I have been car-free for 9 years now, so I'm out of practice on used-car-buying. But my daughter is turning 4 next week, so she is much less portable than she used to be, and there are many more activities we want to attend in far-flung corners of the Twin Cities. We will still bike a lot in the spring/summer/fall, but I'd like an alternative to public transportation/car2go/uber during below zero weather.
I've been looking on CL, and I found a 2003 Saab with under 90k miles. I like the wagon styling, the stability control, the reasonable gas mileage (25 city/30 hwy) and the low miles. But the current owner has only had it for 1 year/8k miles, and he doesn't have any service records from the previous owners, so I want to be careful checking it out.
Current plan is that he will drive it down tomorrow so I can test drive the car, see that it is basically as advertised, check that my daughter's car seat will fit in it, etc. If everything looks fine, we'll bring it to a local mechanic who specializes in European brands for a pre-purchase inspection. ($128, I'll pay half as long as the car passes.)
What else should I do or ask? What if we come to an agreement? My bank is 2 blocks from there, so I can get the cash easily. But what about transferring the title, going to the DMV, getting insurance, etc.?
My last car was a 1994 Honda Civic hatchback, purchased for $2.5k in 2004, license plates and insurance included for the first 2 months, so I didn't have to do all of this stuff right away. Should I ask the guy for a similar deal?