Yup and apparently there is a few Fords that have a 5 year span of bad transmissions
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If you belong to a credit union, they may offer a car buying service for both new and used cars. Iāve bought several cars through my CU. Itās so nice to be able to skip the haggling.
They buy used cars too.
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If youāre in the market for a new Volvo, they are having ābetter dealsā than most (relative given the insanity of the car market). We checked several cars for our D and most were selling at or close to MSRP (Honda, Toyota, Subaru, Mazda).
Costco has an extra discount on Volvoās this month. We negotiated $3700 off MSRP (ie inflated price). We got a lower end SUV but discounts increase on the higher priced cars.
Qualifying my comments below with, as I commented in another thread, I am definitely a frugal person.
With one exception, my DH and I have always purchased used vehicles. Weāve never had a car payment. Many of you would also probably describe some of our vehicles as junkers (though generally, we didnāt buy anything with more than 100k and were particular about making sure they didnāt look like junkers). A couple of them had a standing āThis car does not leave the island under any circumstancesā rule.
I just asked DH to make sure my memory was accurate. So some experiences/thoughts in random order:
-we have never had a vehicle break down while we were driving it. Even junkers are very good at letting you know when its time for some maintenance/repairs.
-we can count on my two hands the number of nights our cars have spent at a shop. When thatās been an issue, weāve been able to rent a car for far less than even one car payment.
-when you buy a used car, you can get another one whenever just because with no guilt or lost money.
-It took me LONG time to really wrap my head around the fact that cars last a LOT longer than they did 40 or 50 years ago. 100k miles is not a death sentence for a car. Most decent cars will transport you until 200K miles before the math even begins to become questionable.
-the fact that we bought used cars saved us tens of thousands of dollars in the last 30 years. In fact, Iād go so far as to say that, counting the returns on extra savings we were able to make, our used car habits are the reason we were able to retire early with a comfortable savings. Even if weād had to make payments on our used cars, this would be true.
-there are at least 3 cars we can remember that we sold for what we paid or moreā¦basically we got free vehicles.
-Check out Consumer Reports new AND used car reliability ratings. Many of the cheapest new cars have abysmal reliability ratings while some of their used counterparts have exceptional track records for dependability.
-Keep in mind: If you buy a new car, in 6 months you too will be driving a used car. If thatās OK with you, consider getting a 6 month or year old used car and pocketing the savings.
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I guess Iāve been unlucky.
Been stranded a few times with a car. Once the engine blew when we were driving, the kids were little. My husband starts yelling (he never yells!) that we need to get out of the car. Now!
We survived. I called a friend to pick us up.
I hated that car. My husband had the engine rebuilt and drove it until the carriage rusted out. Sold it to the junk yard for $300.
Havenāt had horrible luck with used cars. But they broke. They got fixed. Now we drive new cars and will drive them. Probably until a deer hit us and they total the vehicle. Thatās how the last 4 cars met their demise.
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Iāve also had bad luck with old cars. I had the steering go completely on a junker on the expressway when I was in college. Also had the engine blow on another junker the year after I graduated. Those two experiences were pretty traumatizing and I didnāt want my D in that situation. My Dad routinely bought junkers at auctions and thatās what he gave to my brother and I to drive. They broke down regularly and I was fortunate that my H (finance at the time) was able to drop me at work when it was in the shop otherwise I would have been fired for sure.
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Growing up, we were always getting stranded on the road. Iāve walked enough miles along an interstate to last me a life time. And sometimes we would just run out of gas.
My main requirements for a car is that it starts when I turn it on and stops when I hit the brakes. Everything else is gravy. And I am super paranoid about not letting it get low on gas. Under 1/3 tank and I get twitchy.
I always want one āgoodā car (<120K) that is reliable so we can get to out of town places in time. We tend to buy those new. The others we have gotten used. In general we keep our cars 12-15 years. We have better luck buying new and them lasting vs used and then lasting to the same point. I drive like a grandma - no hard braking/accelerating and maintain it on schedule.
Though H bought a 2003 jeep Liberty in 2013. The inside was like new. Itās still with us, but is our spare vehicle since late 2020. Our main issue with it - and several of our cars - is the heating and A/C. If something goes wrong, thatās usually it. Or the power windows.
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Growing up, I was stranded on the road many times as well. Two words: Corvair. Chevette. 
It took me awhile to get over that. Like I said though, that was 40 or 50 years ago, and in many cases, we are probably talking about driving 1960s or 70s cars. Cars now are infinitely better than they were then in terms of longevity and reliability and technology that gives us a warning.
Or 1980. My sister bought a 1980 mustang (in 1986) and 3 days later it caught fire. That wound up being my first car, lol. We always had 5-6 cars at home. We were lucky if 2 worked. Several were held together by duct tape and chewing gum.
And our cars now arenāt anything special. Before my sonata I had a Chevy lumina. With roll down windows. But in my area Honda and Toyota are high end vehicles. We donāt even have dealerships for the more expensive brands - like Subaru!
Every time we drive past a car stopped along the highway due to some problem or another, Iām thankful we opt for reliable now. Iāve had it with someone elseās reject. They replaced it for a reason. If I donāt know what the reason was (as with the best one we got at the estate sale), Iām not really interested or Iāll just want it for around town vs traveling.
And I certainly donāt trust reasons private or dealers tell me. The ācertified pre-ownedā one we had was a ācompany car that they merely replaced every two years so itāll be fine,ā except we had to have the front axel replaced during our first long trip with it. Sure, fineā¦ by someoneās definition I suppose.
Apologies readers- something accidentally posted here that was meant for something outside of cc. Appreciate that itās gone and sorry to confuse anyone.
THE most unreliable car I ever owned was the only brand new car Iāve ever purchased. It was an early Honda Civic. Within one year, the transmission failed. One year. I had too many miles,on it for the regular warranty but had purchased an extended one. It took six months for them to drop a new transmission into the car. For that time, my husband and I jockeyed cars so I could go to work, and he could go to school.
Butā¦we did have very good luck with a used Honda Civic later on, and three used Accords. Not new.
My current car was a year old when I bought it. I love it. And Volvo took very good care of me when it needed a new engine because of oil burning issues.
My husband has a Volvo that had just come off lease. Itās a great car too.
I think you can have a clunker new car, as well as a clunker used car.
In my state, we have a lemon lawā¦if your new car turns out to be a clunkerā¦you can get your money back.
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Its definitely a risk!
I should have said in my prior comment: about half the time we take whatever car weāre seriously considering to our mechanic to go through with a fine toothed comb. Twice he saved us from buying a potential lemon. The last time we took one to him, he indicated that most newer cars have so many diagnostic electronics on board that as long as we drive it for 20 miles or soā¦both highway and city speedsā¦the likelihood is a light would be flashing if there were any issues.
Our decision to have a mechanic check out a car has mostly been based on what we were considering paying for them. Sometimes theyāve been cheap enough that we just didnāt care.
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My D got rear ended recently and her 2007 RAV with well over 150k miles was totaled. The insurance gave her $8000. She just replaced it with a 2016 Impreza with about 60k miles. I think she paid about 15 for it. Which, incidentally is not much different than my other kid paid for a 2015 Impreza with 9k miles, in 2018. I think that kidās car may be worth as much or more than was paid for it. Prices are crazy.
While she was looking, grandpa, a former car salesman, gave her two pieces of advice:
- If youāre buying a used car, youāre buying unused miles.
- If a dealer lies to you, leave, because if they lied once, theyāll do it again.
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Yeah, thatās us, too. We have just bought three used cars in the past few years. One was so cheap that we didnāt take it to a mechanic because we had to grab it right away before the next people in line did. It was a private seller (doctor) and he just went with the Kelly Blue Book price instead of seeing what cars are going for now. We got it for just over $6000 and he could have sold it for $12000 easy. But we were well informed and knew what we were looking for. Itās been a great car for us and my husband loves it. Weāve taken it on several road trips w/o no problem at all.
When we were buying our kidsā cars we took them to our independent mechanic and had them checked out before we paid. There was some minor body work and stuff like that but we could see that it wasnāt major and there was no accident report on the CarFax. We paid $6000 for one and then bought the same car 2 years later when the market had gone crazy and paid $12000, but we really needed a car. Our old van (which we also bought used, direct from our mechanic whose personal vehicle it had been) was giving up the ghost and we were down to one car.
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Iāve always bought used cars, but not easily or quickly, as I expect a certain level of low mileage and reliability. It has worked out well, and as I donāt drive much a single vehicle usually lasts me about 10 years. No horror stories, though I certainly lived them in my 20s, with very high mileage cars.
Another fan of Craigās List car buying here. D bought a very simple car, a Hyundai sedan early in the pandemic when she and H were sent home suddenly from Peace Corps. That car was a bargain and more so when prices zoomed up about 6 months later.
However, my D was shocked when I ended up buying new in 2021. Used moderate mileage was the same cost as new for the hybrid vehicle I wanted, but I had to wait about 4 months. S coincidentally got one the same month, when someone who had ordered a car refused it on delivery. He happened to be shopping that day and took it when offered.
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I havenāt read the whole thread but I am in the camp of not spending an excessive amount on a car for a new driver but of course what constitutes excessive is going to vary by household. Iāve had good luck with Craigās List filtering with a for sale by owner and then eliminating the oneās with sketchy photos (ie palm trees in the background when itās supposed to be in New England) or cars with no tags or blocked tags in the photos.
My sonās first car was a used, older model Mercury Sable with a sunroof and pleather for around $2,500. I wanted to get him a Honda Accord for around triple the price but couldnāt bring myself to do it knowing what was likely in store for it. This was pre-pandemic. About one week in of him driving to his internship, I received a call from him that he had scraped up another car while parking in the company parking lot. My first thought was āGood Lordā what if he hit his supervisorās car? I asked him what the other car looked like and he said it was even older looking than his. He ended leaving a note with his contact information because no one was around but we never heard anything back. New drivers are rough on cars.
Just had to lol. My kid did the same thing! The car he scraped wasnāt old though, but not as nice as most of the cars in the lot. It was a Honda or something. Not the Teslaās thank goodness. And he also left a note and nobody responded.
Many moons ago the woman who helped take car of my dad would drive his big olā Buick to the local nearby supermarket to get groceries for him. One day she hit/scraped a carā¦ Turned out to be the local clergyās wifeās car!! 
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We always buy usedā¦until last year. Went smaller for my spouse and got a new 2021 Nissan Kicks for approx $21000 and 0% financing. (I think they were trying to get rid of the last few 2021s since the 2022s were there.)
My kids need cars and I want them to have the blind spot warning - a 2018 Nissan Rogue is about $19K to $20K w 50K-60K miles. (I paid less for my Rogue when it was only 2 years old.)
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