Ziay!

Esteban H

Having crappy cars through highschool and college that were never reliable I decided to buy a "new" car October 2004.

I purchased a 2003 Honda Civic with 23k miles on it.
I bought it at a Honda dealership as a certified preowned vehicle and I also paid an extra $700 to get the manufacturer warranty fully extended until 100k miles.

I don't really intend on keeping the car that long, but the warranty is transferable.

Anyway, I got a fairly decent interest rate and I dont think I over paid too much at the dealer.

But I was just looking at the amount that I have paid in car payments the last 13 months and also the down payment and seeing what I could sell the car for now and it is all just plain depressing.

Is buying cars at dealerships just simply not a good idea?
Or if you are really risk adverse is it worth paying the premium?

I guess i must be as I paid the premium...

Either way, any suggestions on the best way to purchase cars?

Nick N

Despite what Talkative said, I believe that financing is the best way to go. cars depreciate. Fast. So if you were to pay cash for a car, that's like burning money, particularly if you're going do do something useful with that capital like invest. There are plenty of low rate car loans out there, so it pays to be aware of all the factory low interest deals as well as what your credit union/bank can offer you.


Year old used cars are often not the good deal they appear to be firsthand, though. Because they are almost new, dealers often charge close to new car prices for them. However, since they are NOT new, you can't get as good of a rate on your loan. Check edmunds.com for an accurate assessment of car values in your area before buying another used car. Also, I have never heard of a manufacturer extending a full bumper to bumper warranty to 100K miles, at any price, so if the dealer told you this is so, I would read the fine print.

I would bet that it's a limited warranty which only covers major mechanical components. In that case $700 is a lot of money, since it doesn't cover maintenance and Hondas are very reliable with the proper care. 100K miles is nothing for your car, and remember that warranties are priced to sell at a profit, so the average buyer of a $700 warrnaty gets less than $700 of value from it.

I have purchased used cars at a great price from dealers, but only after doing lots of research and knowing exactly what a fair deal is. Usually it ends up being thousands less than asking price, and in the end, if you can come up with a fair deal for both you and the dealer, they will take it. On the other hand, they will take advantage of you if they can. Beware.