Help me find my perfect ride.
May 27, 2017 7:48 PM Subscribe
What's the best way to search out my perfect used car, and buy long distance?
My 2003 Honda Element is getting up there (135,000 miles) and since my nephew, turning 16, will probably be ending up with it, it's time for another ride.
I really love this car, and want another. But since Honda refuses to build me one, I'll have to buy used. What's the best way to search out one? I've used CarGuru and Autotrader, who else should I be searching, or is there a search aggregator that checks everybody?
So when I find what I'm looking for (2010-2011, EX, very low miles, not black) how do I make the deal? Normally I'd just drift through dealerships till I find something I like dicker on the price, and buy it. But I don't know how to dicker if I'm calling from 1,000 miles away, I guess I'll have to trust the dealer and Carfax on condition, and arrange for payment and shipping.
I've never done anything like this, what else should I look out for?
My 2003 Honda Element is getting up there (135,000 miles) and since my nephew, turning 16, will probably be ending up with it, it's time for another ride.
I really love this car, and want another. But since Honda refuses to build me one, I'll have to buy used. What's the best way to search out one? I've used CarGuru and Autotrader, who else should I be searching, or is there a search aggregator that checks everybody?
So when I find what I'm looking for (2010-2011, EX, very low miles, not black) how do I make the deal? Normally I'd just drift through dealerships till I find something I like dicker on the price, and buy it. But I don't know how to dicker if I'm calling from 1,000 miles away, I guess I'll have to trust the dealer and Carfax on condition, and arrange for payment and shipping.
I've never done anything like this, what else should I look out for?
I see a couple for sale on AT.
What I'd do (and have done) is ask for lots of pics, including engine bay. Ask for any details they left out of the description. Get their best price (it'll be a challenge to get a great price since the market is so limited and you want a very specific model).
Then have them take it to a local mechanic for a general inspection that You will pay for.
Call the mechanic directly and work this out. Depending on the inspection results, work with seller on price. Put a deposit down, fly in, buy it and drive home. Get it registered locally.
Good luck!
posted by artdrectr at 8:57 PM on May 27, 2017
What I'd do (and have done) is ask for lots of pics, including engine bay. Ask for any details they left out of the description. Get their best price (it'll be a challenge to get a great price since the market is so limited and you want a very specific model).
Then have them take it to a local mechanic for a general inspection that You will pay for.
Call the mechanic directly and work this out. Depending on the inspection results, work with seller on price. Put a deposit down, fly in, buy it and drive home. Get it registered locally.
Good luck!
posted by artdrectr at 8:57 PM on May 27, 2017
I helped someone else who wanted a very particular (and unfortunately unpopular) used car through the process recently and the easiest way to do it was to just look at all of the options on Carmax, if you have one near you. You can have it show you all the Honda Elements they have in the country, and if you're interested in one they'll ship it to the nearest Carmax for you, often for free.
They're a little more expensive than haggling with a dealer, but it was worth it for my friend, because she had exactly one kind of car in mind. The amount of time she'd have spent driving from dealer to dealer, haggling, waiting for the car she wanted to show up in her area, etc., was worth the couple hundred bucks she might have saved.
posted by Polycarp at 9:33 PM on May 27, 2017
They're a little more expensive than haggling with a dealer, but it was worth it for my friend, because she had exactly one kind of car in mind. The amount of time she'd have spent driving from dealer to dealer, haggling, waiting for the car she wanted to show up in her area, etc., was worth the couple hundred bucks she might have saved.
posted by Polycarp at 9:33 PM on May 27, 2017
Since you're looking for an uncommon and popular car, dickering isn't likely to get you far. You might have to amend your idea of how this will go, to something like "I am willing to pay through the nose for the right car."
I bought an '05 Element with 108K on the clock several weeks ago. I drove to see most of the Elements on any dealer lot within three counties from home at the time. Every one of them was priced at or above the highest blue-book values I could find, and none of the dealers was interested in negotiating to any meaningful degree. Two of the dealers insisted the car "NEEDED NOTHING," but when pressed it turned out that all they meant by this was that they cars had just passed an annual safety inspection (performed by the very same dealer, of course), not that they were in perfect condition or even current on their periodic maintenance schedules. One of the cars that NEEDED NOTHING had a frozen brake caliper that their technician hadn't noticed. I pointed it out.
I ended up buying from a private seller after a few weeks of looking, when a Craigslist ad popped up in my own neighborhood. He was the original owner, gave me the receipts for every service he'd had done on the car since it was new, and the price was a couple thousand less than a dealer would've charged. It wasn't perfect, but I've since combed through those records, checked them against the standard maintenance schedule, and brought everything up to snuff. I replaced three struts (one had recently been done), adjusted the parking brake, changed the oil, coolant, brake fluid, transmission fluid, rear differential fluid, and installed new OEM wiper blades. I still haven't spent what I would have at a dealer, and I feel a lot better about it.
Are you sure it's time to let the old one go? If it's not rusty or unacceptably beat-up, you might do well to spruce it up a bit and keep driving it.
posted by jon1270 at 6:49 AM on May 28, 2017
I bought an '05 Element with 108K on the clock several weeks ago. I drove to see most of the Elements on any dealer lot within three counties from home at the time. Every one of them was priced at or above the highest blue-book values I could find, and none of the dealers was interested in negotiating to any meaningful degree. Two of the dealers insisted the car "NEEDED NOTHING," but when pressed it turned out that all they meant by this was that they cars had just passed an annual safety inspection (performed by the very same dealer, of course), not that they were in perfect condition or even current on their periodic maintenance schedules. One of the cars that NEEDED NOTHING had a frozen brake caliper that their technician hadn't noticed. I pointed it out.
I ended up buying from a private seller after a few weeks of looking, when a Craigslist ad popped up in my own neighborhood. He was the original owner, gave me the receipts for every service he'd had done on the car since it was new, and the price was a couple thousand less than a dealer would've charged. It wasn't perfect, but I've since combed through those records, checked them against the standard maintenance schedule, and brought everything up to snuff. I replaced three struts (one had recently been done), adjusted the parking brake, changed the oil, coolant, brake fluid, transmission fluid, rear differential fluid, and installed new OEM wiper blades. I still haven't spent what I would have at a dealer, and I feel a lot better about it.
Are you sure it's time to let the old one go? If it's not rusty or unacceptably beat-up, you might do well to spruce it up a bit and keep driving it.
posted by jon1270 at 6:49 AM on May 28, 2017
BTW, with regard to notsnot's suggestion to Get the timing belt changed out and you're good to go, you're already in the clear; the Element doesn't have a timing belt.
posted by jon1270 at 7:11 AM on May 28, 2017
posted by jon1270 at 7:11 AM on May 28, 2017
With a Honda properly maintained you should be starting to think of a change at 250K if you're not interested in a rebuilt engine. But given the current pricing you could rebuild everything in yours and still come out ahead. If you want something for your nephew, buy him a Honda with a stick shift so he can't text and drive.
posted by ptm at 7:42 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by ptm at 7:42 AM on May 28, 2017 [1 favorite]
You really like the car, so keep driving it. Cars now last way longer than they used to. Take whatever you'd spend on car payments and put it aside so that in another 50 - 100,000 miles, you'll be able to pay for the next car out right. Take it to the best car wash in town and have then do the fanciest clean out of the interior they have. Get it waxed. Get the really nice silicon wiper blades.
The only other resource I'd add is cars.com.
posted by theora55 at 9:28 AM on May 28, 2017
The only other resource I'd add is cars.com.
posted by theora55 at 9:28 AM on May 28, 2017
Spitbull, have you driven an Element? Drive train aside, it's a very different vehicle from a CR-V. The latter is s great vehicle, but it's not a substitute for the former.
posted by jon1270 at 1:21 PM on May 28, 2017
posted by jon1270 at 1:21 PM on May 28, 2017
I got my car off Vroom.com
They deliver the car to you and you have 7 days to drive it and return it if you're not happy.
Unfortunately they seem to be oriented at later-model used cars -- I dont see anything from before 2008. But leaving the comment anyway in case it helps future people with the same question.
posted by mrmurbles at 4:05 PM on May 28, 2017
They deliver the car to you and you have 7 days to drive it and return it if you're not happy.
Unfortunately they seem to be oriented at later-model used cars -- I dont see anything from before 2008. But leaving the comment anyway in case it helps future people with the same question.
posted by mrmurbles at 4:05 PM on May 28, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
If you like your current ride, keep it. Get the timing belt changed out and you're good to go.
posted by notsnot at 8:01 PM on May 27, 2017 [2 favorites]