Buying my first (used) car today!

[Totemic]

And I'm paying for it entirely in cash! Well, hopefully with a credit card for the Aeroplan miles but essentially cash since I will pay it off immediately.

Found a great deal on a 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe (a good compromise between enough towing capacity to pull a 3500lb trailer without the terrible fuel efficiency of an actual truck), and managed to talk the dealer down by quite a bit as well. Ended up with the final price including taxes and fees under $9k CAD.

My parents have never bought a used car in their life and were harping on my to buy a new car and take on a car payment as it's "safer and more reliable"...but I'll be happy owning this outright thank you very much!

[bigalsmith101]

Maybe go a step farther and buy a used Santa Fe on the free market. You'll save another one or two thousand as well!

[richyf]

Congratulations and well done for ignoring the crazy advice from your folks... no offence Mr & Mrs Totemic snr :-)

[bobechs]

Much more than the car, or the price of the car you have broken the shackles of unreasonable fear-based merchandising.

Congratulations on that above all.

[Greenback Reproduction Specialist]

Maybe go a step farther and buy a used Santa Fe on the free market. You'll save another one or two thousand as well!

+1, you will get a much better deal and possibly save thousands by purchasing out of a newspaper or craigslist.

But be a shrewd purchaser, almost everyone that has a car for sale on craigslist or in the local paper will be willing to negotiate the price. The best thing you can do, is shop around and look at a few before getting to serious.

If you are feeling bold and have a I dont give a F$%# attitude, low ball the first few you look at. It might help things from getting to emotional, for you anyway.

I have found, in most situations, when buying things used like this, a 30% offer to their asking price will usually be a good starting point. Its about as low as you can go with the first offer without offending the seller.

Good luck with the purchase!

[JAYSLOL]

Maybe go a step farther and buy a used Santa Fe on the free market. You'll save another one or two thousand as well!

+1, you will get a much better deal and possibly save thousands by purchasing out of a newspaper or craigslist.

But be a shrewd purchaser, almost everyone that has a car for sale on craigslist or in the local paper will be willing to negotiate the price. The best thing you can do, is shop around and look at a few before getting to serious.

If you are feeling bold and have a I dont give a F$%# attitude, low ball the first few you look at. It might help things from getting to emotional, for you anyway.

I have found, in most situations, when buying things used like this, a 30% offer to their asking price will usually be a good starting point. Its about as low as you can go with the first offer without offending the seller.

Good luck with the purchase!

What!  A 30% offer?  For a car?  You mean 30% OFF of asking price right?  Please don't tell me you mean 30% OF asking price?  If i had a car listed for $10,000 and someone offered me $3k for it I would tell them to F-off and stop wasting my time.  And yes, i would be very insulted.

[Greenback Reproduction Specialist]

Maybe go a step farther and buy a used Santa Fe on the free market. You'll save another one or two thousand as well!

+1, you will get a much better deal and possibly save thousands by purchasing out of a newspaper or craigslist.

But be a shrewd purchaser, almost everyone that has a car for sale on craigslist or in the local paper will be willing to negotiate the price. The best thing you can do, is shop around and look at a few before getting to serious.

If you are feeling bold and have a I dont give a F$%# attitude, low ball the first few you look at. It might help things from getting to emotional, for you anyway.

I have found, in most situations, when buying things used like this, a 30% offer to their asking price will usually be a good starting point. Its about as low as you can go with the first offer without offending the seller.

Good luck with the purchase!

What!  A 30% offer?  For a car?  You mean 30% OFF of asking price right?  Please don't tell me you mean 30% OF asking price?  If i had a car listed for $10,000 and someone offered me $3k for it I would tell them to F-off and stop wasting my time.  And yes, i would be very insulted.

lol yea, I did mean 30% off of asking price, I appologize

[HenryDavid]

Congrats on cutting loose from all that "I need a new car because, safety and reliability" BS.
Friends of mine impoverish themselves because they believe that. And their leased (!) new cars still have problems.
The range of freedom and possibility in your life just got bigger, all due to this one simple thing.

Because I have a 2nd life in a 2nd country--living (frugally!) in Europe for a few months each year--I bought a 2nd hand car there. You can lease/rent but it's a waste of $. So anyway no one (well hardy anyone) there has pride in their cars' appearance because street parking on tiny streets bangs 'em up toot sweet. This means you can get a nicely dented 10 year old car with low mileage (cause people drive less than here) for cheap. It's gonna sit there unused for months anyway. And then I realized . . . hey the same thing applies in good old Canada. So we keep our dented old car here, too, and it runs fine, and it costs next to nothing to own. If anyone says "why didn't you go new /lease /etc. I say "I actually get PAID to drive an older car. It's a secret program no one knows about." And this is factually true, I do get paid--in savings.