Well I'm about to spend around $1000 on a car or truck from craigslist.com...

Question

Well I'm about to spend around $1000 on a car or truck from craigslist.com.

The problem is I'm only 16 and know very little about cars. Can someone help me out with the basics of buying a car? What should I look for and what should I stay away from? I'm talking about everything from mileage, engine, and everything in between.

Answer 1

get a I4 in line 4 cylinder try to keep miles to a minimum and some good cars are, Honda, Toyota Nissan or if you like american chevy. Some cars to stay away from hyundai kia dawoo ford. For a grand look for something that has around 150k miles on it. for a grand you could snag a older toyota corrola they have a great reputation and reliabilty or a honda civic. Try to stay away from europeans they tend to cost more to fix Saab, VW.   happy shoping

Answer 2

Unfortunately, there are way too many choices and we don't know what's available in your area. It's also hard to know what your budget it. So... here's some general observations:

You're NOT going to find much for $1000. You can't even buy a decent 10 year old car for $3000 (say, a Camry, or even a Corolla). You'll end up with a stick-shift (which you'll need to learn how to drive) with bad paintjob (which you'll hate) and various other problems (which you will hate as well) and end up with a car that COULD be featured on the "before" section of "Pimp My Ride" on MTV.

Decide on what kind of a car you *do* want. Pickup? Sports Car? Compact coupe? Sedan? Or do NOT want (No minivan!)

Then research your choices, and see what vehicles in that category are available. You want at least 5 to choose from, and dealers don't stock $1000 cars. Heck, some dealers in my area don't even stock $10000 used cars. :P  

Then research each and every one and see what gets broken the most, and how did the previous owner treat the vehicle. Are you buying someone else's problems, or not? (You want to find out if the previous owner did all the proper maintainence, basically, and the recall items, and so on, plus the major replacements, like engine, transmission, etc.)  For example, say car A usually have the radiator go out at 100K miles. You're looking at a car A that's at 120K miles. Is the radiator about to go or was it already replaced? (and this can be a price haggling point as well!)

Research all the other cars available, of that model, and compare which may be in the best condition. Remember that you don't want strange noises in the cabin or out. Drive through a quiet tunnel or next to a wall with window down to hear the car's sounds.

If the owner agrees, take it to a mechanic to get it evaluated. AAA has a car evaluation service that costs under $100 for a full report, even for non members. Could be worth a lot less headaches later.

Finally, don't "fall in love" with a vehicle and "must buy now". Be ready to walk away. If the other side pressures you to make a decision, it's often a sign that you may want to think about it a bit more.