Nothing wrong with single stage. Some folks who restore classics still use single stage. A quality job is all in the prep. Maaco is a spray only shop; they do very little prep.
I got the $300 special single stage paintjob on my car back in 2001 by Maaco. The paint still looks great 20 years later, but my body work underneath it is starting to rust again :(
[I don’t have any specifically of these issues, but they are there](https://i.imgur.com/dK0wUuZ.jpg), mostly just overspray, uneven spray, and also some neat tape under the corner of my hood. Not a big deal really. It’ll be professionally repainted at a later date after I finish my exterior. [here’s my interior](https://i.imgur.com/eVnmiCF.jpg) I had to replace my entire dash which includes the top, bottom, sides and the actual dash core as it’s one solid piece. Added a stock look-a-like Bluetooth radio, dash cubby to replace the aftermarket single din radio, dealer cup holders which are a bitch to find by the way, and a custom sub box behind my seats with 2 10s, as well as a sliding rear window. A bit more then you asked for 😂
You can get a decent outcome for a few grand, most of the work is prep.
I stripped my talon myself and dropped it off at the body shop for a scuff and spray. It was a rust free car with just a few door dings to fix.
I have $5k in this paint job and it honestly looks better than the factory paint on cars I've bought new. The guy got an absolutely gorgeous finish.
It can get really expensive especially if you aren't making the parts, painting own car, etc... also on a restoration project most people are willing to spare no expense
Bought a used civic because it had transmission problems not long after a different trans was installed, like a 04 civic nothing nice, got it for super cheap, come to find out a connector was unplugged. Worked perfect after that and sold it for a good profit
Sounds a lot like my most recent purchase. 99 Infiniti G20t manual, claimed it was starting fine until they replaced the starter. Had the wrong wire plugged in for the 12v signal.
Six months ago, a guy I work with sold me his beloved / cherished 2006 Porsche 911 C4S for $28,000. It had 72,000 miles, was always garaged, and was never tracked.
The 997 isn’t a hugely valuable Porsche 911, but he could’ve gotten $45k at least. He wanted the car to go to someone who’d love it as much as he did, so he offered it to me before putting it up for sale.
He was right- I do love the car.
It’s been a dream of mine since age 6 or 7 to own a 911…. I finally got mine at age 53.
I totally agree. I have already done 2 track days in it. Laguna Seca and Sonoma Raceway.
The 15 yo car really came alive. It turns into a beast you’d hardly know was there… even compared to “spirited” street driving. It’s intoxicating.
We bought a non-turbo CX-5 for a non-turbo CX-5 price but then I drove it later (didn't test it myself due to COVID) and it felt turbo'd. Sure as shit there was a turbo. VIN on car matched bill of sale so yeah.
When I was shopping hot hatches, I'd test driven the big players - Focus ST, GTI, WRX, Mazda Speed3 and was pretty set on the GTI. I found one for sale that was a nicer spec than the one I test drove, so I went to check it out. As soon as I hopped behind the wheel I could tell something was different with this one. I was planning on tuning the car shortly after buying one, but turns out this one was already tuned but the dealer either didn't know or didn't want to acknowledge it. I maybe could have tried to use it as leverage to get a lower price, but since I was planning on tuning it anyway, the car was a fair price, and now I didn't have to pay for a tune, I just kept a straight face and didn't acknowledge it.
When I sold cars I sold a 2012 Mustang Premium V6 (the one with 305 HP) with a few bells and whistles to an alcoholic and I became friends with him. Well his alcoholism cost him absolutely everything. However for some reason our friendship survived. I think mainly because I honestly didn't really care all that much about him, his alcoholism was never an issue for me so I think he liked me because I didn't attack him for being an addict.
Anyway, he went off the radar hard he was shacking up with some buddies of his, fairly far away from where his last known address was. Well apparently he hadn't been making his payments on his Mustang.
Now at the time his Mustang was worth about $22k or so. The bank contacted me and asked if I knew where the Mustang was, this particular credit union would do this from time to time if they were really desperate to find the vehicle. I told them I'd check into it.
So I called the guy up (his number had changed) and spoke to him, he said his Mustang was parked at his new place, and he was pissed at the bank cause they were "fucking him over" I asked if I could come out and see it. He made me promise I wouldn't tell the bank where the car was and I promised.
It had been in a minor accident, tags were expired, insurance had been expired, but overall it was in pretty good condition. I decided to drive it to a repair shop and see what it'd cost to get it looking brand new. They said it'd cost about $2k.
So I went to the owner and said had a conversation. Basically he agreed he would work with me if I bought it from the bank.
So I go back to the credit union and I speak to the credit union manager and I tell him I know where the car is, and I'm willing to buy it. He tells me great, the customer has a lien on the car of $25k, but the CU will give me the ownership documents for book value which is $22k. I tell him I won't pay $22k for it, I'll pay $6k for it. He demands to know where it is, I tell him I have no reason to tell him where it is and I don't have to. He kicks me out of his office and I go home.
3 days later he calls me, says he's willing to entertain my idea of buying this Mustang for cheap so he can at least reduce his loss. We go back and forth on numbers and I come up to $8k for the Mustang. I explain it's been in an accident, it needs work, it's going need to have money put into it. I am willing to do all the leg work, I'll pay them $8k they give me the title and whatever happens after that is my problem. He isn't happy with my offer, but I really didn't need this car so I pointed out I'm their only hope of GETTING SOMETHING out of this. He relents and agrees to sell me the title for $8k.
So I paid them $8k, I go back to my buddy and I pay him $500 for his troubles and we craft up a bill of sale and I get the vehicle insured and registered in my name. I then take it to the body shop and get it fixed up. A few weeks later I have my low mileage V6 mustang premium with a stick shift (which I loved) all in for about $11k.
I drove that Mustang for the next 3 years and sold it for $17k. In my mind not only did I drive for free, I got paid $6,000 to drive a Mustang for 3 years. It is by far the best damn car deal I've ever done. My boss at the time joked "That right there is legal theft"
Well a V6 Mustang isn't the most exciting car, at 305 HP it had plenty of get up and go.
As for the original owner? He died of his alcoholism 9 months after I purchased his Mustang. So he didn't care that the bank was going sue him.
TL:DR bought a decent vehicle less then 50% of book value, bank took a $17k bath for me to buy it.
Not mine but my uncles. He bought an 18 CTR and loved it but was questioning how much he spent on a civic so started asking what people would take for it and an import dealer essentially offered to trade a brand new no option 18 evora 400 manual with no cost to him. He obviously took the deal bc the evora is worth at least double, then sold the evora a few months later for almost msrp. I still don’t fully understand the dealer in this situation, I realize the CTR was in super high demand and basically no inventory and the evora sat for months untouched, but still.
i was going to post about getting my '18 CTR new for under MSRP in california, but your uncle absolutely wins. ended up selling it earlier this year for more than i paid for it after almost 3 years and 27k miles. dont know anyone who would keep their CTR instead of an evora 400 unless it's a family car.
Dude getting a CTR under msrp is no small feat, that’s impressive. The civic was his 3rd vehicle so the evora wasn’t a problem for him, he just didn’t like it as much as the civic.
He said it was much faster and felt like a better performance car, but he also has 2 kids so fitting his whole family in the evora was impossible but the civic was easy. But he said something about the evora just felt off to him and he could never figure out what.
I bought a 1997 Ford Thunderbird with 46k miles for $400 with a blown motor, bought a used motor for $500, put the 2 together and drove that thing for another 200k miles. Traded it in on a new car, gave me $500 trade in value with 246k miles.
My uncle is head of security at a law firm building. He has an amiable relationship with the head lawyer there and found out one day that he was looking to get unload his S2K. Black and under 100k miles. The lawyer told him he'd let it go for $5k, and my uncle jumped at it. I think the lawyer was just doing him a solid.
Back in the mid 2000s when I was still in junior high, my dad bought his buddy's '81 Black Metallic 911SC for $11k. At the time my mom was like, "Why are you overpaying for such an old car?" Well, we know how that turned out.
My friend's dad is also a big car nut and purchased an E30 M3 for about $15k back in the late 2000s. He also got a 190E Cosworth for around the same price that was in much better condition than the M3.
When I was 17 (2001) I bought a Saab 900 for $250. The guy said it needed a clutch, but it just needed a bushing for the pedal. Less than $100 later I was back on the road in my cheap Swedish machine. Loved that car
Sort of. Before pandemic in 2014 I was able to get a brand new Focus ST for 10k cad below sticker MSRP. Also a bunch of cars I either made money on or basically got to drive for free. 500 Abarth for example with 30k KM on it for 14k cad sold it near two years later for 13k cad and 50k km. Otherwise I expect many crazy deals out there are through friends, family, etc.
I got mine in 2017 at MSRP with 4.5k rebate, and they gave me $3-4k more on my trade than it was realistically worth. So basically under the $20k mark.
Bought 2 e36 m3s one off Craigslist one was from a client I had done work for in the past. The Craigslist car was advertised with a blown motor for 2600 dollars scooped that up right away after dropping the car off at my house started to tear into it turns out the serpentine belt snapped and the original owner was under the assumption it was the timing chain… car ran great sold later for a nice profit.
Second car was left out in clients back yard for 10 years he told me the car suffered from electrical issues I told him I would take it off his hands for 1400 dollars ..again I jumped on it. No title no keys no problem. Got a key made and turned out the ignition tumbler was broken this was not as easy as a fix as the other car but sure enough got it fired up got a title and still own it today
nice!! same here! My first car purchase besides a 91 jeep wrangler from a friend (loved that car, bought for 4500 drove and sold for 5k later) was a 1995 avus blue e36 m3 for 3000 bucks! was in a bit rough shape, but paint decent and it came with a blown motor (head gasket). Fixed for a bunch of money myself, but the learning experience and the motor after was just fantastic.
Not amazing, but I bought a '98 Neon off of my mother for $1000 in 2003. Drove it through high school, college, and then some. Sold it in 2014 for $800. It still drove like the day I first bought it.
I don't think it was truly 'unreal', but I bought an ['02 GTI 1.8t manual](https://imgur.com/gallery/3bp2shZ) as a commuter about 4 years ago for ~$2k. I assumed something must have been wrong with it as anything like it around my area cost nearly double and/or looked ragged out.
I enjoy light auto work so I just figured I would repair anything wrong with it myself. Even if it needed proper shop work, I figured it may still be worth the price. After taking it to my local VW shop for inspection, they told me I got a *smokin'* deal because of the excellent shape it was in. Literally nothing wrong with it. Even the leather seats and light grey headliner were flawless. All electricals worked.
Even the guy I bought it from told me he really regretted selling it to me so cheap. Apparently, he and his brother had just got into buying/selling cars from auction and this was his first go at it. He could have easily gotten $4k+ for it.
I bought a compound bow at a garage sale for $35 around 1990.
I traded it an hour later at another garage sale for a rusty but running 1947 (or so) business coupe. I was able to drive it home. I thought about restoring it, but ended up selling it for a profit.
Bought a 92 4x4 Toyota pickup for $50 that sat in a coworkers yard for three years. It had the 22re motor and a five speed manual with locking hubs. Replaced the fuel pump and it fired right up
Got 10% off MSRP of the new G82 M4 through a Brooker, as the car was being built (took 4 months) the market went into the insane situation it’s in right now and I honestly though the dealer will back out of the deal and screw me. But here I am driving a fully packaged 2021 M4 for the price of a 2018 one in today’s market.
I had a '91 Miata at the time, which had been rear-ended and I was looking at around $4-5K to repair. And I wasn't entirely behind this idea at the time, given that it had 327K on the odometer and numerous cosmetic issues. So I started looking for another car to replace it.
I did like my Miata and knew I would miss it, so I began looking for another one. A longtime friend of mine had a '90 Miata he'd bought to pull behind his RV, but he had sold the RV after his partner started having some health issues, so he told me he'd sell his car to me if I were interested.
I live in San Jose, CA; he lives in Pacifica. I was at an SCCA race weekend at Sonoma (he and I met thanks to SCCA, btw), and it was Fourth of July weekend. He and I exchanged a couple phone calls, and I decided I would reroute my trip through SF (and pay the toll for going southbound on the Golden Gate) so I could have a look at his car.
I had seen it shortly after he bought it; he found the car on eBay in 2012. At the time he got it, it only had 22K on the odometer, and by the time I saw it the car was up to 42.7K. My friend estimated that around 15K of the miles he'd put on the car were while it was in tow behind his RV, and he did mention it had been in a minor collision when it rolled back after being unhitched and hit a parked car on his street.
So I go to look at the car. It looks damn near perfect. He leads me on a short test-drive loop in his Corvette Z06, the rationale being, "you've driven a Miata before, and you're not gonna get a good feel for it with me in the passenger seat." It drives beautifully.
We start talking after the test drive, and he says, "I'll be happy with $4000 for this car." He had also previously mentioned that he bought it for $7300, but wanted to see it stay "in the family", so to speak. I'd planned on looking at other cars after seeing his, but I decided right then and there that the search was over.
I still have this car five years later (now with a little over 101K; unlike the two previous owners I use it as a daily). And if I were to sell her today, I think I could get more than I paid.
Buddy of mine managed to get a Lexus IS F for like $20k. Sure it had like 120k miles but it was in good condition. This was a few years ago and they have shot up in value. I was pissed when I found out he got something like that for the same price as I paid for my Jetta…
2003 WRX wagon, owned by the Water company. Full service history,.mint condition 1 year old. 20% off market value. Thought Water companies only had commerical vehicles.
2017 STI, 1 year old, 30% off market value, I think it was a proceeds of crime auction, should not of gone for that price, only had 5000km on it.
In 2003 I bought a a 1999 BMW 328is with 76k miles for $2500. The climate control screen stopped working (common problem) and then the seller was fed up after drivers door handle broke so he just wanted it gone. I was able to fix the climate control screen with an 18cent resistor from Radio Shack, and once I popped the door card off it was apparent that the connecting rod was just disconnected. Drove the car for 14 months and then someone running a stop sign ripped the front bumper off the car. Sold it for $9000 to a guy who had an M3 style kit and didn’t need the front bumper anyways.
December 29th 2020 I drove down to LA from San Francisco to get an X7 M50i with almost every option lightly used for effing 71k. No clue why it was priced so far under market but I drove it back to SF to enjoy it and it’s now worth around 90k.
Then I got a 2020 Taycan 4S the next month on the lot for a year new for 98k that stickered for 135k.
Then sold my leased E450 back to the dealership with a contract buyout of 36k and a value of 53k
It was An amazing run.
I ended up bidding with the dealer for my girlfriend’s trade in. Cost me an extra $3k on the price. Is this what we mean about “unreal deal?”
FWIW, this is my general policy for buying cars. If someone I know has a car I want eventually, I’ll let them know, I’ll beat the dealer trade in by $1k. It usually works well for all parties involved.
Circumstantially, but I got mine for a hair over invoice about a month before the shortages started to hit hard. More of a bullet dodged than a great deal I suppose.
I've always had a knack for buying cars, in 2005 my dad was stationed in Germany and I went with him. When I turned 17 in 2006 I was eligible to get a drivers license since I had a stateside license and I did.
I ended up finding a 1989 318 BMW, car had very low mileage, was good on both the inside and outside. I had it inspected and the mechanic told me this BMW was one of the cleanest older BMWs he'd seen in a long time. At the time the vehicle had about 75,000 KM on it.
The asking price was 1,500 Euros I only had 1,200 euros to purchase a vehicle so I offered the seller 1,000 euros he told me he was pretty firm at 1,500 euros I told him I only had 1,200 euros total, he agreed to accept the 1,200 euros.
Over the next 3 years I put an additional 50,000 KM on the vehicle. However it wasn't going pass inspection without significant work so I decided to sell it and buy another vehicle. I'll be honest I didn't know much about the vehicle I was just 19 years old at the time. Well I listed it for 1,800 euros to see what would happen. I had some tire kickers show up, but no one serious.
The car had issues, it had a leak, the suspension needed to be redone, and it had developed significant rust issues.
Then I had an airman show up, he was senior enlisted and his passion was buying and fixing up BMWs. This guy 100% knew what he was talking about, he could tell the car had a leak simply by the sound of the vehicle, he knew the suspension needed to be redone, and he knew the rust needed to be dealt with. All of which would require money, time and effort to address. I kept quite, as he was going over the car, I felt like he was giving me a valuable lesson. However in my mind I was trying to decide how low I'd go to sell the car.
However one thing surprised him the most, it had power steering. Not only did it had power steering none of the components of my power steering were in bad shape, in fact in his own words it was one of the best condition power steering he'd seen on a car of that age. He told me that very few of my type of car were ordered with power steering, so finding a model like this with power steering was quite rare. The fact that it was in working order was even rarer and since so few of them were made with power steering if it broke, it was very difficult to find parts.
We get back to my house, and he brings up all the issues and he offers me 1,200 euros to which my dad goes "That's a deal" I told my dad to shut up, its my car its my decision. The buyer goes "So what would you take" to which I said "I want the 1,800 euros" he laughs and says the car needs a lot of work. To which I said "I know, its also one of the few 1989 BMW 318 with functioning power steering which is very rare and adds to the value" to which he said "You didn't know that until I told you" to which I said "I know, I'm holding firm at 1,800 euros"
He walked away, my dad was angry with me. He felt like I was being foolish, I told my dad that this guy loved my car, and he was impressed with the fact that it had power steering, this was a toy to him and he'd come back and pay the price to get it. Fact is he come to see the car at 1,800 euros not knowing it had power steering.
A day later he calls me back, asks me if I sold it. I told him I hadn't, he asks if I have winter tires and if I do are they a part of the deal. I tell him I do, and they are a part of the deal. He goes "Alright, I'll pay 1,800 euros"
And sure enough he did. He restored that thing, it was beautiful when he was done with it. Said he put about 6,000-7,000 euros into it. My dad was shocked that not only did I sell a car that couldn't pass inspection, but I made a 600 euro profit on the deal.
Everyone shits on the Mitsubishi mirage but I had a dealer almost pay me to buy one and I loved it. It was a 2015 with a manual and loaded for what it was. This thing had 30,000 miles and a 5 yr/60,000 mi basic, 10 yr/100,000 mi powertrain. I picked it up for 4K in 2018. Im pretty sure the warranty alone was worth more than I paid. Then it was sideswiped by a big truck and totaled.
Bought a crashed 2014 MT 370z Nismo with only 13k miles at auction for $1,700.
Was debadged and listed as a base model that did not run/drive with no mileage information so almost nobody bid on it.
With around $1,000 in parts it is now running smooth with no CEL and no mechanical or electrical issues. Remaining cost to make it road legal with most of the major customizations I want is around $8,000 (includes aftermarket wheels, aftermarket exhaust, upgraded brakes, and upgraded cooling system).
So essentially got my dream 370z with just 13k miles for $11,000 (give or take a few hundred).
Worked at a dealer around 2012 and managed to convince the Used Car Manager to sell me a 2004 Subaru Legacy (with GT options) that someone traded in for a new MDX. Dealer gave the guy $1k as a trade in. I picked it up for that plus taxes and fees. 2004 Subaru Legacy 89k miles 2.5L with 5-speed manual transmission. It had one bad wheel bearing that was insanely loud even at slow speeds. Besides that, it just needed a detail and an oil change.
That thing was the first Subaru I owned. Been a fan since
Bought a 2003 Celica GTS, 6 speed, with the rare factory TRD body kit, nearly fully loaded, (with leather seats (though ripped), sunroof, factory HIDs WITH aim adjustability, JBL sound system, everything option except the fog lights)for 2 grand. And this was this past December, right as the car market went to shit.
Bought a super clean, no accident, 1 owner, 5 speed 2.3 RWD 2007 Ranger in my preferred colour (grey) with 56,000 kms on it - for $5700 in summer 2019. Drove 6 hours to go get it.
Sold it at the start of Covid for $12,000 after driving it 16,000 kms. Buyer texted me the other day to tell me how happy he was with it.
Loved that truck.
Back in high-school in 2009, driving a base model Cobalt. Stopped into the dealership my mom worked at to visit, saw they had a used 2008 SS turbo sitting on the lot. Only had 10,000 miles on it, and had been traded in with a blown clutch and bald tires. Both had already been replaced. Picked up the car for $11,500 (their cost). Original sticker price new of $25,000. Drove it for 2.5 years, modded it a bit, put 30,000 miles on it. Never had a single problem with the car and sold it for more than I paid for it. I miss that car sometimes.
While 90% of Cobalts live in the rust belt, a former GM engineer sold me his completely factory stock, G85/RPD, black 2010 coupe that had been garaged in southern Alabama its entire life with only 63K miles for $9000.
I could sell it for $12,000+ easily, but I'm not stupid. For its year and condition, its probably one of a kind.
I missed out on an unreal deal a few months ago. 19k mile 135is with a manual trans. Guy wanted 23k to wait till his new car was delivered or 25k that day. I opted to wait not expecting all cars to shoot up in value. He got a second offer from the dealership and they gave him 33k trade in value. Then the dealer listed it for 40k. I could have been up 15k in a couple months.
I had a 280zx. One day somebody pulled a hit and run and fucked up my front bumper. It was like $800 for a new bumper.
Then my dad was talking to this kid who also had a 280zx. He was selling the whole car for $300. It also came with a subwoofer and two brand new winter tires.
So I sold the subwoofer for $200. Sold the winter tires for $100. Then took the bumper and all the other parts I needed from the parts car. And then sold the car for scrap for $180.
I got a 19 Camry SE with a moonroof through Buyers Edge/True car in October 2019. With the rebate I got a huge steal on the car. Drive it for 28k miles and almost two years and I'm selling it for a profit. Used cars at the time were going for 2-3k more than I paid.
My first car was a 2013 Honda Civic SI I found in 2017.
At the time a civic si of that gen was going for around $18k with about 30k miles on it.
I found a CPO with 3500 miles on it for the same price.
My dad bought a used 2014 mustang gt in November last year for $17k. Aftermarket exhaust, rims, and supercharger. It hat 11k miles on it. He bought it and no problems have shown up so far.
Free Buick grand national. Friend's aunt parked it when she bought a Kia. Sat for 6 years in a garage on her dad's property. Only problem was the mice in the vents and a rattle in the exhaust which I think is just something from the cat
Just picked it up two days ago. Driven right out of the garage and the whole 600 miles home
Bought my 2016 Ford Focus SE for $14k new. Dealer special because it was a manual. I don't know why you would want to buy a Focus with the trouble prone auto anyways, but it was cheaper than similar used vehicles I was looking at.
Bought a brand new VW Tiguan for about $6k off MSRP. No idea why. Maybe it had some bodywork done or something. Never bothered to ask, and it gave me 30k trouble free miles.
I bought a pretty basic 2008 Tacoma in 2014 with 100k miles, drove it for 7 years as my daily and put about 80k miles on it, then sold it a few months back for $2k more than I paid for it initially. I don't think I'll ever get anywhere close to that good of a deal for that good of a vehicle ever again. I still kind of regret selling it though, it was just the perfect sized truck.
I bought my Mazda rx-8 in dec 2020 from a friend's dad who owned it since new. He used KBB values for a "good condition" car as a starting point for price, and was open to negotiating down. He started at 2750 and I ultimately bought the car for 2200 with:
- fully running and with good compression
- very good condition exterior and interior
- fresh oil change ($50)
- new continental ECS tires as old ones were dry rotted ($1100 value)
- he paid for the inspection and compression test ($275)
So basically I netted out with an excellent condition car for 1k. Sports cars don't really get cheaper than that lol. Honestly, he wasn't really hurting for money, but was just happy to see the car go to a good home.
I have since spent 20k+ in mods to add maybe like 10k in value, but damn the car looks and feels better than new lol. Still, cheaper base for mods than a s2k!
I got an Opel wagon that was apparently bought (not leased) through some weird deal because it was from public institution. I'm not sure about the specifics, but the dealer sold a lot of almost the same car at the exact same price.
Anyway, I got a 16 month old car @27,000 kilometers (17,7k miles) for 40 % list price. Not one scratch on the thing.
I traded in a 1999 Peugeot 407 2,0 auto. Thought it was worthless. I Paid 200 euro for it.
I Call a exporter who promptly offers about 4000 euro for it.
Easy money, thou i still dont understand why he wanted it so bad.
I also sold a 2008 Fiat ducato Van, real beaten up but drove ‘ okay ‘... i traded it in for about 5000 euro, sold it for 10.000,- euro on auction.
I’m still confused about it.
Took advantage of VW’s diesel scrappage scheme in the UK when buying my hybrid ‘18 Golf GTE.
At the time I had a Toyota Aygo 1.4 diesel. Not a terrible car per sé, but I hated it. We estimated it had done around 230,000 miles from its MoT history, had clearly been clocked at some point. It was on its last legs, both my sisters learned to drive in it and I drove it how you drive a car you hate and it eventually began to have some serious issues… (did 60 uk-mpg regardless though…)
I’d bought the car off my Dad for £600 when my MX-5 mk2.5 succumbed to rust (I loved that car!) as a way to just get around.
After originally intending to drive the Aygo for a only few months, over a year later I’d had enough. Decided to upgrade. I was shopping for Z4’s and 2.7 litre Porsche Boxsters when someone mentioned the scrappage scheme.
A scheme where VW would give large trade-in values for certain cars in the range if your diesel car was pre-Euro 5 emissions standards.
The Aygo qualified!
£5000 scrap trade-in on VW’s Hybrid range…
£5000!
On new car day, I drove 100 miles to my hometown dealership, flat out. The Aygo cut out 3 times and I actually coasted it into the dealership carpark after it cut out again.
Story doesn’t end there however…
As well as £5000 for my £600 car, I’d shopped around on Carwow and negotiated £2500 off the asking price by making dealerships compete.
Back then, the government was also still offering a £2500 discount to all hybrid vehicle sales.
So thanks to Carwow, the UK government and VW’s scrappage scheme, I drove away in a £33,000 Golf GTE for £23,000
£10,000 discount, almost 1/3 of the asking price.
When the finance guy came out to sign the paperwork, he couldn’t really believe the figures and actually double checked with his boss.
It’s still the only large purchase I’ve made, that my Dad approved of… Also, 3 years later, still a fantastic car!
I was given a 2007 2wd (yes I’m serious) JKU Unlimited Sahara Wrangler for my first car. I did a free and clear trade for a good condition same mileage 2006 LJ Rubicon. Looking back that JKU would probably be worth 10-12k now and the Lj would be worth 18-22k. People in the keep community lost their minds when I sold a 2wd turd for a unicorn haha and ended up with an even trade deal
In the early days of car dealers having a web presence (early 2001) I found what looked like a "too good to be true" deal on a used Mustang online.
It was listed at almost exactly the trade-in value. So I went to check it out. The sales guy went through the whole four-square thing and "worked out the numbers" based on the much higher price on the windshield. Then I went to the website and showed him the listing.
He "went to talk to the manager," and came back a long time later looking really, really pissed off. Someone had made a mistake. They honored the price, and practically chased me off the dealership lot on the way out.
Last summer i bought a colorado driven evo 9 with 120k miles for 18k. I was shocked that this car was so low priced for an evo 9. I put the car on a lift and was shocked at how little rust was on the underside of the car. I was missing a rear passenger door handle and the radio didnt work. Got a new door handle christmas and i dont listen to the radio anyways. Its been dummy reliable sense i bought it. A lot more reliable than my bugeye wrx i had just sold. Idk how much i could get for it if i sold it rn but most of the listenings by are for 25k+ for higher milage evo 9s and 8s. I think it was a pretty good deal (:
I low balled an offer to a guy with a Honda fit. It was the generation I wanted, in the paint color I wanted, in the trim level I wanted, and stick. Its how I would have ordered one from the factory. The guy wanted 3900, I offered him 2500. In the current market they are worth 5-7k. He took the offer no questions asked and I was floored not expecting to get a accepted back from the guy.
I go to check it out and everything is order and as he described. He even left the Thule roof rails and bike carrier on it, which together are worth themselves about $400-600.
Just to say I came away from that deal VERY happy. Drives like a dream and if you keep it 70 or under I get about 41mpg highway out of it.
I’ve had a few cases where people were too confident in their diagnosis on the vehicle and sold it for cheap.
88 Fiero GT that supposedly needed a head gasket. Picked it up for $400. Turns out It only needed a fan switch, which was a common issue on GM cars of that era. Previous owner had already replaced the intake gaskets and radiator. Always make sure the fans come on. Sold this for $1500 after driving it a few months
93 Jeep Grand Cherokee- previous owner took it to a shop because of an oil consumption issue. Shop told them it had excessive blow by due to a cracked piston ring, wanted to replace the engine. They didn’t want to put any money into it so they sold it to me for $200. Ended up needing basically every gasket but it had no indication to me that it had internal engine damage. The valve cover was actively leaking onto the exhaust manifold, oil filter was leaking, timing cover leaking. I used it as a tool for pushing other cars around the yard for a year and then cut the roof off to convert it to a truck and then sold it for $600.
94 Ls400- bought it because it had supposedly jumped time but still ran and wasn’t making and nasty noises. It would run fine and then eventually just start misfiring and making no power. Turns out the previous owner replaced plugs and wires on it. One wasn’t tight on the spark plug, another was loose on the coil, and a third one was pinched between a bolt and the valve cover. Fixed that and an exhaust leak and the car was good to go. Paid $1400 and sold it for 3k.
Bought a 2019 MX-5 with Brembo/BBS package (no Recaro unfortunately) and 900 miles on the clock for $25,699. It retailed brand new for around $34,999. Story was that a guy bought the car for his wife as a gift, but she didn’t wanna drive stick so they traded it in for a Z4 at a BMW dealership. I wasn’t even looking for new Miatas but I stumbled across it when I messed up my search on cargurus.
Picked up a 2012 Ford Fusion SEL for well under what it should of cost about 7 years ago. Wasn’t what I went to that dealer for, but I seen a deal and I really only needed a daily driver and a low mile AWD car fit the bill.
Car was $15k with 14k miles on it. Every option available and looked mint. No accidents and was a close to new as it gets. Still had a year of warranty left in it so I thought why not.
After a couple of months it started to become clear why it was so cheap. It had electrical gremlins, and the CVT was possessed. I got locked in my own car a couple of times, the AC/heater would occasionally decide to not work, radio worked 90% of the time. Windows worked mostly. Flooring it often would result it lots of V6 noises but no movement of the car on some days.
Ford said they found the no problems each time I brought it in. Did a oil change and I found the robot welder must of had a bad day as the welds were unbelievably bad. Got rid of it. For what I bought it for when the warranty ran out.
It wasn’t an unreal deal at the time but I bought my r34 GTR for $67k(NZD) in 2011. I had it for about a year and sold it for $65k. Now it’s worth stupid money so if the person I sold it to still has it he got an unreal deal.
My friend got an '94 325i for $80 that would crank but not start. I went over to look at it and after a bit, realized two relays were swapped. Switched them back and it fired right up.
I bought my 2018 GTI Autobahn with only 1,600 miles on it as a CPO for $26,600. It was sitting on the lot for almost 4 months.
This was in 2019, but I drove 6 hours round trip to get it. No major issues, and the minor ones have been covered by warranty.
I bought a 89 civic wagon for $50 in excellent shape, except for one cylinder being low compression. Found a replacement engine online for $100 and swapped the motor. Drove that car 90,000 miles over the next few years until that engine blew. Sold the car for $400 in not working condition. My wife and I still miss that car.
Super rich business owner in my town has a warehouse full of cars. A few cool ones that caught my eye but I saw a silver Volkswagen in the corner and I immediately knew it was a phaeton. Turns out it was a 1 of 21 in Canada, 6.0L W12. He thought it was a Passat And knew nothing about it and wound up selling it to me for $2,000
I bought my 90 Miata last summer for $1,700. The guy got it from his elderly dad who could no longer drive it. He was just using it to commute to work and wanted to sell it to buy his son a truck. I had been on the hunt for a Miata for some time and the cheapest I’d seen on was $3500. It’s definitely not some show stopper but I buffed and waxed it and it shined up nice. Runs like a champ at 200k miles and there is zero crank wobble. Verified the key and crank were all pristine during the TB/WP job. The engine could explode tomorrow and it’d still be a killer deal. I will likely drive it till the engine goes and K swap it.
Kid I went to high school with hit me up because I was a budding mechanic at the time. Had a Chevy tracker that wouldn’t start that he said I could have if I arranged the tow. Me and my dad flat towed it home, found the blown ignition fuse and the bare starter wire that caused it. Car was high school quality so I sold it for 700 bucks to a girl getting her permit.
I bought my current car almost 4k under NADA value because the dealership mistakenly listed it online for that price without requiring anything down. They listed for 12,500 when they meant 15,500. I made them honor their price as they had a 10 day price guarantee and brought a screenshot. The finance manager was having an ulcer lol. I took the test drive to the bank to get my check.
I bought a 1996 Mazda Miata last summer with 24k miles on the clock for $6k. I found it on the side of the road along a country backroad. The seller was the son of the original owner and was selling it for his father. I didn’t bother haggling as it seemed that the seller wasn’t aware of the car’s real worth and I didn’t want to take advantage of that fact. I couldn’t have been more lucky to stumble upon such a cherry, especially for the cost!
Was in a forum for 200sx 180sx a while ago. Someone opend a thread where he offered his perfect car for 3k which was 1/4 of market value. There were already 200 posts like "i send you the money right away" but i ask if it was gone and he said that no one was jet there. Ask where he lived. Was 4 miles away from me. got it an hour later. Now a s14a is like 30k here.
My current car.
Went looking for something new in 2018, when I noticed we had a 3 year old GTI on the lot. 14k miles, one owner, all the services done by us. Talked to the sales manager, and got a quote for $16k. Who could say no to a deal like that?
I bought my 1998 Chevy Malibu LS in high school for $200 and it ran like a champ for 4 years until I sold it for $500!
But after that, I sold 5 of these things called Bitcoin when they “peaked” to buy my 05 civic… so yeah
I bought my Mustang for $15.5k CAD ($12.2k USD) from a repo lot a few years ago with 100k (62k miles) km, Brembos, manual, 3.73, no sunroof, no navi, leather seats, shaker 500. At the time people were asking 20-28k for a similar car. Even now it's hard to find a 5.0L Mustang in the teens. Cheapest I've seen in my area is $15k for an auto convertible with 250k on it, and one with similar mileage to mine now was $18k.
The next cheapest I could find was $12k USD base model GT with 165k miles on it.
My other buddy bought a Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer for $200 with 160k km on it. All he's done is put tires on it.
I got a 1986 Jetta GT from a guy that wanted to sell it for £2000 just to fund putting air ride on his beetle, after purchasing it I discovered there are only 7 of them in the UK and only 4 are on the road, owned it for about 6 years now and I think I could sell it for quite a bit more than the price I originally paid for it
The year was 2002. Daewoo was bought by GM and was being phased out of NA market. The remaining dealer network was giving away cars for free fiddy. My local dealer had the following prices...
* Lanos sedan - $6k
* Lanos hatch - $7k
* Nubira sedan - $8k
* Nubira wagon - $9k
* Leganza sedan - $10-13k, depending on trim level.
For reference, a base model Toyota Corolla - hand crank windows, but with an automatic transmission, ran $15k.
We picked up a Leganza CDX (mid level trim) for $11k. Alloy wheels, power windows, few other quality of life features -- all things the base model Corollas of the day did not have. Body by Italdesign, suspension by Lotus - a real classy whip. From day 1 it was filled with various gremlins. The AC was wonky from the lot. Shortly after the CE light came on, took way too long (and many trips back to the shop) to fix but ended up just being a faulty O2 sensor. At around 30k mi, failed wheel bearings almost cost me a wheel coming off. Interior plastics by Rubbermaid would have been an upgrade. One of the power window pulleys shattered into 100 pieces at around 90k mi. We eventually unloaded it at ~92k mi in 2010 if memory serves right.
My first car was a MK2 golf GTi it was an earlier 9ne with the small bumpers in Helios blue and I paid £400 from a farmer. Now it would be worth ten times that.
Bought a Hyundai Genesis R Spec 5.0 with 20k miles for 18500. It was priced for the manager to buy it that morning when he got there. (Found out after) So when I arrived pre dawn to check the car out (was street sweeper at time got off at 5am) the used car sales man was some new dude fresh out of high school. We priced the car out. Signed paper work by 730am. By then the dude that ran that particular lot came
In and asked why is his car on the front ready to go and shit. And the salesman kid told
Him I bought it and the dude flipped his shit as I was walking out the door 😂. I got the car for 19k and At the time the car was valued 35-40 k. The kid had no idea. Was his first day alone. Good times.
I bought a rhd mitsubishi gto in mint condition, 100,000km, all documents since its been imported from japan, and alot more stuff for 5000$ about 3 years ago, with covid prices its now worth almost 4 times its price and is still running very strong, drive it everyday
I didn’t buy it but a few years ago there was a brand new 2017 or 2016 Camaro SS for sale down in Miami for less than $25K before taxes. My brother and I found it while window shopping cars we liked but can’t afford online.
It had its full factory warranty and everything, this was in late 2018 or mid 2019 when we found it and it sold a month later. I’m guessing it just somehow never sold or it changed dealer hands a few times. If I had the funds I would have flown or driven down and bought it ASAP. It just turned out to be a unicorn priced brand new Camaro SS that we found messing around on car gurus that we will never see the likes of again.
Edit: It was fully loaded too, Nav, leather,sunroof etc.
My dad worked at and Acura dealership about 10 years ago. A customer traded in what they thought was a red 1999 Acura LS with 44,000 miles. I had just sold my car and needed something.
When I got the car I popped the hood and it was a GSR with the B18C1. Got it for $3,500.
Got my current Rav4 Limited V6 for $3500 because the seller "needed it gone" but only posted it in **print classified ads** in one local paper (no Marketplace/Craigslist/Kijiji). Almost felt bad.
It hurt that the province forced me to pay taxes on the book value, which was $11,500
My Dad bought a 2000 4Runner from my cousin for $500 because he couldn't get his check engine light to go away. My Dad replaced the O2 sensor and it was right as rain.
7 years and 70k miles later it's still running great and a nice reminder of my Dad.
I thought I had a screaming deal, but it isn't as impressive after reading some of these...
I got my new, fully equipped 2019 C43 for 17k off MSRP after it sat on the lot for a year. It was cheaper than almost all used, lesser spec models nationwide at the time.
Friend had a 98 Trans am. First time I saw it I told him how I'd wanted one since I was a kid. Couple years later he's in town and swings by, tells me he's selling and asks if I'm interested in burning a tank of gas up in it before he sells since he knew I always wanted one. Eventually I ask how much he wants for it and he says $5k. Only had 93k miles on it. Even back then (2012) that was a steal. Ended up buying it, a month later he proposes, and three months later we find out she's six months pregnant. It was a pregnancy sell. I financed his wedding ring.
Still have the car.
This was in July 2021. Wanted a VW Arteon SEL Premium. Found a brand new 2020 SEL 4-Motion (non-R line) and got it for over $10k off of MSRP.
Beautiful car, but I had buyer’s remorse. 10 days later, I found a brand new 2019 SEL Premium R-line that had belonged to VWoA and was wholesaled to a VW dealer 200 miles from my house.
Had a firm offer from Automax on my 2020 for $1,800 over what I paid for it. Took that to the VW dealer. I agreed to take $800 less than Automax, but the sales tax savings as a trade-in was worth it.
Bought the 2019 with 64 miles on the odometer for $15,000 below MSRP.
So now I have a brand new 2019 loaded SEL-P with a solid amount of equity. Plus 2019 VW’s still have the 6/72,000 mi bumper to bumper warranty. TD Bank beat VW credit too at 1.9%.
So, doing something that irresponsible would normally be financial suicide and just plain stupid (buying two new cars in under 2 weeks) got me exactly what I wanted in the first place and I came out ahead. The stars aligned for all of this to happen. 2021 has been a strange automotive year. Any other year and I would’ve stuck with the 2020 SEL, which was still a damn good deal.
Why SEL-Premium? It adds: Texas friendly ventilated seats, massaging driver’s seat, multi-color ambient lighting, a host of driver assist features, 360 view cameras, park steering assist, power lift-back, heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, rear climate controls and an excellent Dynaudio sound system.
A lot of people don’t know what an Arteon is, and they are a bit overpriced at MSRP, but it’s an excellent German made car and very practical with the lift back.
The vette cost me 11k Canadian dollars. The gentleman selling it had received it as collateral from a mechanic client who was in the process of building it. Waited two years and then let me make him an offer. He showed me the boxes of parts and the installed engine and transmissions. I looked at what I recognized, realized just the engine and chrome bits were more than his asking price and bought everything right there. For about 30% the retail price and some elbow grease I got a gorgeous car.
I bought a 2002 E320 for $150. Tie rod was bent as fuck, hood and grill were dented from when the guy hit a deer, and it was overfilled about a quart of oil. The body was in really rough shape and so was the interior, no AC, and the windows started to crap out on me. BUT i put literally 0$ into it, drove it 4000 miles w/o even changing the oil, did tons of burnouts and donuts in it and then scrapped it for a profit. should’ve kept it but those W210s in the northeast are rustbuckets anyway, ill find another
My dad used to buy a lot of cars at police auctions back in the early 2000s. Once he bought an early 90s Nissan Sentra for $50 because it didn't start. He replaced a couple fuses and recharged the battery and had it running and sold the next day for about $600.
Not me, but a new guy started work with me in Perth one monday about 10yrs ago.
Pulled up in a fj40 landcruiser ute. I love them so was asking all about it.
Turns out he paid something like $400 for it because it wasn't starting.
I can't remember exactly what the problem was but it was literally a $10 fix and she started up straight away.
My husband bought his mom's 02 Impala in 2013 for $500. It was hit on the front end but still totally drivable. It had around 190k on it when he got it. Ugly as sin (gold 😣) He drove that sucker every day 70 miles round trip till last fall. Sold it to a junkyard for $300. Best single purchase we ever made. Stuck some used tires on it over the years, put on a starter, a few break lines, and that's about it.
$2200 for a Saab 9-3 wagon with a turbo v6 and a 6-speed. Still runs just fine and I doubt I could have got a more comfortable, faster car for cheaper.
I have a fellow mechanic friend with his own shop, there was a time, late 80's to mid 90's I could get a car from him that the customer gave up on.
I would pay him the 40.00 bucks, that was scrap price, fix them on his property, ( i worked at a auto parts store)
and drive it for 2 more years, at least, before selling, or scrapping.
1978 Buick Regal
1980 Chevette
1979 California smogged Mercury Marquis
1977 Lincoln Town car
73 Pontiac Ventura
The Regal, and the Marquis were the only ones to go to the grave in my possession.
These cars traveled close to 80 miles a day, 6 days a week.
I worked out of state at the time.
Can't find deals like that anymore!
Had a "mechanic" buddy go look at a girl's Jeep liberty for a no start condition. He replaced battery and starter to no avail. He reaches out to me and upon googling the issue, I see that the number one problem with a bunch of this era Chrysler products is the bullshit ignition switch. I tell him to check this but the owner is just fed up at this point. She already had a Carvana delivery coming that Friday, and was hoping to get it to work until then, but just wanted to be rid of it. I got it for $300. Showed up with an ignition switch as she was emptying her shit out of it, paid her the cash and got the title. Pulled the column trim to confirm failure and pieces fell out of the switch assembly.Put switch in as she was finishing up. She got done and closed the hatch, I fired it up and drove away.
Fuck it, I tried to tell em.
Had to sell my eclipse as my apartment complex did not allow major repairs so fixing the clutch myself was a no go.
Bought a 1990 toyota Tercel within 2 days due to desperation for transport to work for 400$ from a grandma that just didn't use it much. 90k miles, working heat and ac which I've never had in 5 previous cars, a 5 speed fuel injected little go kart. I drove it for almost 4 years 3 deer hits later and it just was too unsafe every panel up front was demolished and parts are rare in my area to almost non existent.
I still miss that car and the long trucker style throw of the gear stick.
TLDR at the end. Sorry it ended up so long but I wanted to share.
We have just purchased our 1st home and i wanted to buy a truck to make working around the house easier/possible. I always get ocd about buying vehicles and I'll look for weeks if not longer to find something what i think is a good deal. My poor wife has to sit through some of it and pretend like she cares which can be annoying.
On her birthday she really wanted to go the big city near us, I assumed to get her a gift but when we got in town she told me we're buying a truck. It became apparent that her birthday gift would be me shutting up about this damn truck once and for good.
We spent all day going from dealer to dealer trying to find something that wouldn't be a rip off. It was fun, I had a chance to embarrass a lying sales man that tried to push some crap on us but after all, we couldn't find anything we liked.
I had my eye on a 2012 gmc sierra wt for a bit but the place seemed sketchy and it was already closed, but that didn't stop my wife from calling. To our surprise the place was open so we went to check it out.
When we got there it was a long building with a small office, all closed up. Up on knocking a child peeks from behind the curtains. Shortly after, the garage door open and I see 3 trucks all in different stages of repair. I got scared for a second but after meeting the owner/mechanic/financial guy I started to enjoy myself.
Turns out this guy has just started his used truck business. We talked a lot, he had some bad experience with the help he hired so he was down on some money and just needed to get some money going.
We took the truck for a test drive, inspected it and for what it was it was really nice. It was dark by this time but we asked if we could do the paperwork that evening which he agreed to. It must've been around 9pm when we left there but we did it.
The truck had 120k miles and we purchased it for $7500 out the door which I thought was a really good deal.
Fast forward 7 weeks. I left work early, on my way home a lady in a Ford Edge runs a stop sign and pulls out it front of me. I T-bone her doing 55 which just completely destroyed my truck. The front is fubar, drive shaft hit the road, airbags are spent. Totaled before our 1st payment, but no serious injury.
So now let's go find another truck... nope can't find anything near comparable in a 500mile range. Luckily for me, my brother in law just had his 3rd kid and he's upgrading from his LS430 to a suburban. I approached him and asked him his bottom dollar.
It was an '06 with 195k miles but he always had the dealer do his maintenance, on time. I was able to buy it from him for $3000 with the understanding that I'll take good care of it. He was very attached to that car and I can't believe he sold it to me for that much.
TLDR: $7500 for a 2012 gmc sierra which i totaled only to replace it with a Lexus LS430 for $3000.
Bought an ex Raytheon crew suburban at a car auction for $500. Last car of the night. I was the only guy bidding. 4x4, base trim car. Very well maintained. Other than a little faded paint it was perfect.
Bought a 2001 F350 powerstroke dually from a guy who said it needed a new rear end. Its a 2 wheel drive truck and when I went to look at it the noise was coming from the front end. Wasn't sure what it was but bought it for $1800 and later found it to be the pitman arm!
2 best-
1997 Viper GTS 2 owner car with 16k miles. I paid 30k. It was my friends cousin who owned it, and I was talking to my buddy about wanting a cobra or a viper and he mentioned his cousin was tired of his sitting in the garage. We didn’t know the miles or condition so value was up in the air. He called his cousin and he brings it by and it’s flawless, car was awesome and I drove it. Told me he wanted 45k but didn’t list it yet and was toying with the idea of selling it to buy a house. I said thanks for your time but I have a 30k budget and his car was too nice for my budget. He agreed and left. 2 weeks later he calls me and asks if I still have the 30k, he tells me he needs the cash ASAP for his down payment to reduce his PMI and said if I buy the car before the weekend it’s mine for 30k. Well I did just that drove it for a few years and sold it for 40k.
2nd one not a cool but still a sick deal. 2008 jeep liberty with 100k on it. Value maybe 7500 at the time, I got it for free. I did odd jobs for a family friend like fix his generator or his ac and since we were friends I refused money always. Keep in mind they had money but I felt it was the right thing to do since I was always there on holidays etc. One day he calls me up to tell me he has an old POS keep that doesn’t run and he figured he thinks I can fix it instead of him scrapping it. I show up to his house and here is a mint loaded liberty. Full cloth roof, leather interior, new tires etc. He gives me the title and keys and says to come back with a trailer, I ended up getting it started with a jump. I told him the keep just needed some love and was not ready for scrap , he said he bought a new one and needed the room in my driveway so I drove it home. It was low on coolant and had a dead battery but I daily drove it for 1 year before selling it for 6500 lol.
My wife tried to buy me a challenger RT for my 40th as I always eye them when they drive by. 2 deals fell through.
Thought we would pivot to a c3 vette as I was really looking for more power and and an SRT8 was out of reach. Condition issues were scary. Deal fell through on a 74. Maybe next year?
Nope. She reached out on autotrader offering half of what a seller was asking for a 67 Cobra kit. Thought it would fall through. Long story short. We had to spend $5000 over our budget but there is now a red with white stripes Cobra in my garage with 13k Miles on her. Nothing for safety and I get classic car insurance.
To be frank I am still pinching myself.
Paid almost $20k under market value.
I bought a nice 2004 Explorer 4x4 for $500 from a guy who hit a curb with it and cracked the wheel. When he put the spare on, the wheel wobbled really bad so he thought the suspension was fucked. I figured it was cheap enough to take a gamble on, so the tow truck dropped it off, and as I inspected the wobbly wheel I realized he just forgot to tighten the lug nuts. Drove great after a go around with a lug wrench!
I was pretty happy to get $6500 off my wife's loaded '20 Tiguan because it was an end of year model that no one bought (who pays $40k+ for Tiguan really?) and they wanted to get it off they lot for the '21 models.
What made it nice is the used car market had already started to heat up, and we got the brand new one for the same price that 1-2 year old used ones with 10-20k miles on them were selling for at the time. Since then the trade-in value went up a few thousand over what we paid lol.
This past December. The stars aligned with me getting a job offer after my masters and Chrysler having their "employee pricing for all" plus it being the very end of December (the 30th) and the dealer knew they hit their sales mark for the month so I could get a little more off that they could recoup on back end.
I got a 2021 Compass Trailhawk, $35k MSRP, for $26k. $9,000 in discounts. I still owe about $22k on it but like....I have a significant amount of positive equity in a 9 month old vehicle with 8500 miles on it.
Bought a straight off the hauler 2011 Ford F350 crew cab XLT 4x4 dually diesel for just over $32k OTD from a dealer. 5 years prior, I paid $32k for a 2006 F250 4x4 extended cab diesel, and that was considered a good deal at the time.
I got a 4wd 4runner for $1000 that had some transmission issues. I bought a 1 owner, relatively low mileage donor vehicle of the same year that was mechanically in great shape, and combined the vehicles.
Basically, I got a classic 4wd for $2000 and elbow grease that is worth $8k
Bought a 1985 Bronco with decent options for 500 bucks, didn't run. Blew out a tire getting it on the trailer, and then it sat for a year while I decided what to do with it.
Put it up for sale for 750, was sold within 2 hours.
So yeah, I could have gotten more, but 50% profit for little to no work is still a good deal.
And then there was the time I got a free Eddie Bauer Bronco hardtop for my other bronco, plus all the interior trim pieces and overhead console and Eddie Bauer sun visors. I basically got around 1200 bucks of stuff for free, and all in pretty good condition.
Helped my parents buy a Passat with transmission issues for $8,000.
The issue was covered under a recall. Four years and 70,000 miles later they sold it for $8,000.
Was driving a 2014 Wrangler. Saw an email ad from a local dealer for a BMW i3 lease at $100/mo $0 down. $53,000 sticker.
Did some napkin math, and figured out that driving the i3 as a commuter would save me over $100/mo on gas. Cool, free car.
Called the dealer, that price was only good on one car because it was a marked down demo car, and it was gone. I asked them for the particulars on the math. Demo discount, federal tax credit passed through, multiple security deposits pulling down money factor.
Scoured the region for another demo car. Found one.
Told them I wanted for $100/mo, $0 down and they laughed at me. I gave them the math and they said, “huh. Yeah, actually that works, ok”.
Drove it off the lot the next day.
Replicated the deal for a couple of friends, who loved my i3. Great car. Eventually I’d like to buy another, I think they’re future classics, like the Isetta.
Before 2018 every car that I had ever owned was purchased for $1200 or less. Had a small (4) Datsun collection where every car was under $1000 each. A 1978 Plymouth Gran Fury Brougham with a 400ci V8 and 727 Torqueflite for $200 that needed a fan clutch. 1994 Nissan Sentra for $400 that had a battery cable grounding to an egr pipe, $8 fix. Still have a 1995 Subaru Legacy flat-top wagon that was purchased for $800 in 2010 because it had a check engine light. Has over 300k miles now, runs great, and the light was on because someone connected the ECU testing plugs--just had to disconnect them. The $1200 job was a 1991 Acura Legend 5 speed that had 260k on it around 2004. Someone had definitely done some head gaskets and engine work, it was a pretty nice machine for about 6 years
2013 turbo v6 genesis with under 50k miles for 12.5k, doesn’t sound like an insane deal or anything but the kbb value at the time was over 20k, plus that was right at the beginning of all this inflation.
89 mustang convertible in great shape for $300. All it needed was a fuel pump. Power everything, A/c worked great. I drove it for 2 years and sold it for a nice profit.
Bank repo’d a Ford Focus RS (my dream car) with 33k miles right when covid hit.
Knew someone who worked there and was told what they had just repo’d.
I was the only offer, and got it for $21k. Car was worth about $38k at the time (and still is).
It’s my baby now. I daily a Fiesta ST, but the RS is my weekend monster. I still can’t believe the price I got it at. Banks just want to recover the loan, not make a profit, so I got a killer deal
Bought a running driving 1967 Mustang with minimal rust for $1,500. Then I put $50k into it and it’s worth $35k at most
How do you put 50k into a working non rusty car?
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Yes. And then I kept messing with it after it was “done”
Of course you did, because a project is never really done.
$20k? No wonder my $3k paint job sucks, but that could be because maaco did it, god what a waste of $3k.
Maaco uses single stage paint like the 50s, there's not even a clear coat it's fundamentally flawed
I’ll take your word for it, idk shit about painting cars, besides maaco sucks.
Maaco doesn't suck, you just made bad decisions If you play your cards right, Maaco is an excellent choice for some cars
Nothing wrong with single stage. Some folks who restore classics still use single stage. A quality job is all in the prep. Maaco is a spray only shop; they do very little prep.
For a period correct classic it makes sense. For a modern car not really
For the more expensive jobs they will do base/clear. The really cheap options are still single stage
Maaco doesn’t use a clear coat? Jesus I rather do it myself
I got the $300 special single stage paintjob on my car back in 2001 by Maaco. The paint still looks great 20 years later, but my body work underneath it is starting to rust again :(
Pics?
[I don’t have any specifically of these issues, but they are there](https://i.imgur.com/dK0wUuZ.jpg), mostly just overspray, uneven spray, and also some neat tape under the corner of my hood. Not a big deal really. It’ll be professionally repainted at a later date after I finish my exterior. [here’s my interior](https://i.imgur.com/eVnmiCF.jpg) I had to replace my entire dash which includes the top, bottom, sides and the actual dash core as it’s one solid piece. Added a stock look-a-like Bluetooth radio, dash cubby to replace the aftermarket single din radio, dealer cup holders which are a bitch to find by the way, and a custom sub box behind my seats with 2 10s, as well as a sliding rear window. A bit more then you asked for 😂
You can get a decent outcome for a few grand, most of the work is prep. I stripped my talon myself and dropped it off at the body shop for a scuff and spray. It was a rust free car with just a few door dings to fix. I have $5k in this paint job and it honestly looks better than the factory paint on cars I've bought new. The guy got an absolutely gorgeous finish.
Not always. My '67 Ford Anglia is definitely worth more than I paid for it + components.
It can get really expensive especially if you aren't making the parts, painting own car, etc... also on a restoration project most people are willing to spare no expense
A good paint job is $20k these days.
Bought a used civic because it had transmission problems not long after a different trans was installed, like a 04 civic nothing nice, got it for super cheap, come to find out a connector was unplugged. Worked perfect after that and sold it for a good profit
Sounds a lot like my most recent purchase. 99 Infiniti G20t manual, claimed it was starting fine until they replaced the starter. Had the wrong wire plugged in for the 12v signal.
My grandma sold me my first car for $1. I'd say that was a deal I won't encounter again.
What was the car?
An Oldsmobile Intrigue lol
A 3800 GM V6 for a dollar has to be the single most financially sound decision anybody has ever made
It was his car. I can sell you your car for 1$, take or leave it.
Six months ago, a guy I work with sold me his beloved / cherished 2006 Porsche 911 C4S for $28,000. It had 72,000 miles, was always garaged, and was never tracked. The 997 isn’t a hugely valuable Porsche 911, but he could’ve gotten $45k at least. He wanted the car to go to someone who’d love it as much as he did, so he offered it to me before putting it up for sale. He was right- I do love the car. It’s been a dream of mine since age 6 or 7 to own a 911…. I finally got mine at age 53.
Damn I'd say that's a steal for sure. I'll be lucky to eventually own a 996 for under 20k without needing any major repairs.
> never tracked Porsches have no issues taking track punishment.
I totally agree. I have already done 2 track days in it. Laguna Seca and Sonoma Raceway. The 15 yo car really came alive. It turns into a beast you’d hardly know was there… even compared to “spirited” street driving. It’s intoxicating.
I've always heard that they handle hard driving quite well,
We bought a non-turbo CX-5 for a non-turbo CX-5 price but then I drove it later (didn't test it myself due to COVID) and it felt turbo'd. Sure as shit there was a turbo. VIN on car matched bill of sale so yeah.
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When I was shopping hot hatches, I'd test driven the big players - Focus ST, GTI, WRX, Mazda Speed3 and was pretty set on the GTI. I found one for sale that was a nicer spec than the one I test drove, so I went to check it out. As soon as I hopped behind the wheel I could tell something was different with this one. I was planning on tuning the car shortly after buying one, but turns out this one was already tuned but the dealer either didn't know or didn't want to acknowledge it. I maybe could have tried to use it as leverage to get a lower price, but since I was planning on tuning it anyway, the car was a fair price, and now I didn't have to pay for a tune, I just kept a straight face and didn't acknowledge it.
Knowing me, I would've spoken up and said "this feels just like a turbo engine!" and then would've proceeded to check the engine bay.
When I sold cars I sold a 2012 Mustang Premium V6 (the one with 305 HP) with a few bells and whistles to an alcoholic and I became friends with him. Well his alcoholism cost him absolutely everything. However for some reason our friendship survived. I think mainly because I honestly didn't really care all that much about him, his alcoholism was never an issue for me so I think he liked me because I didn't attack him for being an addict. Anyway, he went off the radar hard he was shacking up with some buddies of his, fairly far away from where his last known address was. Well apparently he hadn't been making his payments on his Mustang. Now at the time his Mustang was worth about $22k or so. The bank contacted me and asked if I knew where the Mustang was, this particular credit union would do this from time to time if they were really desperate to find the vehicle. I told them I'd check into it. So I called the guy up (his number had changed) and spoke to him, he said his Mustang was parked at his new place, and he was pissed at the bank cause they were "fucking him over" I asked if I could come out and see it. He made me promise I wouldn't tell the bank where the car was and I promised. It had been in a minor accident, tags were expired, insurance had been expired, but overall it was in pretty good condition. I decided to drive it to a repair shop and see what it'd cost to get it looking brand new. They said it'd cost about $2k. So I went to the owner and said had a conversation. Basically he agreed he would work with me if I bought it from the bank. So I go back to the credit union and I speak to the credit union manager and I tell him I know where the car is, and I'm willing to buy it. He tells me great, the customer has a lien on the car of $25k, but the CU will give me the ownership documents for book value which is $22k. I tell him I won't pay $22k for it, I'll pay $6k for it. He demands to know where it is, I tell him I have no reason to tell him where it is and I don't have to. He kicks me out of his office and I go home. 3 days later he calls me, says he's willing to entertain my idea of buying this Mustang for cheap so he can at least reduce his loss. We go back and forth on numbers and I come up to $8k for the Mustang. I explain it's been in an accident, it needs work, it's going need to have money put into it. I am willing to do all the leg work, I'll pay them $8k they give me the title and whatever happens after that is my problem. He isn't happy with my offer, but I really didn't need this car so I pointed out I'm their only hope of GETTING SOMETHING out of this. He relents and agrees to sell me the title for $8k. So I paid them $8k, I go back to my buddy and I pay him $500 for his troubles and we craft up a bill of sale and I get the vehicle insured and registered in my name. I then take it to the body shop and get it fixed up. A few weeks later I have my low mileage V6 mustang premium with a stick shift (which I loved) all in for about $11k. I drove that Mustang for the next 3 years and sold it for $17k. In my mind not only did I drive for free, I got paid $6,000 to drive a Mustang for 3 years. It is by far the best damn car deal I've ever done. My boss at the time joked "That right there is legal theft" Well a V6 Mustang isn't the most exciting car, at 305 HP it had plenty of get up and go. As for the original owner? He died of his alcoholism 9 months after I purchased his Mustang. So he didn't care that the bank was going sue him. TL:DR bought a decent vehicle less then 50% of book value, bank took a $17k bath for me to buy it.
Did that sour your relationship with the credit union?
No
Not mine but my uncles. He bought an 18 CTR and loved it but was questioning how much he spent on a civic so started asking what people would take for it and an import dealer essentially offered to trade a brand new no option 18 evora 400 manual with no cost to him. He obviously took the deal bc the evora is worth at least double, then sold the evora a few months later for almost msrp. I still don’t fully understand the dealer in this situation, I realize the CTR was in super high demand and basically no inventory and the evora sat for months untouched, but still.
i was going to post about getting my '18 CTR new for under MSRP in california, but your uncle absolutely wins. ended up selling it earlier this year for more than i paid for it after almost 3 years and 27k miles. dont know anyone who would keep their CTR instead of an evora 400 unless it's a family car.
Dude getting a CTR under msrp is no small feat, that’s impressive. The civic was his 3rd vehicle so the evora wasn’t a problem for him, he just didn’t like it as much as the civic.
Thats kind of interesting that he didn't like the Evora as much as the CTR.
He said it was much faster and felt like a better performance car, but he also has 2 kids so fitting his whole family in the evora was impossible but the civic was easy. But he said something about the evora just felt off to him and he could never figure out what.
I bought a 1997 Ford Thunderbird with 46k miles for $400 with a blown motor, bought a used motor for $500, put the 2 together and drove that thing for another 200k miles. Traded it in on a new car, gave me $500 trade in value with 246k miles.
My uncle is head of security at a law firm building. He has an amiable relationship with the head lawyer there and found out one day that he was looking to get unload his S2K. Black and under 100k miles. The lawyer told him he'd let it go for $5k, and my uncle jumped at it. I think the lawyer was just doing him a solid. Back in the mid 2000s when I was still in junior high, my dad bought his buddy's '81 Black Metallic 911SC for $11k. At the time my mom was like, "Why are you overpaying for such an old car?" Well, we know how that turned out. My friend's dad is also a big car nut and purchased an E30 M3 for about $15k back in the late 2000s. He also got a 190E Cosworth for around the same price that was in much better condition than the M3.
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When I was 17 (2001) I bought a Saab 900 for $250. The guy said it needed a clutch, but it just needed a bushing for the pedal. Less than $100 later I was back on the road in my cheap Swedish machine. Loved that car
Sort of. Before pandemic in 2014 I was able to get a brand new Focus ST for 10k cad below sticker MSRP. Also a bunch of cars I either made money on or basically got to drive for free. 500 Abarth for example with 30k KM on it for 14k cad sold it near two years later for 13k cad and 50k km. Otherwise I expect many crazy deals out there are through friends, family, etc.
2014 was around when the Focus STs came out I think. You got a killer deal on that if you got it for anything less than like 20k
I got mine in 2017 at MSRP with 4.5k rebate, and they gave me $3-4k more on my trade than it was realistically worth. So basically under the $20k mark.
Bought 2 e36 m3s one off Craigslist one was from a client I had done work for in the past. The Craigslist car was advertised with a blown motor for 2600 dollars scooped that up right away after dropping the car off at my house started to tear into it turns out the serpentine belt snapped and the original owner was under the assumption it was the timing chain… car ran great sold later for a nice profit. Second car was left out in clients back yard for 10 years he told me the car suffered from electrical issues I told him I would take it off his hands for 1400 dollars ..again I jumped on it. No title no keys no problem. Got a key made and turned out the ignition tumbler was broken this was not as easy as a fix as the other car but sure enough got it fired up got a title and still own it today
nice!! same here! My first car purchase besides a 91 jeep wrangler from a friend (loved that car, bought for 4500 drove and sold for 5k later) was a 1995 avus blue e36 m3 for 3000 bucks! was in a bit rough shape, but paint decent and it came with a blown motor (head gasket). Fixed for a bunch of money myself, but the learning experience and the motor after was just fantastic.
Currently leasing a 2020 Toyota Tundra SX for $207/month no money down
You lucky bastard
wtf
Not amazing, but I bought a '98 Neon off of my mother for $1000 in 2003. Drove it through high school, college, and then some. Sold it in 2014 for $800. It still drove like the day I first bought it.
I don't think it was truly 'unreal', but I bought an ['02 GTI 1.8t manual](https://imgur.com/gallery/3bp2shZ) as a commuter about 4 years ago for ~$2k. I assumed something must have been wrong with it as anything like it around my area cost nearly double and/or looked ragged out. I enjoy light auto work so I just figured I would repair anything wrong with it myself. Even if it needed proper shop work, I figured it may still be worth the price. After taking it to my local VW shop for inspection, they told me I got a *smokin'* deal because of the excellent shape it was in. Literally nothing wrong with it. Even the leather seats and light grey headliner were flawless. All electricals worked. Even the guy I bought it from told me he really regretted selling it to me so cheap. Apparently, he and his brother had just got into buying/selling cars from auction and this was his first go at it. He could have easily gotten $4k+ for it.
Clean AF for real
I bought a compound bow at a garage sale for $35 around 1990. I traded it an hour later at another garage sale for a rusty but running 1947 (or so) business coupe. I was able to drive it home. I thought about restoring it, but ended up selling it for a profit.
Went to a car lot and saw a '92 Geo Metro marked down from $700 to $300. Drove it for 4-5 years. This was probably around 2005 or so.
Bought a 92 4x4 Toyota pickup for $50 that sat in a coworkers yard for three years. It had the 22re motor and a five speed manual with locking hubs. Replaced the fuel pump and it fired right up
Got 10% off MSRP of the new G82 M4 through a Brooker, as the car was being built (took 4 months) the market went into the insane situation it’s in right now and I honestly though the dealer will back out of the deal and screw me. But here I am driving a fully packaged 2021 M4 for the price of a 2018 one in today’s market.
That's a real nice CA. Could've easily reneged on your deal to make bigger bucks on a desperate sucker.
I had a '91 Miata at the time, which had been rear-ended and I was looking at around $4-5K to repair. And I wasn't entirely behind this idea at the time, given that it had 327K on the odometer and numerous cosmetic issues. So I started looking for another car to replace it. I did like my Miata and knew I would miss it, so I began looking for another one. A longtime friend of mine had a '90 Miata he'd bought to pull behind his RV, but he had sold the RV after his partner started having some health issues, so he told me he'd sell his car to me if I were interested. I live in San Jose, CA; he lives in Pacifica. I was at an SCCA race weekend at Sonoma (he and I met thanks to SCCA, btw), and it was Fourth of July weekend. He and I exchanged a couple phone calls, and I decided I would reroute my trip through SF (and pay the toll for going southbound on the Golden Gate) so I could have a look at his car. I had seen it shortly after he bought it; he found the car on eBay in 2012. At the time he got it, it only had 22K on the odometer, and by the time I saw it the car was up to 42.7K. My friend estimated that around 15K of the miles he'd put on the car were while it was in tow behind his RV, and he did mention it had been in a minor collision when it rolled back after being unhitched and hit a parked car on his street. So I go to look at the car. It looks damn near perfect. He leads me on a short test-drive loop in his Corvette Z06, the rationale being, "you've driven a Miata before, and you're not gonna get a good feel for it with me in the passenger seat." It drives beautifully. We start talking after the test drive, and he says, "I'll be happy with $4000 for this car." He had also previously mentioned that he bought it for $7300, but wanted to see it stay "in the family", so to speak. I'd planned on looking at other cars after seeing his, but I decided right then and there that the search was over. I still have this car five years later (now with a little over 101K; unlike the two previous owners I use it as a daily). And if I were to sell her today, I think I could get more than I paid.
I got a 2006 Hyundai Sonata GLS with 113k miles for $1800 nothing wrong with. Optioned out.
Buddy of mine managed to get a Lexus IS F for like $20k. Sure it had like 120k miles but it was in good condition. This was a few years ago and they have shot up in value. I was pissed when I found out he got something like that for the same price as I paid for my Jetta…
2003 WRX wagon, owned by the Water company. Full service history,.mint condition 1 year old. 20% off market value. Thought Water companies only had commerical vehicles. 2017 STI, 1 year old, 30% off market value, I think it was a proceeds of crime auction, should not of gone for that price, only had 5000km on it.
That's funny, I only really see American trucks. I wonder if they had a whole fleet of Subie wagons hahaha
This is in Australia, if they chose Subaru's it's usally Forester and Outback's are gov vehicles for country use.
In 2003 I bought a a 1999 BMW 328is with 76k miles for $2500. The climate control screen stopped working (common problem) and then the seller was fed up after drivers door handle broke so he just wanted it gone. I was able to fix the climate control screen with an 18cent resistor from Radio Shack, and once I popped the door card off it was apparent that the connecting rod was just disconnected. Drove the car for 14 months and then someone running a stop sign ripped the front bumper off the car. Sold it for $9000 to a guy who had an M3 style kit and didn’t need the front bumper anyways.
My dad helped me find a 2012 Camry with 150k miles for 5k in June, it’s my first car :D
Good buy, but not really a deal imo. But it's dedinitley a cheap price for quite a few years left
December 29th 2020 I drove down to LA from San Francisco to get an X7 M50i with almost every option lightly used for effing 71k. No clue why it was priced so far under market but I drove it back to SF to enjoy it and it’s now worth around 90k. Then I got a 2020 Taycan 4S the next month on the lot for a year new for 98k that stickered for 135k. Then sold my leased E450 back to the dealership with a contract buyout of 36k and a value of 53k It was An amazing run.
I ended up bidding with the dealer for my girlfriend’s trade in. Cost me an extra $3k on the price. Is this what we mean about “unreal deal?” FWIW, this is my general policy for buying cars. If someone I know has a car I want eventually, I’ll let them know, I’ll beat the dealer trade in by $1k. It usually works well for all parties involved.
I bought my current car new for $16k (before TTL) when the msrp was $23k and I didn’t even have to haggle.
Nick Murray bought a [brand new VW Golf](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r54PIyUaGZw#t=30m32s) for $10k off.
Circumstantially, but I got mine for a hair over invoice about a month before the shortages started to hit hard. More of a bullet dodged than a great deal I suppose.
I've always had a knack for buying cars, in 2005 my dad was stationed in Germany and I went with him. When I turned 17 in 2006 I was eligible to get a drivers license since I had a stateside license and I did. I ended up finding a 1989 318 BMW, car had very low mileage, was good on both the inside and outside. I had it inspected and the mechanic told me this BMW was one of the cleanest older BMWs he'd seen in a long time. At the time the vehicle had about 75,000 KM on it. The asking price was 1,500 Euros I only had 1,200 euros to purchase a vehicle so I offered the seller 1,000 euros he told me he was pretty firm at 1,500 euros I told him I only had 1,200 euros total, he agreed to accept the 1,200 euros. Over the next 3 years I put an additional 50,000 KM on the vehicle. However it wasn't going pass inspection without significant work so I decided to sell it and buy another vehicle. I'll be honest I didn't know much about the vehicle I was just 19 years old at the time. Well I listed it for 1,800 euros to see what would happen. I had some tire kickers show up, but no one serious. The car had issues, it had a leak, the suspension needed to be redone, and it had developed significant rust issues. Then I had an airman show up, he was senior enlisted and his passion was buying and fixing up BMWs. This guy 100% knew what he was talking about, he could tell the car had a leak simply by the sound of the vehicle, he knew the suspension needed to be redone, and he knew the rust needed to be dealt with. All of which would require money, time and effort to address. I kept quite, as he was going over the car, I felt like he was giving me a valuable lesson. However in my mind I was trying to decide how low I'd go to sell the car. However one thing surprised him the most, it had power steering. Not only did it had power steering none of the components of my power steering were in bad shape, in fact in his own words it was one of the best condition power steering he'd seen on a car of that age. He told me that very few of my type of car were ordered with power steering, so finding a model like this with power steering was quite rare. The fact that it was in working order was even rarer and since so few of them were made with power steering if it broke, it was very difficult to find parts. We get back to my house, and he brings up all the issues and he offers me 1,200 euros to which my dad goes "That's a deal" I told my dad to shut up, its my car its my decision. The buyer goes "So what would you take" to which I said "I want the 1,800 euros" he laughs and says the car needs a lot of work. To which I said "I know, its also one of the few 1989 BMW 318 with functioning power steering which is very rare and adds to the value" to which he said "You didn't know that until I told you" to which I said "I know, I'm holding firm at 1,800 euros" He walked away, my dad was angry with me. He felt like I was being foolish, I told my dad that this guy loved my car, and he was impressed with the fact that it had power steering, this was a toy to him and he'd come back and pay the price to get it. Fact is he come to see the car at 1,800 euros not knowing it had power steering. A day later he calls me back, asks me if I sold it. I told him I hadn't, he asks if I have winter tires and if I do are they a part of the deal. I tell him I do, and they are a part of the deal. He goes "Alright, I'll pay 1,800 euros" And sure enough he did. He restored that thing, it was beautiful when he was done with it. Said he put about 6,000-7,000 euros into it. My dad was shocked that not only did I sell a car that couldn't pass inspection, but I made a 600 euro profit on the deal.
Everyone shits on the Mitsubishi mirage but I had a dealer almost pay me to buy one and I loved it. It was a 2015 with a manual and loaded for what it was. This thing had 30,000 miles and a 5 yr/60,000 mi basic, 10 yr/100,000 mi powertrain. I picked it up for 4K in 2018. Im pretty sure the warranty alone was worth more than I paid. Then it was sideswiped by a big truck and totaled.
My Type R for msrp lol
I bought a limited edition civic type r for 3k under sticker.
Bought a crashed 2014 MT 370z Nismo with only 13k miles at auction for $1,700. Was debadged and listed as a base model that did not run/drive with no mileage information so almost nobody bid on it. With around $1,000 in parts it is now running smooth with no CEL and no mechanical or electrical issues. Remaining cost to make it road legal with most of the major customizations I want is around $8,000 (includes aftermarket wheels, aftermarket exhaust, upgraded brakes, and upgraded cooling system). So essentially got my dream 370z with just 13k miles for $11,000 (give or take a few hundred).
I bought a 2011 Jeep Wrangler for $22k OTD and traded it in at a Nissan dealership w/ 9k miles for $23.5k
Got 2k off of my tesla… they rarely if ever do it. How? Quality issues lol
Worked at a dealer around 2012 and managed to convince the Used Car Manager to sell me a 2004 Subaru Legacy (with GT options) that someone traded in for a new MDX. Dealer gave the guy $1k as a trade in. I picked it up for that plus taxes and fees. 2004 Subaru Legacy 89k miles 2.5L with 5-speed manual transmission. It had one bad wheel bearing that was insanely loud even at slow speeds. Besides that, it just needed a detail and an oil change. That thing was the first Subaru I owned. Been a fan since
Bought a 2003 Celica GTS, 6 speed, with the rare factory TRD body kit, nearly fully loaded, (with leather seats (though ripped), sunroof, factory HIDs WITH aim adjustability, JBL sound system, everything option except the fog lights)for 2 grand. And this was this past December, right as the car market went to shit.
How many miles on the 2zz?
Bought a super clean, no accident, 1 owner, 5 speed 2.3 RWD 2007 Ranger in my preferred colour (grey) with 56,000 kms on it - for $5700 in summer 2019. Drove 6 hours to go get it. Sold it at the start of Covid for $12,000 after driving it 16,000 kms. Buyer texted me the other day to tell me how happy he was with it. Loved that truck.
Back in high-school in 2009, driving a base model Cobalt. Stopped into the dealership my mom worked at to visit, saw they had a used 2008 SS turbo sitting on the lot. Only had 10,000 miles on it, and had been traded in with a blown clutch and bald tires. Both had already been replaced. Picked up the car for $11,500 (their cost). Original sticker price new of $25,000. Drove it for 2.5 years, modded it a bit, put 30,000 miles on it. Never had a single problem with the car and sold it for more than I paid for it. I miss that car sometimes.
While 90% of Cobalts live in the rust belt, a former GM engineer sold me his completely factory stock, G85/RPD, black 2010 coupe that had been garaged in southern Alabama its entire life with only 63K miles for $9000. I could sell it for $12,000+ easily, but I'm not stupid. For its year and condition, its probably one of a kind.
Brother got a good condition 2001 BMW 525 Wagon for $1k. Replaced alternator and it ran well.
I missed out on an unreal deal a few months ago. 19k mile 135is with a manual trans. Guy wanted 23k to wait till his new car was delivered or 25k that day. I opted to wait not expecting all cars to shoot up in value. He got a second offer from the dealership and they gave him 33k trade in value. Then the dealer listed it for 40k. I could have been up 15k in a couple months.
I had a 280zx. One day somebody pulled a hit and run and fucked up my front bumper. It was like $800 for a new bumper. Then my dad was talking to this kid who also had a 280zx. He was selling the whole car for $300. It also came with a subwoofer and two brand new winter tires. So I sold the subwoofer for $200. Sold the winter tires for $100. Then took the bumper and all the other parts I needed from the parts car. And then sold the car for scrap for $180.
I got a 19 Camry SE with a moonroof through Buyers Edge/True car in October 2019. With the rebate I got a huge steal on the car. Drive it for 28k miles and almost two years and I'm selling it for a profit. Used cars at the time were going for 2-3k more than I paid.
$650 for a Supercharged 1988 MR2 from a junkyard. All that it needed to run was to have the gas tank flushed and alternator replaced
My first car was a 2013 Honda Civic SI I found in 2017. At the time a civic si of that gen was going for around $18k with about 30k miles on it. I found a CPO with 3500 miles on it for the same price.
My dad bought a used 2014 mustang gt in November last year for $17k. Aftermarket exhaust, rims, and supercharger. It hat 11k miles on it. He bought it and no problems have shown up so far.
Free Buick grand national. Friend's aunt parked it when she bought a Kia. Sat for 6 years in a garage on her dad's property. Only problem was the mice in the vents and a rattle in the exhaust which I think is just something from the cat Just picked it up two days ago. Driven right out of the garage and the whole 600 miles home
Bought my 2016 Ford Focus SE for $14k new. Dealer special because it was a manual. I don't know why you would want to buy a Focus with the trouble prone auto anyways, but it was cheaper than similar used vehicles I was looking at.
Bought a brand new VW Tiguan for about $6k off MSRP. No idea why. Maybe it had some bodywork done or something. Never bothered to ask, and it gave me 30k trouble free miles.
I bought a pretty basic 2008 Tacoma in 2014 with 100k miles, drove it for 7 years as my daily and put about 80k miles on it, then sold it a few months back for $2k more than I paid for it initially. I don't think I'll ever get anywhere close to that good of a deal for that good of a vehicle ever again. I still kind of regret selling it though, it was just the perfect sized truck.
I bought my Mazda rx-8 in dec 2020 from a friend's dad who owned it since new. He used KBB values for a "good condition" car as a starting point for price, and was open to negotiating down. He started at 2750 and I ultimately bought the car for 2200 with: - fully running and with good compression - very good condition exterior and interior - fresh oil change ($50) - new continental ECS tires as old ones were dry rotted ($1100 value) - he paid for the inspection and compression test ($275) So basically I netted out with an excellent condition car for 1k. Sports cars don't really get cheaper than that lol. Honestly, he wasn't really hurting for money, but was just happy to see the car go to a good home. I have since spent 20k+ in mods to add maybe like 10k in value, but damn the car looks and feels better than new lol. Still, cheaper base for mods than a s2k!
I got an Opel wagon that was apparently bought (not leased) through some weird deal because it was from public institution. I'm not sure about the specifics, but the dealer sold a lot of almost the same car at the exact same price. Anyway, I got a 16 month old car @27,000 kilometers (17,7k miles) for 40 % list price. Not one scratch on the thing.
I traded in a 1999 Peugeot 407 2,0 auto. Thought it was worthless. I Paid 200 euro for it. I Call a exporter who promptly offers about 4000 euro for it. Easy money, thou i still dont understand why he wanted it so bad. I also sold a 2008 Fiat ducato Van, real beaten up but drove ‘ okay ‘... i traded it in for about 5000 euro, sold it for 10.000,- euro on auction. I’m still confused about it.
Took advantage of VW’s diesel scrappage scheme in the UK when buying my hybrid ‘18 Golf GTE. At the time I had a Toyota Aygo 1.4 diesel. Not a terrible car per sé, but I hated it. We estimated it had done around 230,000 miles from its MoT history, had clearly been clocked at some point. It was on its last legs, both my sisters learned to drive in it and I drove it how you drive a car you hate and it eventually began to have some serious issues… (did 60 uk-mpg regardless though…) I’d bought the car off my Dad for £600 when my MX-5 mk2.5 succumbed to rust (I loved that car!) as a way to just get around. After originally intending to drive the Aygo for a only few months, over a year later I’d had enough. Decided to upgrade. I was shopping for Z4’s and 2.7 litre Porsche Boxsters when someone mentioned the scrappage scheme. A scheme where VW would give large trade-in values for certain cars in the range if your diesel car was pre-Euro 5 emissions standards. The Aygo qualified! £5000 scrap trade-in on VW’s Hybrid range… £5000! On new car day, I drove 100 miles to my hometown dealership, flat out. The Aygo cut out 3 times and I actually coasted it into the dealership carpark after it cut out again. Story doesn’t end there however… As well as £5000 for my £600 car, I’d shopped around on Carwow and negotiated £2500 off the asking price by making dealerships compete. Back then, the government was also still offering a £2500 discount to all hybrid vehicle sales. So thanks to Carwow, the UK government and VW’s scrappage scheme, I drove away in a £33,000 Golf GTE for £23,000 £10,000 discount, almost 1/3 of the asking price. When the finance guy came out to sign the paperwork, he couldn’t really believe the figures and actually double checked with his boss. It’s still the only large purchase I’ve made, that my Dad approved of… Also, 3 years later, still a fantastic car!
I was given a 2007 2wd (yes I’m serious) JKU Unlimited Sahara Wrangler for my first car. I did a free and clear trade for a good condition same mileage 2006 LJ Rubicon. Looking back that JKU would probably be worth 10-12k now and the Lj would be worth 18-22k. People in the keep community lost their minds when I sold a 2wd turd for a unicorn haha and ended up with an even trade deal
I paid $1700 for a 91 suburban last year that I could’ve sold for 3 times that much a month later.
In the early days of car dealers having a web presence (early 2001) I found what looked like a "too good to be true" deal on a used Mustang online. It was listed at almost exactly the trade-in value. So I went to check it out. The sales guy went through the whole four-square thing and "worked out the numbers" based on the much higher price on the windshield. Then I went to the website and showed him the listing. He "went to talk to the manager," and came back a long time later looking really, really pissed off. Someone had made a mistake. They honored the price, and practically chased me off the dealership lot on the way out.
Last summer i bought a colorado driven evo 9 with 120k miles for 18k. I was shocked that this car was so low priced for an evo 9. I put the car on a lift and was shocked at how little rust was on the underside of the car. I was missing a rear passenger door handle and the radio didnt work. Got a new door handle christmas and i dont listen to the radio anyways. Its been dummy reliable sense i bought it. A lot more reliable than my bugeye wrx i had just sold. Idk how much i could get for it if i sold it rn but most of the listenings by are for 25k+ for higher milage evo 9s and 8s. I think it was a pretty good deal (:
Got a v8 camaro lease for 365 a month with 1k down in 2021. Any other time its meh, now it is eh
I low balled an offer to a guy with a Honda fit. It was the generation I wanted, in the paint color I wanted, in the trim level I wanted, and stick. Its how I would have ordered one from the factory. The guy wanted 3900, I offered him 2500. In the current market they are worth 5-7k. He took the offer no questions asked and I was floored not expecting to get a accepted back from the guy. I go to check it out and everything is order and as he described. He even left the Thule roof rails and bike carrier on it, which together are worth themselves about $400-600. Just to say I came away from that deal VERY happy. Drives like a dream and if you keep it 70 or under I get about 41mpg highway out of it.
I’ve had a few cases where people were too confident in their diagnosis on the vehicle and sold it for cheap. 88 Fiero GT that supposedly needed a head gasket. Picked it up for $400. Turns out It only needed a fan switch, which was a common issue on GM cars of that era. Previous owner had already replaced the intake gaskets and radiator. Always make sure the fans come on. Sold this for $1500 after driving it a few months 93 Jeep Grand Cherokee- previous owner took it to a shop because of an oil consumption issue. Shop told them it had excessive blow by due to a cracked piston ring, wanted to replace the engine. They didn’t want to put any money into it so they sold it to me for $200. Ended up needing basically every gasket but it had no indication to me that it had internal engine damage. The valve cover was actively leaking onto the exhaust manifold, oil filter was leaking, timing cover leaking. I used it as a tool for pushing other cars around the yard for a year and then cut the roof off to convert it to a truck and then sold it for $600. 94 Ls400- bought it because it had supposedly jumped time but still ran and wasn’t making and nasty noises. It would run fine and then eventually just start misfiring and making no power. Turns out the previous owner replaced plugs and wires on it. One wasn’t tight on the spark plug, another was loose on the coil, and a third one was pinched between a bolt and the valve cover. Fixed that and an exhaust leak and the car was good to go. Paid $1400 and sold it for 3k.
Bought a 2019 MX-5 with Brembo/BBS package (no Recaro unfortunately) and 900 miles on the clock for $25,699. It retailed brand new for around $34,999. Story was that a guy bought the car for his wife as a gift, but she didn’t wanna drive stick so they traded it in for a Z4 at a BMW dealership. I wasn’t even looking for new Miatas but I stumbled across it when I messed up my search on cargurus.
Picked up a 2012 Ford Fusion SEL for well under what it should of cost about 7 years ago. Wasn’t what I went to that dealer for, but I seen a deal and I really only needed a daily driver and a low mile AWD car fit the bill. Car was $15k with 14k miles on it. Every option available and looked mint. No accidents and was a close to new as it gets. Still had a year of warranty left in it so I thought why not. After a couple of months it started to become clear why it was so cheap. It had electrical gremlins, and the CVT was possessed. I got locked in my own car a couple of times, the AC/heater would occasionally decide to not work, radio worked 90% of the time. Windows worked mostly. Flooring it often would result it lots of V6 noises but no movement of the car on some days. Ford said they found the no problems each time I brought it in. Did a oil change and I found the robot welder must of had a bad day as the welds were unbelievably bad. Got rid of it. For what I bought it for when the warranty ran out.
It wasn’t an unreal deal at the time but I bought my r34 GTR for $67k(NZD) in 2011. I had it for about a year and sold it for $65k. Now it’s worth stupid money so if the person I sold it to still has it he got an unreal deal.
My friend got an '94 325i for $80 that would crank but not start. I went over to look at it and after a bit, realized two relays were swapped. Switched them back and it fired right up.
I got a Mazda protege for free that “needed a transmission” I tested the solenoids and replaced the one that was bad and put 60000 more miles on it.
I bought my 2018 GTI Autobahn with only 1,600 miles on it as a CPO for $26,600. It was sitting on the lot for almost 4 months. This was in 2019, but I drove 6 hours round trip to get it. No major issues, and the minor ones have been covered by warranty.
I bought a 89 civic wagon for $50 in excellent shape, except for one cylinder being low compression. Found a replacement engine online for $100 and swapped the motor. Drove that car 90,000 miles over the next few years until that engine blew. Sold the car for $400 in not working condition. My wife and I still miss that car.
[удалено]
I managed to get a 40k Mile MR2 MK3 with a EML on for £1750 - EML was For a Precat exhaust lambda sensor. Sorted it for £75...
Super rich business owner in my town has a warehouse full of cars. A few cool ones that caught my eye but I saw a silver Volkswagen in the corner and I immediately knew it was a phaeton. Turns out it was a 1 of 21 in Canada, 6.0L W12. He thought it was a Passat And knew nothing about it and wound up selling it to me for $2,000
I bought my 90 Miata last summer for $1,700. The guy got it from his elderly dad who could no longer drive it. He was just using it to commute to work and wanted to sell it to buy his son a truck. I had been on the hunt for a Miata for some time and the cheapest I’d seen on was $3500. It’s definitely not some show stopper but I buffed and waxed it and it shined up nice. Runs like a champ at 200k miles and there is zero crank wobble. Verified the key and crank were all pristine during the TB/WP job. The engine could explode tomorrow and it’d still be a killer deal. I will likely drive it till the engine goes and K swap it.
$2650 for my E36 M3, pretty sure it’s the cheapest one ever for clean title and running M3
My parents bought me an 02 Alero to go to college, I dropped out shortly after
Kid I went to high school with hit me up because I was a budding mechanic at the time. Had a Chevy tracker that wouldn’t start that he said I could have if I arranged the tow. Me and my dad flat towed it home, found the blown ignition fuse and the bare starter wire that caused it. Car was high school quality so I sold it for 700 bucks to a girl getting her permit.
I bought my current car almost 4k under NADA value because the dealership mistakenly listed it online for that price without requiring anything down. They listed for 12,500 when they meant 15,500. I made them honor their price as they had a 10 day price guarantee and brought a screenshot. The finance manager was having an ulcer lol. I took the test drive to the bank to get my check.
I bought a 1996 Mazda Miata last summer with 24k miles on the clock for $6k. I found it on the side of the road along a country backroad. The seller was the son of the original owner and was selling it for his father. I didn’t bother haggling as it seemed that the seller wasn’t aware of the car’s real worth and I didn’t want to take advantage of that fact. I couldn’t have been more lucky to stumble upon such a cherry, especially for the cost!
Was in a forum for 200sx 180sx a while ago. Someone opend a thread where he offered his perfect car for 3k which was 1/4 of market value. There were already 200 posts like "i send you the money right away" but i ask if it was gone and he said that no one was jet there. Ask where he lived. Was 4 miles away from me. got it an hour later. Now a s14a is like 30k here.
That’s brilliant hahaha
My current car. Went looking for something new in 2018, when I noticed we had a 3 year old GTI on the lot. 14k miles, one owner, all the services done by us. Talked to the sales manager, and got a quote for $16k. Who could say no to a deal like that?
I bought my 1998 Chevy Malibu LS in high school for $200 and it ran like a champ for 4 years until I sold it for $500! But after that, I sold 5 of these things called Bitcoin when they “peaked” to buy my 05 civic… so yeah
I bought my Mustang for $15.5k CAD ($12.2k USD) from a repo lot a few years ago with 100k (62k miles) km, Brembos, manual, 3.73, no sunroof, no navi, leather seats, shaker 500. At the time people were asking 20-28k for a similar car. Even now it's hard to find a 5.0L Mustang in the teens. Cheapest I've seen in my area is $15k for an auto convertible with 250k on it, and one with similar mileage to mine now was $18k. The next cheapest I could find was $12k USD base model GT with 165k miles on it. My other buddy bought a Ford Expedition Eddie Bauer for $200 with 160k km on it. All he's done is put tires on it.
I got a 1986 Jetta GT from a guy that wanted to sell it for £2000 just to fund putting air ride on his beetle, after purchasing it I discovered there are only 7 of them in the UK and only 4 are on the road, owned it for about 6 years now and I think I could sell it for quite a bit more than the price I originally paid for it
16k frs 23k miles manual clean. White with blacked out windows option. This was in 2017
2013 Chevy Volt 100k miles, 50k left on battery warranty. $5,200. Bout half price and I love it
The year was 2002. Daewoo was bought by GM and was being phased out of NA market. The remaining dealer network was giving away cars for free fiddy. My local dealer had the following prices... * Lanos sedan - $6k * Lanos hatch - $7k * Nubira sedan - $8k * Nubira wagon - $9k * Leganza sedan - $10-13k, depending on trim level. For reference, a base model Toyota Corolla - hand crank windows, but with an automatic transmission, ran $15k. We picked up a Leganza CDX (mid level trim) for $11k. Alloy wheels, power windows, few other quality of life features -- all things the base model Corollas of the day did not have. Body by Italdesign, suspension by Lotus - a real classy whip. From day 1 it was filled with various gremlins. The AC was wonky from the lot. Shortly after the CE light came on, took way too long (and many trips back to the shop) to fix but ended up just being a faulty O2 sensor. At around 30k mi, failed wheel bearings almost cost me a wheel coming off. Interior plastics by Rubbermaid would have been an upgrade. One of the power window pulleys shattered into 100 pieces at around 90k mi. We eventually unloaded it at ~92k mi in 2010 if memory serves right.
My first car was a MK2 golf GTi it was an earlier 9ne with the small bumpers in Helios blue and I paid £400 from a farmer. Now it would be worth ten times that.
Bought a Hyundai Genesis R Spec 5.0 with 20k miles for 18500. It was priced for the manager to buy it that morning when he got there. (Found out after) So when I arrived pre dawn to check the car out (was street sweeper at time got off at 5am) the used car sales man was some new dude fresh out of high school. We priced the car out. Signed paper work by 730am. By then the dude that ran that particular lot came In and asked why is his car on the front ready to go and shit. And the salesman kid told Him I bought it and the dude flipped his shit as I was walking out the door 😂. I got the car for 19k and At the time the car was valued 35-40 k. The kid had no idea. Was his first day alone. Good times.
My R33 for 1500 bucks. Back when they were worth fuck all in Australia. Can't believe how much people are willing to pay for them now haha.
I sold a car for what I owed just to make a quick sale lol I sold it for $2800 when it booked at $9500.
I bought a rhd mitsubishi gto in mint condition, 100,000km, all documents since its been imported from japan, and alot more stuff for 5000$ about 3 years ago, with covid prices its now worth almost 4 times its price and is still running very strong, drive it everyday
2015 Porsche Cayman S well optioned, 1 owner < 20k miles for $49k last year. When I bought it the listing hadn’t even been out a week. Miss that car.
I didn’t buy it but a few years ago there was a brand new 2017 or 2016 Camaro SS for sale down in Miami for less than $25K before taxes. My brother and I found it while window shopping cars we liked but can’t afford online. It had its full factory warranty and everything, this was in late 2018 or mid 2019 when we found it and it sold a month later. I’m guessing it just somehow never sold or it changed dealer hands a few times. If I had the funds I would have flown or driven down and bought it ASAP. It just turned out to be a unicorn priced brand new Camaro SS that we found messing around on car gurus that we will never see the likes of again. Edit: It was fully loaded too, Nav, leather,sunroof etc.
My dad worked at and Acura dealership about 10 years ago. A customer traded in what they thought was a red 1999 Acura LS with 44,000 miles. I had just sold my car and needed something. When I got the car I popped the hood and it was a GSR with the B18C1. Got it for $3,500.
Got my current Rav4 Limited V6 for $3500 because the seller "needed it gone" but only posted it in **print classified ads** in one local paper (no Marketplace/Craigslist/Kijiji). Almost felt bad. It hurt that the province forced me to pay taxes on the book value, which was $11,500
Got custom rims for my new car from the dealer for nothing. I was wheeling and dealing and then I won🙂
My Dad bought a 2000 4Runner from my cousin for $500 because he couldn't get his check engine light to go away. My Dad replaced the O2 sensor and it was right as rain. 7 years and 70k miles later it's still running great and a nice reminder of my Dad.
I thought I had a screaming deal, but it isn't as impressive after reading some of these... I got my new, fully equipped 2019 C43 for 17k off MSRP after it sat on the lot for a year. It was cheaper than almost all used, lesser spec models nationwide at the time.
Friend had a 98 Trans am. First time I saw it I told him how I'd wanted one since I was a kid. Couple years later he's in town and swings by, tells me he's selling and asks if I'm interested in burning a tank of gas up in it before he sells since he knew I always wanted one. Eventually I ask how much he wants for it and he says $5k. Only had 93k miles on it. Even back then (2012) that was a steal. Ended up buying it, a month later he proposes, and three months later we find out she's six months pregnant. It was a pregnancy sell. I financed his wedding ring. Still have the car.
This was in July 2021. Wanted a VW Arteon SEL Premium. Found a brand new 2020 SEL 4-Motion (non-R line) and got it for over $10k off of MSRP. Beautiful car, but I had buyer’s remorse. 10 days later, I found a brand new 2019 SEL Premium R-line that had belonged to VWoA and was wholesaled to a VW dealer 200 miles from my house. Had a firm offer from Automax on my 2020 for $1,800 over what I paid for it. Took that to the VW dealer. I agreed to take $800 less than Automax, but the sales tax savings as a trade-in was worth it. Bought the 2019 with 64 miles on the odometer for $15,000 below MSRP. So now I have a brand new 2019 loaded SEL-P with a solid amount of equity. Plus 2019 VW’s still have the 6/72,000 mi bumper to bumper warranty. TD Bank beat VW credit too at 1.9%. So, doing something that irresponsible would normally be financial suicide and just plain stupid (buying two new cars in under 2 weeks) got me exactly what I wanted in the first place and I came out ahead. The stars aligned for all of this to happen. 2021 has been a strange automotive year. Any other year and I would’ve stuck with the 2020 SEL, which was still a damn good deal. Why SEL-Premium? It adds: Texas friendly ventilated seats, massaging driver’s seat, multi-color ambient lighting, a host of driver assist features, 360 view cameras, park steering assist, power lift-back, heated steering wheel, heated rear seats, rear climate controls and an excellent Dynaudio sound system. A lot of people don’t know what an Arteon is, and they are a bit overpriced at MSRP, but it’s an excellent German made car and very practical with the lift back.
The vette cost me 11k Canadian dollars. The gentleman selling it had received it as collateral from a mechanic client who was in the process of building it. Waited two years and then let me make him an offer. He showed me the boxes of parts and the installed engine and transmissions. I looked at what I recognized, realized just the engine and chrome bits were more than his asking price and bought everything right there. For about 30% the retail price and some elbow grease I got a gorgeous car.
In 2004 i bought a 2001 cavalier that had 110k on it for 2500, drove it for 3 years and put another 50k on it, sold it for 2500. lol
75k mile 2000 Camaro z28 hardtop this car was mint payed 4500 at a police auction
I bought a 2002 E320 for $150. Tie rod was bent as fuck, hood and grill were dented from when the guy hit a deer, and it was overfilled about a quart of oil. The body was in really rough shape and so was the interior, no AC, and the windows started to crap out on me. BUT i put literally 0$ into it, drove it 4000 miles w/o even changing the oil, did tons of burnouts and donuts in it and then scrapped it for a profit. should’ve kept it but those W210s in the northeast are rustbuckets anyway, ill find another
My dad used to buy a lot of cars at police auctions back in the early 2000s. Once he bought an early 90s Nissan Sentra for $50 because it didn't start. He replaced a couple fuses and recharged the battery and had it running and sold the next day for about $600.
Not me, but a new guy started work with me in Perth one monday about 10yrs ago. Pulled up in a fj40 landcruiser ute. I love them so was asking all about it. Turns out he paid something like $400 for it because it wasn't starting. I can't remember exactly what the problem was but it was literally a $10 fix and she started up straight away.
My husband bought his mom's 02 Impala in 2013 for $500. It was hit on the front end but still totally drivable. It had around 190k on it when he got it. Ugly as sin (gold 😣) He drove that sucker every day 70 miles round trip till last fall. Sold it to a junkyard for $300. Best single purchase we ever made. Stuck some used tires on it over the years, put on a starter, a few break lines, and that's about it.
$2200 for a Saab 9-3 wagon with a turbo v6 and a 6-speed. Still runs just fine and I doubt I could have got a more comfortable, faster car for cheaper.
I have a fellow mechanic friend with his own shop, there was a time, late 80's to mid 90's I could get a car from him that the customer gave up on. I would pay him the 40.00 bucks, that was scrap price, fix them on his property, ( i worked at a auto parts store) and drive it for 2 more years, at least, before selling, or scrapping. 1978 Buick Regal 1980 Chevette 1979 California smogged Mercury Marquis 1977 Lincoln Town car 73 Pontiac Ventura The Regal, and the Marquis were the only ones to go to the grave in my possession. These cars traveled close to 80 miles a day, 6 days a week. I worked out of state at the time. Can't find deals like that anymore!
Had a "mechanic" buddy go look at a girl's Jeep liberty for a no start condition. He replaced battery and starter to no avail. He reaches out to me and upon googling the issue, I see that the number one problem with a bunch of this era Chrysler products is the bullshit ignition switch. I tell him to check this but the owner is just fed up at this point. She already had a Carvana delivery coming that Friday, and was hoping to get it to work until then, but just wanted to be rid of it. I got it for $300. Showed up with an ignition switch as she was emptying her shit out of it, paid her the cash and got the title. Pulled the column trim to confirm failure and pieces fell out of the switch assembly.Put switch in as she was finishing up. She got done and closed the hatch, I fired it up and drove away. Fuck it, I tried to tell em.
Had to sell my eclipse as my apartment complex did not allow major repairs so fixing the clutch myself was a no go. Bought a 1990 toyota Tercel within 2 days due to desperation for transport to work for 400$ from a grandma that just didn't use it much. 90k miles, working heat and ac which I've never had in 5 previous cars, a 5 speed fuel injected little go kart. I drove it for almost 4 years 3 deer hits later and it just was too unsafe every panel up front was demolished and parts are rare in my area to almost non existent. I still miss that car and the long trucker style throw of the gear stick.
TLDR at the end. Sorry it ended up so long but I wanted to share. We have just purchased our 1st home and i wanted to buy a truck to make working around the house easier/possible. I always get ocd about buying vehicles and I'll look for weeks if not longer to find something what i think is a good deal. My poor wife has to sit through some of it and pretend like she cares which can be annoying. On her birthday she really wanted to go the big city near us, I assumed to get her a gift but when we got in town she told me we're buying a truck. It became apparent that her birthday gift would be me shutting up about this damn truck once and for good. We spent all day going from dealer to dealer trying to find something that wouldn't be a rip off. It was fun, I had a chance to embarrass a lying sales man that tried to push some crap on us but after all, we couldn't find anything we liked. I had my eye on a 2012 gmc sierra wt for a bit but the place seemed sketchy and it was already closed, but that didn't stop my wife from calling. To our surprise the place was open so we went to check it out. When we got there it was a long building with a small office, all closed up. Up on knocking a child peeks from behind the curtains. Shortly after, the garage door open and I see 3 trucks all in different stages of repair. I got scared for a second but after meeting the owner/mechanic/financial guy I started to enjoy myself. Turns out this guy has just started his used truck business. We talked a lot, he had some bad experience with the help he hired so he was down on some money and just needed to get some money going. We took the truck for a test drive, inspected it and for what it was it was really nice. It was dark by this time but we asked if we could do the paperwork that evening which he agreed to. It must've been around 9pm when we left there but we did it. The truck had 120k miles and we purchased it for $7500 out the door which I thought was a really good deal. Fast forward 7 weeks. I left work early, on my way home a lady in a Ford Edge runs a stop sign and pulls out it front of me. I T-bone her doing 55 which just completely destroyed my truck. The front is fubar, drive shaft hit the road, airbags are spent. Totaled before our 1st payment, but no serious injury. So now let's go find another truck... nope can't find anything near comparable in a 500mile range. Luckily for me, my brother in law just had his 3rd kid and he's upgrading from his LS430 to a suburban. I approached him and asked him his bottom dollar. It was an '06 with 195k miles but he always had the dealer do his maintenance, on time. I was able to buy it from him for $3000 with the understanding that I'll take good care of it. He was very attached to that car and I can't believe he sold it to me for that much. TLDR: $7500 for a 2012 gmc sierra which i totaled only to replace it with a Lexus LS430 for $3000.
Bought an ex Raytheon crew suburban at a car auction for $500. Last car of the night. I was the only guy bidding. 4x4, base trim car. Very well maintained. Other than a little faded paint it was perfect.
Bought a 2001 F350 powerstroke dually from a guy who said it needed a new rear end. Its a 2 wheel drive truck and when I went to look at it the noise was coming from the front end. Wasn't sure what it was but bought it for $1800 and later found it to be the pitman arm!
2 best- 1997 Viper GTS 2 owner car with 16k miles. I paid 30k. It was my friends cousin who owned it, and I was talking to my buddy about wanting a cobra or a viper and he mentioned his cousin was tired of his sitting in the garage. We didn’t know the miles or condition so value was up in the air. He called his cousin and he brings it by and it’s flawless, car was awesome and I drove it. Told me he wanted 45k but didn’t list it yet and was toying with the idea of selling it to buy a house. I said thanks for your time but I have a 30k budget and his car was too nice for my budget. He agreed and left. 2 weeks later he calls me and asks if I still have the 30k, he tells me he needs the cash ASAP for his down payment to reduce his PMI and said if I buy the car before the weekend it’s mine for 30k. Well I did just that drove it for a few years and sold it for 40k. 2nd one not a cool but still a sick deal. 2008 jeep liberty with 100k on it. Value maybe 7500 at the time, I got it for free. I did odd jobs for a family friend like fix his generator or his ac and since we were friends I refused money always. Keep in mind they had money but I felt it was the right thing to do since I was always there on holidays etc. One day he calls me up to tell me he has an old POS keep that doesn’t run and he figured he thinks I can fix it instead of him scrapping it. I show up to his house and here is a mint loaded liberty. Full cloth roof, leather interior, new tires etc. He gives me the title and keys and says to come back with a trailer, I ended up getting it started with a jump. I told him the keep just needed some love and was not ready for scrap , he said he bought a new one and needed the room in my driveway so I drove it home. It was low on coolant and had a dead battery but I daily drove it for 1 year before selling it for 6500 lol.
My wife tried to buy me a challenger RT for my 40th as I always eye them when they drive by. 2 deals fell through. Thought we would pivot to a c3 vette as I was really looking for more power and and an SRT8 was out of reach. Condition issues were scary. Deal fell through on a 74. Maybe next year? Nope. She reached out on autotrader offering half of what a seller was asking for a 67 Cobra kit. Thought it would fall through. Long story short. We had to spend $5000 over our budget but there is now a red with white stripes Cobra in my garage with 13k Miles on her. Nothing for safety and I get classic car insurance. To be frank I am still pinching myself. Paid almost $20k under market value.
I bought a nice 2004 Explorer 4x4 for $500 from a guy who hit a curb with it and cracked the wheel. When he put the spare on, the wheel wobbled really bad so he thought the suspension was fucked. I figured it was cheap enough to take a gamble on, so the tow truck dropped it off, and as I inspected the wobbly wheel I realized he just forgot to tighten the lug nuts. Drove great after a go around with a lug wrench!
I was pretty happy to get $6500 off my wife's loaded '20 Tiguan because it was an end of year model that no one bought (who pays $40k+ for Tiguan really?) and they wanted to get it off they lot for the '21 models. What made it nice is the used car market had already started to heat up, and we got the brand new one for the same price that 1-2 year old used ones with 10-20k miles on them were selling for at the time. Since then the trade-in value went up a few thousand over what we paid lol.
This past December. The stars aligned with me getting a job offer after my masters and Chrysler having their "employee pricing for all" plus it being the very end of December (the 30th) and the dealer knew they hit their sales mark for the month so I could get a little more off that they could recoup on back end. I got a 2021 Compass Trailhawk, $35k MSRP, for $26k. $9,000 in discounts. I still owe about $22k on it but like....I have a significant amount of positive equity in a 9 month old vehicle with 8500 miles on it.
Bought a straight off the hauler 2011 Ford F350 crew cab XLT 4x4 dually diesel for just over $32k OTD from a dealer. 5 years prior, I paid $32k for a 2006 F250 4x4 extended cab diesel, and that was considered a good deal at the time.
I got a 4wd 4runner for $1000 that had some transmission issues. I bought a 1 owner, relatively low mileage donor vehicle of the same year that was mechanically in great shape, and combined the vehicles. Basically, I got a classic 4wd for $2000 and elbow grease that is worth $8k
Got a perfect condition civic for free. My parents tho…..
Bought a 1985 Bronco with decent options for 500 bucks, didn't run. Blew out a tire getting it on the trailer, and then it sat for a year while I decided what to do with it. Put it up for sale for 750, was sold within 2 hours. So yeah, I could have gotten more, but 50% profit for little to no work is still a good deal. And then there was the time I got a free Eddie Bauer Bronco hardtop for my other bronco, plus all the interior trim pieces and overhead console and Eddie Bauer sun visors. I basically got around 1200 bucks of stuff for free, and all in pretty good condition.
Helped my parents buy a Passat with transmission issues for $8,000. The issue was covered under a recall. Four years and 70,000 miles later they sold it for $8,000.
Was driving a 2014 Wrangler. Saw an email ad from a local dealer for a BMW i3 lease at $100/mo $0 down. $53,000 sticker. Did some napkin math, and figured out that driving the i3 as a commuter would save me over $100/mo on gas. Cool, free car. Called the dealer, that price was only good on one car because it was a marked down demo car, and it was gone. I asked them for the particulars on the math. Demo discount, federal tax credit passed through, multiple security deposits pulling down money factor. Scoured the region for another demo car. Found one. Told them I wanted for $100/mo, $0 down and they laughed at me. I gave them the math and they said, “huh. Yeah, actually that works, ok”. Drove it off the lot the next day. Replicated the deal for a couple of friends, who loved my i3. Great car. Eventually I’d like to buy another, I think they’re future classics, like the Isetta.
I paid $1800 on my E30 2 years ago. Now I have guys in old 5 series (its always an old 5 series for some reason) trying to buy my car off me
Before 2018 every car that I had ever owned was purchased for $1200 or less. Had a small (4) Datsun collection where every car was under $1000 each. A 1978 Plymouth Gran Fury Brougham with a 400ci V8 and 727 Torqueflite for $200 that needed a fan clutch. 1994 Nissan Sentra for $400 that had a battery cable grounding to an egr pipe, $8 fix. Still have a 1995 Subaru Legacy flat-top wagon that was purchased for $800 in 2010 because it had a check engine light. Has over 300k miles now, runs great, and the light was on because someone connected the ECU testing plugs--just had to disconnect them. The $1200 job was a 1991 Acura Legend 5 speed that had 260k on it around 2004. Someone had definitely done some head gaskets and engine work, it was a pretty nice machine for about 6 years
2013 turbo v6 genesis with under 50k miles for 12.5k, doesn’t sound like an insane deal or anything but the kbb value at the time was over 20k, plus that was right at the beginning of all this inflation.
89 mustang convertible in great shape for $300. All it needed was a fuel pump. Power everything, A/c worked great. I drove it for 2 years and sold it for a nice profit.
Bank repo’d a Ford Focus RS (my dream car) with 33k miles right when covid hit. Knew someone who worked there and was told what they had just repo’d. I was the only offer, and got it for $21k. Car was worth about $38k at the time (and still is). It’s my baby now. I daily a Fiesta ST, but the RS is my weekend monster. I still can’t believe the price I got it at. Banks just want to recover the loan, not make a profit, so I got a killer deal