I’m having trouble finding another car

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Apr 30, 2014
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#1
Been looking for another car since my old car broke down back in August. I am not having a lot of luck and it’s been extremely frustrating. I really don’t like depending on others. Please pray I find a good car soon.
 
Jul 3, 2015
59,284
28,633
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#2
I bought a "new" used car a year ago in August. The car I had been driving for a number of years before that had been written off by my insurance provider, but was still quite functional, even though there was no hood seal, and people would sometimes gesticulate wildly at me thinking my hood was open when it was not, and it was also securely closed so no worries there about it suddenly or unexpectedly flying open while I am driving around. Any ways.

I know what a hassle looking for a car can be, because the good ones get snapped up so fast it makes your head spin. One time when I was looking for a new car, I enlisted the aid of someone who seemed willing to help, but all he did was steal from me. So the next time I bought a car, I just went for it, and bought the first one I went to look at. That was the one I just got rid of last year. I did the same for this car I have now, and it was my first ever dealership experience, which was great. They really looked after me, took me to the bank so they could take all the money I was willing to give them (LOL it was certainly considerably more than what cars were worth pre-COVID, but then so is everything else!!!), bought me breakfast while I was waiting for some appointment to deal with paperwork etc and then the nice young man who sold me the car came out to the house later in the afternoon, switched out my plates for me, and drove the old car away. They even paid my taxi fare to get there in the first place to look at the car.

When I phoned the dealership before our first snowfall here late last year to see if there was anti-freeze in the car, he remembered who I was. I asked him what they did with the old car (partly because I could have gotten $$ for it if I'd turned it over to our insurance guys [the government]) but I felt better about not doing that when he told me it had been donated to the kidney foundation.

My now new car had just over 106,000 kms on it when I bought it and now has just over 109,000 because I don't drive as much as I did before. That's under 70,000 miles. The dealership guy was getting calls all day about it but it was mine all mine LOL. From before he even got to work that day! Keep checking the online ads and find a car make model and year you want and just go for it. That one car I bought and got rid of last year had 173,000 kms on it when I bought it, but Toyotas are a great brand and their engines last a long time. Get something you can trust.
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
4,376
1,683
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#5
Been looking for another car since my old car broke down back in August. I am not having a lot of luck and it’s been extremely frustrating. I really don’t like depending on others. Please pray I find a good car soon.
1. Download all the known apps for car sales. I downloaded like 7 of them on my phone.
2. Create a particular search that you want with the car model.
3. Expand the radius up to 100 miles. Yes, i was willing to drive 100 miles away from my house for a good deal.
4. Wait and pray that the best car will come to you.

Based on this, i found a 2008 Honda Accord with 15,000 miles for $10,000! $10,000!!! It was like hitting the lottery because the car was in mint condition and was garaged the whole time.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
59,284
28,633
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#6
1. Download all the known apps for car sales. I downloaded like 7 of them on my phone.
2. Create a particular search that you want with the car model.
3. Expand the radius up to 100 miles. Yes, i was willing to drive 100 miles away from my house for a good deal.
4. Wait and pray that the best car will come to you.

Based on this, i found a 2008 Honda Accord with 15,000 miles for $10,000! $10,000!!! It was like hitting the lottery because the car was in mint condition and was garaged the whole time.
You did get a very good deal! How long ago was that?

I was mainly only looking at Toyota vehicles, but Honda would have been a good second choice.

:D
 

Eli1

Well-known member
Apr 5, 2022
4,376
1,683
113
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#7
You did get a very good deal! How long ago was that?

I was mainly only looking at Toyota vehicles, but Honda would have been a good second choice.

:D
This was about 3 years ago when Covid started.
I prayed to God to give me the best choice, and to give me a sign.
He did give me a sign when i almost bought a Civic at another dealership where the salesguy was not only incompetent at his job but he seemed careless.
But i felt bad for him and i wanted to give him a sale for the day. The deal was okay but not the best.
75,000 miles for $15,000.
So when i called the insurance company their phone lines went down. I mean, in 30 years that i have been dealing with car insurance companies, their phone lines did not go down but that was the sign.
Then he also said something else which basically made me realize that this was the sign i was looking for to NOT buy the car from that particular dealership.

So i waited more (about 3 months) and i found this other gem, which i consider a Gift from God by an elderly man who had it garaged, barely driven, with original tires from the factory and i paid this small dealership in cash and he also gave me $500 off.
I mean, it's a Gift from God. I won't find another deal like that.

I always bless every purchase and pray to be guided by God in every purchase.
I also bless my house once a year. Sometimes the priest from the church comes over to bless it and sometimes i do it myself.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
59,284
28,633
113
#8
This was about 3 years ago when Covid started.
I prayed to God to give me the best choice, and to give me a sign.
He did give me a sign when i almost bought a Civic at another dealership where the salesguy was not only incompetent at his job but he seemed careless.
But i felt bad for him and i wanted to give him a sale for the day. The deal was okay but not the best.
75,000 miles for $15,000.
So when i called the insurance company their phone lines went down. I mean, in 30 years that i have been dealing with car insurance companies, their phone lines did not go down but that was the sign.
Then he also said something else which basically made me realize that this was the sign i was looking for to NOT buy the car from that particular dealership.

So i waited more (about 3 months) and i found this other gem, which i consider a Gift from God by an elderly man who had it garaged, barely driven, with original tires from the factory and i paid this small dealership in cash and he also gave me $500 off.
I mean, it's a Gift from God. I won't find another deal like that.

I always bless every purchase and pray to be guided by God in every purchase.
I also bless my house once a year. Sometimes the priest from the church comes over to bless it and sometimes i do it myself.
Three months was too long for me to wait when I bought my car just over a year ago. I had been looking at cars off and on over the preceding months because I was going to buy one eventually (the hood issue, and the mileage was creeping up there being I think about 50k more than when I had bought it, gosh, maybe almost ten years prior). So I knew the cost had really crept up over the preceding years, and I was prepared to pay 10K if need be for a not-too-old-car with low mileage.

I was staying at my daughter's at the time, doing my yearly cat-sitting stint while they were off holidaying (gallivanting around the province with their two dogs LOL), so my drive to work was maybe almost quadrupled in length and doubled in time. My car did sound a bit "funny" the last day I drove it to work, and driving home? My goodness. The noise it made, plus it did not respond properly when accelerating. It could just have been that my transmission fluid was low, but whatever the issue, the time was suddenly upon me and I needed a new car NOW. I called my boss about it that night, and then by the time the next morning came around there was no way I was going to drive that car anywhere, so I took the day (a Friday) off work, phoned the guy at the dealership (he was not even at work yet but he answered the call) and we made arrangements to meet at his place of work.

I had to do a little wrangling on the phone with my financial institution to get money out of a short term investment (they didn't want me to lose the interest, but it had already been in there much longer than required), but once that was done, all was clear, and as I said, the car dealership paid my taxi fare there, took great care of me while I was there, handled all the paperwork on the spot (I did of course have to go and do the final swapping over of my insurance da-da-da, which I had actually just renewed a couple of weeks before), and then he later came out to the house and changed my plates for me and drove the old car away. That's when he told me he had been getting calls all day about the car I'd just bought. It was going for $10,995 but then add on all the taxes and what not? I paid almost a grand more. It was the first time in my life I could afford to do such a thing and I could afford to do such a thing because I had gotten an insurance payout through work due to my cancer! Which is all gone now, thank you God. I had never bought through a dealership before, and it was a wonderful experience I would highly recommend to anyone. It was a Honda dealership...

Ha ha my daughter and her aunt returned home the very day of my new car purchase. So when they pulled into the driveway, both my cars were there, and she messaged me to ask me if I'd bought a new car already. The car dealership guy moonlights as a real estate agent and offered to take on their house haha when he came out. Yeah. They now have until the end of next month to be out and have anew house to move into, finally. That took years and is a completely 'nother story!

So yeah, three months was a no-go for me. I did it in a day, not counting all the looking at ads leading up to that day.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
59,284
28,633
113
#9
When I say I had been looking at cars before the day I actually bought one, I mean checking online sales on Craigslist...
 

jacko

Active member
Sep 2, 2024
462
249
43
#10
1. Download all the known apps for car sales. I downloaded like 7 of them on my phone.
2. Create a particular search that you want with the car model.
3. Expand the radius up to 100 miles. Yes, i was willing to drive 100 miles away from my house for a good deal.
4. Wait and pray that the best car will come to you.

Based on this, i found a 2008 Honda Accord with 15,000 miles for $10,000! $10,000!!! It was like hitting the lottery because the car was in mint condition and was garaged the whole time.

10,000 miles wow, such a blessing. Praise The Lord!
 

jacko

Active member
Sep 2, 2024
462
249
43
#11
Honda, Toyota, Lexus, Mazda all produce great cars, expand the market 100,000 miles is fine as long as it has been maintained with service records.
 

Magenta

Senior Member
Jul 3, 2015
59,284
28,633
113
#13
Honda, Toyota, Lexus, Mazda all produce great cars, expand the market 100,000 miles is fine as long as it has been maintained with service records.
And no major accidents...

My car was a bit of a back-step seeing as it did not come with certain things and is a hatchback with very little
hatch space. But all things considered, I cannot carry a lot any more all at once anyways, so... also, I had never
had a three door car before. My back seat is pretty much useless to me BUT if ever I need one it is there LOL.
And it is more compact and turns tighter than my previous car. Surely it gets better mileage. Having to manually
lock the hatch after closing does seem a bit odd in today's day and age of automatic everything but no big deal.


It was kind of funny when the young dealership guy went to open the hatch the first time and he could not
quite remember the trick there is to pulling it off successfully. I thought oh no! The hatch is botched. But no.
There is just a bit of a manoeuvre required to open it. Insert key. Turn, press mechanism in. No big deal.
And don't forget to lock after closing. LOL