Author Topic: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not  (Read 6095 times)

boulder3381

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Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« on: March 17, 2015, 01:51:20 PM »
Okay...  I've read over other threads with "hail damage" in the search.

So.  We found a '10 Honda Fit with 45K for ~$10000 with hail damage (we plan to have this evaluated by a pro and asked for KBB minus actual cost).   We have $4500 cash.  While the asking price is high for '10 Fit, we are not sure it is worth the risk of have it devalued if we are in a future accident (rf. other posts how cars in accidents with hail damage, often are totalled as the the insurance company evaluates pre existing damage and reduces current value of car).  If this were to happen, then we'd be out of a car, and the money put into it.

We recently sold our '01 forester with 240K on it.  Now my wife and I are without a car.  We have ~3 weeks to purchase a car, as we now have no car, and are borrowing a friends from church (though actually biking mostly, which we do year round in Boulder,  CO). 

Emily really wants better MPG than '01 subaru (22~24 combined). 
I am concerned about ground clearance (mtn trailheads, snowy pull-outs, backcountry camping, etc). 

While non-MMM value, we've considered new as many '15 honda's & toyota's & subaru's are getting significantly MPG than past.  But I understand how the math doesn't work out....

TN_Steve

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #1 on: March 17, 2015, 01:58:10 PM »
That sounds like a pricey purchase, even with the low miles (My '13 has 49,000 on it already).  Then again, the slow depreciation is why I bought mine new for 15.5 or so.

I love, love, love the car.  41-44 commuting mpg with manual tranny.  (but only 35-36 on long highway drives @ 75)  I'd have no hesitancy putting out for hail damaged vehicle if the price were right.  Figure that by the time I hit 250-300 on it, it ain't going to be pretty in any event.

Drives great in snow/ice, even with "no-season" tires--does the '10 have traction control?  Can't comment on ground clearance.

boulder3381

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #2 on: March 17, 2015, 02:06:23 PM »
Then again, the slow depreciation is why I bought mine new for 15.5 or so.

 41-44 commuting mpg with manual tranny.  (but only 35-36 on long highway drives @ 75)

Drives great in snow/ice, even with "no-season" tires--does the '10 have traction control?

@TN_Steve ---  Thanks.  Yes, we considered the purchase of a new '15 honda fit b/c of he low depreciation as well.  Yet we'd need a larger loan and that doesn't sound appealing. Your input on actual MPG, and snow/ ice is much appreciated.  As for traction control, I'd assume yes, as 2009-2013 were the same basic outfits of Fits.

TN_Steve

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #3 on: March 17, 2015, 03:49:15 PM »
Boulder,

More information:  mine is the base trim; my commuting mpg is attributable to (as DW puts it:  "Driving like a grandpa").  I'm in slow lane, before and after rush hour, with speed varying between 57 and 65, depending upon hills.  Goal is always to avoid braking, and my commute is about 15 highway, 5 divided city streets each way.  (And, of course, when it is single digits and icy streets, it is much less miserly)

Still, I'm shocked at how low the EPA estimates are compared to real life--even when I have the cruise set at 75, much less on the commute.
______________

E.T.A.:  Have you found this forum for fit owners?  It was useful back when I was looking:  http://www.fitfreak.net/forums/2nd-generation-ge-08-13/
« Last Edit: March 17, 2015, 03:50:49 PM by TN_Steve »

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #4 on: March 17, 2015, 04:40:12 PM »
I thought my non-hail-damaged 2010 Fit is worth about $10k. So I'm not sure why you'd pay $10k for one with body damage.

gooki

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #5 on: March 18, 2015, 02:50:41 AM »
Agreed. Offer them $6,000.

TN_Steve

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #6 on: March 18, 2015, 06:52:32 AM »
Have you checked KBB.com for pricing?  Plugging a random Boulder zip in, I got 9196 as a private party transaction "value" and a bit over 10K for buying from a dealer.  That was assuming condition as "Fair" because of hail damage.  That strikes me as expensive, but these things maintain high residual value.  http://www.torquenews.com/1574/how-2015-honda-fit-earned-kbb-best-resale-value-award ("Anyone shopping for a lightly used, late model Honda Fit knows that a 2 to 4 year old hatch often approaches the price of a new car.")

OP, tough call for you, particularly with needing to get a loan for the car (missed that earlier in your second post).  Given that additional fact, I'd look for cheaper alternative; a loan for a used car would make me very uncomfortable.  Lots of information on this site about that process, and the many reliable transportation options for 4500 or less. 

pagoconcheques

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #7 on: March 18, 2015, 09:29:39 AM »
$10k sounds really high to me for a damaged 2010 Honda Fit.  It's in less than "fair" condition.  I'm thinking 7k max.

YTProphet

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2015, 09:45:31 AM »
I'm in Michigan and you can get a brand new Fit here for $15-16k. I don't know why you'd buy a hail damaged one with that many miles for $10,000.

PeachFuzzInVA

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #9 on: March 18, 2015, 02:58:01 PM »
Think of the hail damage like dimples on a golf ball. It'll make it more aerodynamic or something like that :D

boulder3381

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2015, 12:03:30 PM »
We didn't get it.  Thanks everyone.

James!

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #11 on: April 15, 2015, 12:18:26 PM »
We didn't get it.  Thanks everyone.

What'd you do?!

boulder3381

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #12 on: April 15, 2015, 12:37:50 PM »
While against some MMM principals, we purchased a 2013 Certified pre-owned honda fit.  We had to financed, but as I just was hired for a new job with significant wage increase we should pay this off in one to one and half years.  We aren't car people so we thought the trade off of paying for money now, to have a car with a better warranty was worth it.

TN_Steve

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #13 on: April 15, 2015, 01:05:02 PM »
I won't berate you for the loan.  :-)

Nice to see you got the base trim package.  Still trying to figure out why most Fits that I see have the "sport" trim; it's an econobox, people! 

Hopefully, you'll have as good of an experience as I have had with my 2013 with the five speed manual.  Coming up on 52,000 miles and still enjoying it every day. 

Two hints for mods on the car, if it doesn't have them (both of which I got from the "fit freaks" forum).  Center console (bought on Amazon and easy to install), and window tinting.  The car is a greenhouse in the summer time otherwise.  Never thought this boring old white guy would pay to get window tint in a car, but well worth it.

boulder3381

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #14 on: April 15, 2015, 01:31:57 PM »
It has 25K miles on it.  We did a road trip to Pagosa Springs, CO and 42.2mpg.  I'm keeping a detailed log.   

Window tinting came with the car. 

We'll look into a center console.  It think you are right that would add a lot of convenience.

James!

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #15 on: April 15, 2015, 01:57:27 PM »
While against some MMM principals, we purchased a 2013 Certified pre-owned honda fit.  We had to financed, but as I just was hired for a new job with significant wage increase we should pay this off in one to one and half years.  We aren't car people so we thought the trade off of paying for money now, to have a car with a better warranty was worth it.

Unless the loan is high (more than 4% or so?) you should just pay it on regular terms and do better things with the money!

-J

boulder3381

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #16 on: April 15, 2015, 02:05:12 PM »
While against some MMM principals, we purchased a 2013 Certified pre-owned honda fit.  We had to financed, but as I just was hired for a new job with significant wage increase we should pay this off in one to one and half years.  We aren't car people so we thought the trade off of paying for money now, to have a car with a better warranty was worth it.

Unless the loan is high (more than 4% or so?) you should just pay it on regular terms and do better things with the money!

-J


What's your logic?   It is just 4.25%.   I haven't even made my first payment.   

James!

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Re: Buy - 2010 honda fit - 45K with hail damage or not
« Reply #17 on: April 15, 2015, 02:10:11 PM »
While against some MMM principals, we purchased a 2013 Certified pre-owned honda fit.  We had to financed, but as I just was hired for a new job with significant wage increase we should pay this off in one to one and half years.  We aren't car people so we thought the trade off of paying for money now, to have a car with a better warranty was worth it.

Unless the loan is high (more than 4% or so?) you should just pay it on regular terms and do better things with the money!

-J


What's your logic?   It is just 4.25%.   I haven't even made my first payment.   

Similar to what I just said in your other thread, but if you do some reading around here, you'll learn all about it.

The basic concept is that if you owe money in a low% loan (say 10k at 2%), you will earn more money making the regular payments and investing the extra money because it's pretty easy to earn more than 2% in pretty much any investment. If you any debt or 4 or 5%, you should definitely pay that down before doing any investing. MMM (the actual blog, not this forum) has multiple great articles about this. Have you had a chance to read most of his greatest hits?

Most people here have read most, if not all, of his articles before getting in to the nitty gritty here in the forum.

Good luck!

-J

 

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