For $6K DD? Craigslist, unless something good pops up here or on another enthusiast forum.
I haven't bought a car for myself since 2011 and I'm enjoying that.
For $6K DD? Craigslist, unless something good pops up here or on another enthusiast forum.
I haven't bought a car for myself since 2011 and I'm enjoying that.
Well, I just finished my search, and I did a lot of looking at dealers, autotrader, cars.com, cargurus and facebook, but wound up finding the car I wanted on craigslist.
Craigslist.
But you have to be willing to wait for the right one to come along. I watched Craigslist for months waiting for the right Miata to come along. I wanted an unmolested Mazdaspeed Miata and didn't want to pay crazy money for it. Most had been abused by previous owners, had bad Carfax reputations, obvious problems that could be seen in either the pictures or by reading between the lines of the description. Then there were the people who thought they had a vintage Dusenburg for sale and the price reflected it...
If you have a specific kind of car you want, save a search on Craigslist. You'll get emailed right away when an ad is posted, and the good deals move super fast. Be ready to move quickly and you'll find good deals left and right. They just aren't up for more than a few days so a random hit and run search of Craigslist isn't going to net you much of anything.
Floating Doc said:Please don't say Facebook, please don't say Facebook, please don't say Facebook...
AMEN....I'm on the car hunt and I'm working my human friends network to look at FB, as I ejected years ago and my life has only gotten better for it. I'm worried that the trend for enthusiast cars to trade on FB is only going to increase.
captdownshift said:LetGo
(I'm kidding, but figured it'd be the one option worse than Facebook)
My buddy ironically just bought a used Titan for $6k from LetGo that was in surprisingly not bad shape with no stories.
I use SearchTempest to build my repetitive CL searches and cast a 500mi net.
Stefan said:frenchyd said:Stefan said:Don’t forget that eBay is still a thing.
Nextdoor is also a rising option.
Something about being willing to pay more than anyone else will for a given car goes completely against my system.
That’s why EBAY is not a place I’ll shop. Same with Barn Finds and BRING A TRAILER.
I haven’t really mastered Craigslist. Still spend way too much time trying to sort and not enough time finding.
Networking though, that continues to work for me. Rarely does a week go by without a friend contact or referral without someone asking my opinion or helping them find a Jaguar. It may narrow my field down tremendously but at least I’m pretty well in the loop when that Marque is discussed.
Um, you don’t really know how auctions work, do you? Bid the max amount you feel it is worth. You either win or you don’t. There’s nothing that says you need to bid more.
There is also the Buy It Now option that shortcuts that and some sellers use it for their cars and parts and it basically isn’t an auction so much as a click to buy solution.
Also, a lot of car listings on ebay have the 'make offer' option so you can negotiate if you want. I bought a 944 on ebay, sight unseen for $4,000 sold it a year later for $6,000, without putting money into it. There are definitely some good deals to be had on ebay.
Over the past few years, it's run the gamut:
MINI: Facebook via an enthusiast group and friend.
E350: Craigslist.
Jetta wagon parts car: Facebook Marketplace
2017 Grand Caravan: Dodge dealer owned by the brother of a coworker.
One can hate Facebook all you want (and there is much to hate), but the reality is if you refuse to use the marketplace you may miss out on some deals.
Typically dealerships anymore. I hate hassling with selling a car.
I bought my last daily off autotrader via a dealership I have a friend that works there.
Project cars are where I find them side of the road, fb groups, cl etc...
Duke said:frenchyd said:Assume I fall in love with a Humber super snipe project. The most I want to pay is a few hundred dollars. That’s actually it’s real value to me. However I hate to lose so I bid $5,000.
That's not an issue with auctions. That's an issue with your competitiveness and self restraint.
By definition, any time you buy a car you are willing to pay more than anyone who has seen it to date. Because they declined to buy it.
Not true. You may be the first person. or it may not be the color/equipment/ condition others want.
I’ve stood/sat at plenty of auctions raised my hand/paddle and pulled it down refusing to pay more than I consider it worth. So have millions of others.
But in that room/ on that bid the “winner” is the person willing to pay the most. It is after all a competition.
Buying face to face, off Craigslist or other method it’s about negotiating a price the seller is willing to accept. A smart buyer knows that and learns to read the seller to find that point.
It might be a promise to restore rather than part it out, leave certain details intact, or a future ride etc. not always money.
One last point. Fear of the unknown is always greater than anticipation of reward. In any auction there is the certainty that it will be sold( assuming reserve is met)
Not so in face to face deals. True the first buyers tend to be the best buyers, but the deal isn’t done until details ( like price) are worked out.
There may not be a buyer at all!
I bought my Viper off Ebay, but all the other cars I have had have come from a few local Craigslists. Here in Milwaukee it seems to be the place to go.
Can't warm up to Autotrader, Cars.com etc. as the sites are mainly dealers and I don't buy new and used from a dealer is rarely the cheapest option.
Double-agree that being patient and setting alerts find the best deals. Be prepared to move with cash same-day, at least have financing lined up and a significant downpayment in cash. Helps if you know cars and don't need a mechanic's inspection.
When selling on Craigs, if I have two buyers, one that is in cash money (like literal stacks of benajmins) and one that is a offering a few hundo more but wants an inspection, takes time to think it over, wants to meet at the bank, etc etc etc I will always sell to the guy or gal in my driveway with the hundreds.
I have wanted to buy and sell from enthusiast sites, but even the big ones don't seem to have a ton of turn over or get a lot of action. Lots of people criticizing the price, saying "wish you were closer/wish I was closer" or kicking tires without showing up with the cash.
Ian F said:One can hate Facebook all you want (and there is much to hate), but the reality is if you refuse to use the marketplace you may miss out on some deals.
This is what I've found to be true. I recently have had far better results looking on FB rather then CL. FB lets you select a radius around you for vehicles rather then having to looking through separate cities, especially when you live in a smaller town between 4 pretty major cities. The FB filter funtion isn't great as a lot of people dont fill out the ad very well but good enough for atleast price ranges, but there search function is much better then CL.
FB is also great for selling vehicle specific parts. You can post them on the marketplace and add your post to any and all vehicle specific or local groups you are part of as well and helps you hit your target/local markets way better then CL. Just with my LS parts buying experience it's a great way to find really good deals that are in places you'd never search for on CL.
If you only make a FB just to use marketplace I'd probably be worth it.
Within the last 4 years:
while i don't *like* the idea of buying used from a dealer, i think buying brand X from the used car department of brand X dealership is a low-risk option. they have a reputation to uphold for both their business and their brand. if i can't find an enthusiast sale through friends, i'm sure i'll buy my C6 from the used car department of a Chevy dealer, and i'm OK with that.
rdcyclist said:Where are you at? (The Spousal Unit was an English teacher so I end sentences in prepositions whenever possible)
Not to be a grammar German but you're not trying hard enough: (The Spousal Unit was an English teacher so whenever possible prepositions are what I end sentences with)
Fixed it
The sad part is a lot of enthusiasts sites/forums are getting replaced by Facebook Groups, which will sometimes set-up an associated Marketplace group. So if you have been noticing traffic on one of your favorite sites slow down a lot, that may be why.
FB is the suck for enthusiasts - no searchability.
In reply to Ian F :
That's part of what makes THIS place so special, it's the only remaining forum that I'm still a part of. I check the $2018 classifieds daily and only recently even started checking FB marketplace, which is a format that I loathe due to cumbersome ability to share and the lack of a decent search feature.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned AutoTempest...
I use it to mass search Craigslist all over the US, either to find an obscure oddball type of vehicle (which always seems to end up on CL somewhere in the PNW...) or get an idea of pricing for a specific YMM/etc.
It also searches eBay, Autotrader and Cars.com
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