What do you think - used car for sale in neighborhood

[finnime]

A neighbor is offering:

1998 Blue KIA Sportage, with 4 Wheel Drive. City car with bumper dings and scuffs with a slight dent in right side door but still cute and only 46,000 miles on it. It is a manual s tick/clutch so I would recommend for someone who is already geared for this. Price is firm at $1,500. At 18 years young, this is not your forever car but it is a set of wheels now for the right person.

DH and I share one car right now, a 2009 Sonata, 76k miles. Another set of wheels make sense?

[geenamercile]

Depending on the upkeep I might be tempted.  One thing I would see is a lot of maintenance seems to be set on a mileage/year guideline.  Things like replacing the tires, belts, struts, breaks, ect...  How do I know this when I know nothing about cars, we have a 2007 Kia rondo with about 57,000 miles that I just took in.  Pretty much before when ever we took it in we got the the, will by how old the car is this is recommended but because of the miles and the way it looks you can wait just do an oil change, or tire rotation.  Yea not so much this last time.....  All regular maintenance stuff, just items that had been deferred due to the low mileage were ready to be done.  So yea we just dumped close to 2,000 in the car.  If the current owners have deferred things that might now be coming due, they may be trying to off load it before a big maintenance bill.          

[zibazinski]

Tires, too.

[zibazinski]

Oops see you mentioned it already.

[finnime]

Great points, geenamercile. I appreciate it.

I know this is an estate sale. The car looks good, but old is old. Still thinking.

[olderburgher]

Does the seller have the service records? Was it "always" serviced at a local dealer or garage which might have service records?

[Lizard Queen]

I've heard that, when a car isn't driven regularly, the rubbery kind of things become brittle--gaskets and belts and such.
Just something to keep in mind, not necessarily a deal-breaker.

[Regis]

Do you need another car?

[Tiny]

Feb 16, 2016 7:25:56 GMT -5 finnime said:

A neighbor is offering:

1998 Blue KIA Sportage, with 4 Wheel Drive. City car with bumper dings and scuffs with a slight dent in right side door but still cute and only 46,000 miles on it. It is a manual s tick/clutch so I would recommend for someone who is already geared for this. Price is firm at $1,500. At 18 years young, this is not your forever car but it is a set of wheels now for the right person.

DH and I share one car right now, a 2009 Sonata, 76k miles. Another set of wheels make sense?

My brother would definitely be all over that --- probably make an offer of 1K and maybe if he felt it only needed about $500 worth of "keeping it running" he'd pay the $1500... He's handy with cars and doesn't care how bad the exterior (or interior) looks.  He drive a car with non working bits and pieces.      He loves a good beatermobile.

He'd be thinking he'd get between 12 and 18 months out of it - which wouldn't be bad for the 2K he'd be willing to spend on it.   He'd then sell it for $500 or $700 and move on to the next beater mobile.

[Tiny]

Feb 16, 2016 9:12:02 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I've heard that, when a car isn't driven regularly, the rubbery kind of things become brittle--gaskets and belts and such.
Just something to keep in mind, not necessarily a deal-breaker.

Rubbery things get brittle even if you're a low mileage daily driver...   Age kills cars just a well as really high mileage.   I'm a low mileage driver (7K - 8K) a year... and by year 10 my vehicle starts showing it's age... even though it runs well. 

At 18 years old even at the 46K mileage (I wonder if it's not 146K?) it's gonna have issues - it probably drips oil (or burns oil) not that big a deal for a beater mobile,  it probably rattles quite a bit too.   

Still, if the buyer is a low mileage (maybe something like 30 or less city miles a day) driver and just needs some basic transportation (that isn't going to impress anyone) and doesn't mind stuff like  'putting in oil' every couple of weeks or doesn't mind that the heat (or AC) doesn't work or that a window doesn't go down...  it could be a good deal.

if you aren't putting 12K miles on the car in a year - tires last a lot longer -   the "85K" tires would pretty much last the entire lifetime of my cars...  if they didn't get funky around year 6/7 with only 60K or so miles on them...

if this vehicle did need new tires - I'd be looking at buying 'used' ones (assuming you are a low mileage driver).  new used tires with 30K still left on them are perfect.

[Cookies Galore]

If you have a trusted mechanic (or someone handy you know), I'd bring him with you to look at the car and decide if it's worth it. Hubs purchased a 1997 Honda from someone down the street for $1000 in 2009 or 2010, and it lasted (squeaked by!) until 2013. It did need some work, but our mechanic friend hooked us up, so less than $2000 (car and work) and hubs had a beater that lasted three years or so. He purchased it with 180,000 miles and it had over 220K when we junked it.
He currently drives my old 1999 Honda.

[Lizard Queen]

Feb 16, 2016 10:46:55 GMT -5 Tiny said:

Feb 16, 2016 9:12:02 GMT -5 Lizard Queen said:

I've heard that, when a car isn't driven regularly, the rubbery kind of things become brittle--gaskets and belts and such.
Just something to keep in mind, not necessarily a deal-breaker.

Rubbery things get brittle even if you're a low mileage daily driver...   Age kills cars just a well as really high mileage.   I'm a low mileage driver (7K - 8K) a year... and by year 10 my vehicle starts showing it's age... even though it runs well. 

At 18 years old even at the 46K mileage (I wonder if it's not 146K?) it's gonna have issues - it probably drips oil (or burns oil) not that big a deal for a beater mobile,  it probably rattles quite a bit too.   

Still, if the buyer is a low mileage (maybe something like 30 or less city miles a day) driver and just needs some basic transportation (that isn't going to impress anyone) and doesn't mind stuff like  'putting in oil' every couple of weeks or doesn't mind that the heat (or AC) doesn't work or that a window doesn't go down...  it could be a good deal.

if you aren't putting 12K miles on the car in a year - tires last a lot longer -   the "85K" tires would pretty much last the entire lifetime of my cars...  if they didn't get funky around year 6/7 with only 60K or so miles on them...

if this vehicle did need new tires - I'd be looking at buying 'used' ones (assuming you are a low mileage driver).  new used tires with 30K still left on them are perfect.

True--just got a bunch of these replaced in my 16 yo Honda last week.  I think the reasoning is that regular light-ish use makes these things last longer than they would otherwise, because of lubricants getting to them and what not, vs. just sitting all the time and rotting.

[wmpeon]

I would only buy it if they agree to let you have it checked out by a mechanic.  Too big a risk for taking on too big a problem, unless you're handy and can do many car repairs yourself (I'm not handy at all).  Also, check the value of this vehicle in your area.  It may be overpriced, even if they say their price is "firm".

[finnime]

On further inquiry: daughter (it was her mother's) has all service records; they were regularly done at a dealership. No problem if I want it to be checked out be a mechanic. Apparently it was driven routinely, but not often far (this is a highly urban area). It was garage kept.

ETA: One thing about living in Maryland (gateway to the South!) is that cars generally do not rot out or suffer salt damage as they do in New England.

I appreciate the comments on what to look for, and also the off-the-cuff calculation of cost per year to use.

Regis asked if we need another car. Good question. DH and I have been sharing the Sonata. DS21 has been driving a new Focus I'd bought, thinking I'd gift it to him on graduation this year. However, Google has made him a very lucrative internship and job offer that includes bonuses. He'd go to Boulder. He's now thinking he'll take the signing bonus and buy a cross-over(?) like a Forrester.

DD29 lives nearby. Her car is suffering; her DH's car is the one they use mostly. So it may work out well for us to have an extra, 4wd car. Must consider more.