Hello everyone!

My name is Trixie and I'm not a Honda owner, but I hope to be very soon!

I don't have a dad and brother to help me out with this sort of thing and I'd be very sad to get scammed just because I'm a girl, so I hoping you guys wouldn't mind giving me some car advice. I posted in another thread hoping to hire someone but the Mods said "Free advice only" - so... OKay.. here goes.

1. Is this a good deal on this car? It's a private sale.
2. The warranty is still good to 50K miles or sometime in 2012. I drive an average of 7600 miles per year.
3 I am going to go look at this car tonight, what should I make sure to ask?
4.Is this a fair price or what should I offer?
5. The pictures of the car look clean in and out.

or anything else you can think of to tell me..

Edited to add: Of course my mechanics will inspect it first before purchasing. Also, the ad doesn't say, but it's an automatic.

Thank you in advance for any help!



Certified pre-own Honda Accord 2007 - $14500
made: Honda
model: LX
year: 2007
color: white
Millage: 37000
body: 4 door

CLEAN TITLE, NEVER BEEN IN AN ACCIDENT!!!

features: Air Conditioning,Dual Air Bags,Power Steering,Side Air Bags,Power Windows,Power Door Locks,
ABS (4-Wheel),Tilt Wheel,Cruise Control,AM/FM Stereo,CD (Single Disc),Steel Wheels

Certified pre-own information: BOUGHT FROM HONDA WHEN 32000 MILLAGE, DRIVEN FOR ONLY 5 MONTHS, HAS ALL MAINTENCES CHECKLIST AND CAR FAX, REGULARLY MAINTAIN(OIL CHANGE, CAR WASH, AND ETC.)

 

It seems like a fair price; but, still try to negotiate down a little. But, have it checked out first by a mechanic like you intended. I found the CL ad (I live in the BA), and googled that phone number and they initially listed at $15,000 on another site. Also, the current photo looks like a stock photo, as that person's other ads before for the white Accord had different pictures.

Where did you see pictures of the car in and out, did that person send it to you?

They are also selling a used Lexus RX300 with over 100,000 miles.

You should include a link from your other thread to this one, so those other guys can also include their comments.

 

Thanks Redbull - and clever of you to think to google the number, I will remember that. Yes, I really trust my mechanics, I've been doing business with them for 15 years so they will do a really through inspection for me.

How much do you think I should offer, if all is well with the inspection?
If something is funky with the inspection e.g. it needs new brakes or tires or something like that, I'll be sure to ask you guys again about fair price.

Also, they were happy to bring it to my side of the bay to get it inspected later in the week if I like what I see tonight. And apparently relieved to talk to a private buyer because they'd gotten a lot of calls and emails from brokers and dealers - he quizzed me to make sure I wasn't a dealer. Guess he doesn't want to deal with them. Does this seem odd or is it that dealers low-ball?

 

Well, sounds like the brokers/dealers may be trying to low ball them then. I would maybe try to negotiate a little down then and not insult them. But, consider how much you are borrowing, and what you also need for other expenses, like car insurance, etc.?

If you don't mine me asking how long will you be financing the car and at what interest rate? I can quickly calculate out the difference in monthly payments just to give you more info. (You can also PM me the amounts if you like to keep it private.)

 

Bless you. PM sent.

I only took out as much car note as I can comfortably afford and not a penny more.

I have separate funds and can afford the insurance separately and easily from the car note. I took insurance costs into consideration when deciding how much to to loan for the car.

It'll be hard to give up my ultra cheap insurance and registration, let me tell you! But.. it'll all be worth it when I'm in a reliable, comfortable car! yay!

And.. It just frosts my cookies that I have a perfect driving record - not a single ticket (other than a couple parking tickets), no accidents -- and yet a woman who is *married* would get a better rate than a single woman. Somehow, as if my magic, a piece of paper makes you more responsible? I just don't get it, I really don't. /end rant.

Edit to add: Well, I had one accident 10 year ago, but I was found 100% not at fault. (Other driver ran the red light and I had at least 10 witnesses!)

 

Check your PMs.

 

Redbull, you are awesome!


The car looks great and they were a super nice young couple. We talked price a bit and I got them to come down to $14K even, barring any complications with the inspection.

The inspection won't happen until Friday due to schedules, but cross your fingers for me!

It sure would be nice if the first car I looked at happens to be the right one.

 

That means NOTHING.
My accord has a clean title also, but about 2 months after i bought the car, i noticed a discoloration in the back bumper and noticed they obviously had backed into something and fixed it cheaply, also, my last car, some POS contour was wrecked multiple times and fixed each time, without anything being on the title.

 

I agree with you on this! That's why my mechanics do a super careful, through inspection of the entire car. They spend 1-1.5 hours going over it; not just the engine so hopefully something like that would show up in their inspection.

 

Well, they decided suddenly not to sell the car - such is the way when trying to get a used car, right? It was too good to be true that the first car I looked at would actually go though.

And now.. this car buying stuff is for the birds. It's utterly mentally and emotionally exhausting - how does anyone do it? I think I need a few day to recover before I start looking again. I'm ready to throw in the towel already.