, blue--that had a tow package, so I wouldn't have to buy one, and that had no more than 90,000 miles on it.  I also wanted some room behind the seat, so I could stow everything from groceries to pony harness.

Having made those two lists--needs and wants--you now need to get some idea of what all that will cost.


A good place to start is with Blue Book, www.bluebook.com.  This is the online version of the venerable price guide for both new and used cars. You can enter a type of vehicle--sedan, truck, van, mini van--or a specific car model and year, mileage and your zip code, plus a whole list of options and it will provide you with three possible prices. The first is the Trade In value of  the car you have in mind; in other words, how much you'd get for such a vehicle if you traded it in for a new car. The second is the Private Party price, or how much you might expect to pay for this model if you brought it from an owner. The third is the Retail or Dealer price or how much it's going to cost you to drive into a used car dealership and simply say "I want that."

This range will give you some idea of what you can afford, including what you might have to give up in the way of  "wants" to fit your budget.

Next, it's time to start shopping. But shopping for a good used vehicle is more a process of elimination than a matter of picking a winner. We'll talk about that in Part II.