Would you spend $8K on a 15 year old economy car?

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by SentraSE-R

I don't think I'd do it, not when there are so many <$2000 15 year-old cars out there. I'd buy a cheaper one, and figure $6000+ buys a LOT of repairs and maintenance.

At the end of the day, an insurance company is still going to value that 15 year old car the same as any other 15 year old car of the same make and model. The refurb dealer isn't going to stuff a DOHC V-TEC from a Prelude into that Civic.

agreed, too many cheaper just as reliable old cars out there for way less than 8K.

someone mentioned factory refreshed VWbugs, ive seen a few ads for ones with new crate engines and new everything and body off resto for less than 10K.

even if everything is new, ****s still worn out... would need new interior seats, new steeringwheel (depends on what old one was made out of, GM ones with that squishy hard foam rubber whatever starts crumbling where you hold onto it) i dont know many 15 year old cars that dont have rust forming or guages going out.

if this said company were to do this they would have to literally take it down to the frame and put all new **** on granted the frame wasn't rusted... way to much time and effort...

[Jay2TheRescue]

I guess it depends on what materials the interior is made of. My 1981 Buick has no cracks in the dash, and the steering wheel is in excellent condition. My gauges are brushed aluminum so there's no rust there. There is a small amount of surface rust on the gearshift, but probably a bit of chrome polish and some 0000 steel wool would take that right out.

[VetteOwner]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

I guess it depends on what materials the interior is made of. My 1981 Buick has no cracks in the dash, and the steering wheel is in excellent condition. My gauges are brushed aluminum so there's no rust there. There is a small amount of surface rust on the gearshift, but probably a bit of chrome polish and some 0000 steel wool would take that right out.

yea my chevettes is fine, dash was cracked and interior got dryroted (dang plastic became crumbly) the turnsignal stalk is rusty too.

anyways whole point is they would literally have to take it all apart and put all new or remade new stuff back in. (not to mention how many bolts thier gonna have to cut to refurb all this)

also the cars they fix up are going to drive the demand for those parts up aka driving up the price, once again the backyard mechanic is screwed lol

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

yea my chevettes is fine, dash was cracked and interior got dryroted (dang plastic became crumbly) the turnsignal stalk is rusty too.

Ahhh....the '70s GM car plastic panels turning to powder...I remember seeing many cars in the junkyards with scrofulous panels...my '79 Chevette did the same thing.

anyways whole point is they would literally have to take it all apart and put all new or remade new stuff back in. (not to mention how many bolts thier gonna have to cut to refurb all this)

also the cars they fix up are going to drive the demand for those parts up aka driving up the price, once again the backyard mechanic is screwed lol

Probably not...they'd just make the parts in China.

I just remembered another example of car recycling...the 1955/56 Powell pickup trucks and station wagons. The Powell Co. in LA would take a '41 Plymouth, throw away the body, completely refurbish the chassis, and put their own truck or station wagon body on it. See http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/...ellaneous.html

[GasSavers_Scott]

Due to the unscrupulus business practices on the East Coast and the soaring amount of extra fees here and there, I paid $4250 for my 2002 Ford Focus with 60k on the clock. Funny I was searching for over a year for an economy car in the 5 to 8k range. The 8 deals that fell through as described in the car's bio took so much of my time, I had saved up 4800 for a down payment, to get my monthly payments as low as possible, essentially buying down the over all financed amount.

Now I'm not going for insults about the East Coast, but the required inspections have a huge price negotiation that the sellers refuses to pay for when you buy a car. I told all my potential sellers I'll pay for the inspection and emission testing, once it passes, then I'll buy the car. Hey I didn't want to get stuck with a car that is unrepairable. After 5 failures with private sellers and the need for A/C that worked, I switched to dealerships.

I started with Car Max, they used to have a great selection of used cars, some going to the 90's, but I ran into them at a transitionary period where the cars they were selling were only 3 years old. I found one car for 9000, even after my buy down formula, I would still wind up paying too much for a monthly.

I then went to Toyota, I was aiming for a Prius, I had watched Blue Book prices and the first year new body 2004 Prius at 2009 was scheduled for a price drop to 8000. I had been watching the prices for a year, but with the reaction of the 2008 gas crisis national Depress-recession it went from 2008 at $11,000 to 2009 at $13,000.

So with the Prius marked up, I then went for a 2.4 Solara at $7999, armed with about 4500 in cash I was ready for the big buy down. The $7999 was the after fee price, a little trick dealers used to do. The fees $2850, the dealer pulled out a sheet of paper with tax, license, frieght, commission, window washing, prep (installing a dealer license plate frame), etc. and my buy down was unfinancible, it would have brought my monthly payments too low for their bank to finance. So it was either their deal, or no deal, I walked.

I checked a few other private dealers and some majors and non of them wanted to give me a break on a used car. It just seemed weird that it was harder to buy a used car, then buy a new car. They all tried to talk me into a new car, but the price I wanted to pay I would have got a stripped box.

So when the deal for the Focus came around, I jumped on it. The main problem I had buying a really cheap used economy car is wear. Even at the 2 to 3000 dollar level, the cars smoked, A/C dead, electrical, and a million miles. I refer back to the old days, I used to be able to find deals in the 80's and 90's, the 2000's rolled around and the used cars are really falling apart. That is the reason I went up to the 5 to 8000 dollar level.

I wanted a comfortable car since I drive it for work, A/C, power windows, cruise control, even automatic. The Focus came loaded and it fits right in to where I was looking for an economy car. I'm almost at an average of 28 mpg, that's highway and heavy downtown traffic combined.

If the car was 15 years old however, it better be in really good shape.

[GasSavers_GasUser]

Originally Posted by *************

So if there was a manufacturer that refurbished older cars and offered a very generous warranty on most everything in the car, like 10 year, 150K miles on the emissions, engine and drivetrain, paint is fresh, interior is for the most part clean, would you spend $8K+ on the car? So let's say they took a '92 Honda Civic and did that, would you spend that much on the car? What about a '98 Civic? The reason I ask is because it seems like people are so adverse to paying more than like $5K for a used vehicle even if it's in really good condition and I'm wondering why.

No. A 10 or a 15 years old car is just way too many model years old to spend 8K for a little economy car no matter what the condition is.

I would not be adverse to spending 8K+ (as you put it) on a good used vehicle if it were the right one though. But If I was going to spend that much I wouldn't be looking at 10-15 year old vehicles. You can get a much newer economy car for 8K.