Just honestly asking (not trying to be passive aggressive haha)
No, no, I get it and I appreciate the respectful dialogue. I hope I'm conveying the same respect to you. I flipped out recently on another thread where I felt the dialogue was more "No you're wrong and stupid" instead of "I think your money-saving logic is mistaken and I want to explain my perspective."
Just curious but what exactly about the ad "screams copy-paste job from a flipper" ?
So the flipper point. I'm saying the text of the ad has the characteristics of somebody who sells a lot of cars on the internet and is moving merchandise in volumes large enough not to bother to rewrite a custom ad. See how it looks quite similar to 95% of all the other ads on CL? No moral judgment of the seller's character is intended. You will have a greater likelihood of having a discussion with an actual owner if you stick to ads that have reasonably customized content that sound like they were written by a smart person with something good to sell.
MMM had similar advice in a post about buying/selling on CL ages ago.
https://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/08/11/get-rich-with-craigslist/At whatever price point it is, the pricing, mileage and condition are all going to be relative to each other. So what is your value proposition? Just to go with the cheapest and "most reliable" you can get away with? And how do you ensure or quantify this?
I think you're dead on in the point you made above. We set car prices on
age, miles and condition. The minivan you're eying is priced more or less appropriately for those three factors. You'll be done using your car when it gets so old the frame starts to come apart or so many miles the engine/transmission fails catastrophically. If you manage everything perfectly you will reach that point on both fronts simultaneously with a lovely 25 year old van with 325k on the odometer. It's given all it can give you and you've extracted every ounce of value.
In a roundabout way, I am just saying going ultra low on miles may end with you having extra "unexpended" miles that you spent extra money on for no benefit if you select that configuration of age, miles and condition.
...it has been sitting and seldom driven for the past couple years - between 2017 and 2019, just over 1000 miles put on it) why is that "worse for the car than a normal usage schedule?" Isn't that better regarding wear and tear?
Yeah, I am arguing in some respects a sitting car is worse off than a car being driven regularly. The battery is an easy example for this - the more it sits around doing nothing, never starting the car and never getting recharged, the faster it will fail. The same goes for a variety of rubber parts in the engine. If they aren't getting a periodic bath in oil/gas/whatever, they tend to rot a little more readily. These are some a couple examples...I am just trying to establish that less miles doesn't AUTOMATICALLY equal less prone to future failure.
There are many counterexamples where less use really does save wear and tear - I agree with you!
That said, what would *your* budget and mileage considerations be for the same car (2013 Sienna XLE)? At whatever price point it is, the pricing, mileage and condition are all going to be relative to each other. So what is your value proposition? Just to go with the cheapest and "most reliable" you can get away with? And how do you ensure or quantify this?
Yeah, basically, I am looking for a safe and reliable car that will last a good ten years. Once those conditions are met, I want that for the cheapest reasonable price I can manage. For you, I would look at a 2013 Sienna or Odyssey with a good solid 100k on it (like
@caracarn has for example). Just like the Sienna you are contemplating, that's a van that you can drive until the upper 2030s until it's worthless but at a much cheaper price point that you're looking at today.
I can't
ensure you won't get stuck with a lame car...but by doing your research on make and model, you can stack the odds in your favor, and by picking a reliable Toyota I am assuming you already know this.
I hope you will take this all in the spirit of free inquiry on the internet and not that either one of us needs to one-up the other or have the last word. I've enjoyed the discussion and I am glad the message boards allow the free exchange of good information. I wish you good luck and hope you will get a good outcome from your CL trolling. Private sales are a million times better than the stealership.
Tangent: I brought my new Sienna into the dealership just this morning to do an open recall. I was offered windshield wiper replacement at $75 (funny they worked just fine in the rain on the drive over), cabin air filter at $65 and that they would clean my throttle body for $299. The tech REALLY recommended that last item since it looked pretty dirty. Good thing I've got those professionals looking out for me after I bought my CL lemon. For those that don't get the joke, new wipers and a cabin air filter would set me back maybe $35 and be installed in under 20 minutes even including looking on YouTube for how to complete the swap.