Buying a Vehicle: Alternatives to Craigslist

[russb]

My family is growing (5th child to arrive soon). I usually buy vehicles from Craigslist and it's worked out swimmingly almost every time. But this time I'm looking to spend a little more (~$10k) and I'm looking for something that carries 8+ passengers. A 12-passenger van would be most excellent.

Vehicles that meet my specs are harder to find on Craigslist, so I need to diversify my approach. I know about FB Marketplace, but I find the search functionality to be atrocious.

What creative approaches have you used to buy good quality vehicles?

- Russ

[BikeFanatic]

I bought used off of a rental place. It was called Enterprise rental sales. The car had only 25 K miles,
Was about a year old.

[kite]

I bought used off of a rental place. It was called Enterprise rental sales. The car had only 25 K miles,
Was about a year old.

This.  There are other car rental companies doing the same thing.  We used Enterprise as well, but one of my friends has a franchise from another company.  They all need to move older model vehicles and they are priced to sell. 

[russb]

Score! I've been wanting to get hold of someone who's taken this approach.

How long have you had the car? Is it running as expected? Did you take any additional precautions in inspecting the vehicle? I like the idea that these rental vehicles make money for the company, so they need to be cared for. But, on the other hand, they get rid of them with low miles, so I wasn't sure if they take a "use it, abuse it, then lose it" approach.

[terran]

Facebook marketplace (or whatever it's called) seems to be getting a little more popular from what I've heard now that craigslist is charging for car listings.

The buying a rental car topic has come up a number of times. Here are a few threads I found: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/welcome-to-the-forum/buying-a-rental-car/ and https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/specific-buying-a-used-rental-car/

I also found this thread while searching, which is similar to your original question: https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/reader-recommendations/where-would-you-buy-a-car-from/

[russb]

Those links are gold, thank you Terran. And my apologies for not doing the due diligence of searching first.

[use2betrix]

Www.cargurus.com has helped me sell two vehicles and purchase another.

[russb]

Read through the links, and some of the links shared from those messages (really need to get back to work now).

For posterity, I'll provide a summary:

CONS
I read a lot of concerns about rentals, summarized as

1. People drive rentals like, well, cars they don't need to care about
2. The rental company will delay maintenance to keep the car out making money
3. The rental company is slow to get recalls done
4. The CarFax is unreliable as they do their own maintenance and don't report most issues

These people have not bought a rental, though the concerns are valid in my opinion.

PROS

1. If you're a used car buyer, you're taking a risk, period. At least there's a maintenance department responsible for these vehicles.
2. The best rentals are sold directly by the rental agency.
3. Everyone who replied to those threads that had real experience with buying a rental direct from the rental company said it was a good vehicle, and many added something like "would do it again".

I am beginning to think that I will ask a rental agency if I can rent a 12-passenger van they are selling, and apply the rental cost to the purchase if I decide to buy, During that time I'll get to test it and bring it to my own mechanic for an inspection.

If I go down this route I'll be sure to circle back here, hopefully making this a useful post to future readers.

[russb]

Www.cargurus.com has helped me sell two vehicles and purchase another.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[DadJokes]

Facebook marketplace (or whatever it's called) seems to be getting a little more popular from what I've heard now that craigslist is charging for car listings.

A few years ago, Facebook Marketplace was great for used car transactions. We got a 2012 GMC Terrain for a great deal back in 2018. Since then, dealers have taken over. Unlike Craigslist, you can't filter out dealers and only search for private sellers. For some odd reason, you can filter out private sellers though, so I assume that Facebook was lobbied in that area.

We have a local car auction company that we will use next time we need a used car.

[Paul der Krake]

Figure out where the Mormons live in your area, then narrow down there on Facebook marketplace and try to get the word out and ask how they do sales. Semi private Facebook groups see a lot of traffic for sales of all kinds these days.

[russb]

Wanted to close the loop on this one.

I found a rental van, 12-passenger, from Avis. The process was extremely easy. In the end I got a 2019 Chevrolet Express 3500 LT (6-cylinder) with 38,000 miles, for a total outlay of $20k. I think this is a solid deal. Time will tell.