Is there a trick to finding a good used car?
 

My daughter's teacher needs a good used car. The minor detail is that she doesn't want to spend more than $6000. And she wants a Japanese car. And she wants low miles - 75K or so. These cars do exist, but they get snapped up the instint they hit the market. Is there a better way to find a good cheap used car other than hitting the refresh button every 5 minutes on Craigslist?

Select a car that all around fits her needs. Then pull the screaming occupants out at gun point and drive off. Violence: Is there anything it can't solve?

I'm surprised the cars listed in craigslist are selling so fast. You could place a "WTB" ad there. Also try looking in the local paper. It's a lot nicer to buy from a private party where you can know a lot more about the history of the car.

that's a huge budget. I'm surprised you're having difficulty.

I'd just start asking other friends - works for me...

I recently bought a 1993 Miata. Hard and soft tops, limited slip, A/C, cruise, leather, yada yada for $4500.

Didn't take long to find the right one at Autotrader.com.

The fisrt trick is to select a few vehicles and years to search for.
Then educate yourself on what goes wrong with the models you're interested in. There's usually a hadfull of things to look for.
It's a good idea to know when improvements were implemented in a model line as well. For instance when looking for a CRV I found that HP was bumped 20 ponies in 1999. I then narrowed my search to any vehicle 1999 or newer.


Also, stay away from first year designs and keep your eyes open when scanning newspapers, penny press, websites and supermsarket bulletin boards.

About 75,000 miles most Japanese cars will be needing a timing belt. A good point to negotiate, as it must be done. Check under the oil cap for varnish. If it has been run hard and the oil not changed often, it will show.

A great car that can be had with low miles for that price that many don't consider is a Mazda 626 or Protege. My family has had great luck with them and they depreciate quickly when new. While they look boring, they handle great and have some "zoom zoom" :)

Stay away from Mitsubishi though, nothing but trouble.

Will a Toyota Pickup truck work?

I have an ex-fleet vehicle that has always had synthetic oil changes, it has an Auto tranny 4 cyl motor and is very clean. The only catch is that it has 108K miles. I am asking $5000 for it.

Here in Houston finding almost any car with less than 75K miles can be tough. Lots and lots of high miles cars here, but it can be done.

I too was going to suggest a miata. Very reliable, fun, convert, rear wheel drive, all independent suspension, not very expensive.

Daughter's teacher? That's a unique form of bribery.;)

Buy the first one you see for sale on the side of the road.

I played that form of Russian Roulette when I got my car...worked for me!

Craigs list is the bomb. I bought my bike from there and sold countless items including two vehicles - all very quickly. As you already found the $6K target is fast moving. Sorry can't be of much help other than to encourage you to keep hitting the refresh button...