The car has about 180K miles on it, and it has now gone on to a new owner, who I know will take as good care of it as we did. When we first bought it, we were the butt of many an automotive joke. We were ahead of the curve as many compact boxy cars came along in the years to follow. If I can remember correctly we spent maybe 13K and change on it, but alas, had to finance it for 5 years. It was purchased at the financial low point of our lives, so we did not have cash on hand for a substantial down payment or to buy it out-right.
Like most big expenditures, I did a lot of research before our purchase and knew at the time it would be a good investment. While we've had to put money into maintaining it, the engine itself has had no problems at all. Our biggest costs have been on the heating/cooling system. Aside from that, we've just had to keep up with regular oil and filter changes, and replace things that wore out. Considering it's now 2020, the car has served us very well.
We signed a contract for another car last week and are waiting for it to be ready. The dealer would only offer $350 as a trade in, so we sold it on our own. The buyer works with TBG as was glad to pay 1K for it. He knows it has been well maintained and he is also mechanically adept. Both he and his girlfriend are so psyched to have it, that it makes me happy to see it will live on and it will be useful to these people.
The Malibu was offered up to a young lady who is a friend of my BFF's daughter. We are looking to get 1K for it too. I took it to the shop that does our exhaust work just to be sure the catalytic converter was in good shape. We got the thumbs up. They told me if the next owner takes care of the car like we did, it should never need to be replaced. This vehicle has about 94K miles on it and is a 2003. Not a lot of miles even though the car is old!
The young lady does not appear to be interested in it. It took us one day to sell the Scion, so methinks once I put a few signs up for the Malibu, it will go pretty fast as well.
Our new car is a 2013 with about 39K miles on it. It has a diesel engine, so that is not much mileage at all. I expect to drive that car for another ten plus years. I'll post about it once we get it home!
We don't make frivolous car buys. Actually, the Malibu was free. We do spend $$ maintaining them, but we are paid back with years of use. While others might think a 7 year old car is old, that's nothing to us!
Like you, we buy used. Glad you found something you like and a 2013 car with 39k on it is amazing! We also always buy used. We bought a 5 year old car with 30,000 km (about 18,600 miles) and a 3 year old truck with about the same. We intend to have both for many years now. The only reason we sold our other vehicles was due to age(plus we went from 3 to 2). Hubby bought used rims and tires for our 2017 truck yesterday for 1100. They were brand new, came off a 2020! He paid 1/3 what new would have been by buying used, not sure why they were getting rid of them but they look great. A few months ago he found summer tires for the same truck and was only looking for rims but this is a deal he couldn't pass up so now he will see the summer tires and try and get back what we paid (or maybe a little more!)
ReplyDeleteWe had a mechanic who would tell us "That car don't owe you nothing!" We wring every last penny out of them. That is much easier when you're not eating the immediate mark-down from buying a new car off the lot. Not only can you now buy used, you can buy non name brand accessories that also save money. I've seen guys take perfectly good new tire rims, front grills, etc. off a new truck to put on something custom. Really dumb if you ask me... but good for you!
DeleteMy 2000 Malibu was only stopped by a 15-passenger van that hit it broadside. It was never going to die! We never traded in a car, but sold it to someone who needed a car. We could not see giving it to car dealer to wash and sell for too much.
ReplyDeleteI think the Malibu has many miles/years left on it too. The guy who bought the Scion plans on 300K or more. He'll take good care of it! The only car I traded in was my Geo Prizm with a cracked engine block. It wasn't drivable at all, which is why the Scion dealer only gave us $250. The trade in for the Scion was close to that, so of course we sold it! We always sell our old used cars and the people who buy them get many more years out of them. It is a win-win!
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