We're in the market for a used car. We want to pay cash and keep it under 7k. Preferrably private sale. I've looked at Craigslist and auto trader and they are both full of dealers posting as owners for private sale. Has anyone had good luck with finding a decent private sale via the internet?
Have you tried searching cars and trucks by owner? Dealers aren't supposed to post in there.. http://nh.craigslist.org/search/cto?query=subaru+outback
No, usually word of mouth about some mom or pop who doesn't drive anymore, is your best bet. A lot of those "garage queen" bought new, seldom driven vehicles are around. Trick is to be able to track them down..............
Uncle Henry's over there in NH? As long as you take your time and really look things over, from an online find, I don't see how it's any different from any other way to find em. Sight unseen? That's another story.
What are you looking for? USAA has a car buying service for used cars from preferred dealers.. I can at least get you a couple of leads as well as the price that they quote for USAA members.. Then you'd have a number to work with....
F Funny that you should mention USAA. My wife is former military and we are both members. We have a credit card with them but don't do our banking with them. What we are looking for is very specific actually. 2004-2009 Subaru Forester w between 70K-120K on it in good condition with no rust or body issues. Trim package color etc doesn't matter as long as it's in good condition. I think we should be able to find one for under 7K if we look around enough. If you could tell me a little more how the USAA program works I'd appreciate it.
Have your intended purchase checked out by your mechanic (the one you trust and do business with) for a more reliable opinion. Used vehicles really needs to be put in the air on the rack and inspected. Unless you know the seller personally, it is worth the extra few bucks involved.
There;s a guy in town that would look at it for me as longer as the seller would agree to drive it down to my town.
If you log onto the USAA website (which you should be able to do for credit card payments) just go to "Our Products" and select the item in the lower right hand corner, "Car Buying Service"... I plugged in your criteria.. mileage, years and price and came up with a grand total of 6 cars that met the criteria nationwide.. If you're willing to travel, you could find one in a place that you don't have to worry about salt use so the undercarriage should be better..
Well most of NH is more rural than most of eastern MA and the number one selling point for Subaru is the all wheel drive. My current car is a 2003 Outback with 220K on it and still going strong. It has a lot of rust of both rear wheel welds but it keeps passing inspection. It's my first Subaru but I've come to appreciate the brand, minus the rust issues. I'm hoping to get at least another year or two out of it. The car I'm looking to buy is going to be stored on my property and rolled out when I need it. I like to plan ahead and not pay interest on anything unless I absolutely have to. Trust me.......if you gave me a penny, I could squeeze it hard enough to make old Abe recite the Gettysburg Address, in French!
They're very popular in Maine too. We're on our 5th Sube since 1978. Wife has a Legacy wagon. Good in most winter weather with studded winter tires.
Studded tires are still allowed up there? When I was a kid I remember when my dad had the winter tires installed on the cars in November and they were studded. I don't think Mass allows them anymore
I've NEVER gotten stuck in a New Hampshire winter with my Subaru. Even when there's like three to four fout of snow packed in at the end of my driveway from the plow going by I can still get out if I haven't snowblowed yet. I just have too get a running start, make sure no one's coming down the road and let the inertia of the vehicle blast right through it. As much as I like my wife's RAV 4 during the Sprin,g Summer and Fall, there's no way I'm making it out of the driveway under those conditions with it. In the right hands, with the right tires, a Subaru is like an M1 Abrams, minus the armament. I just wish the rust wasn't so prevelant as I've seen other Subarus with body rust issues. not so much with Toyota and Honda.
I have a 6' Fisher plow on our Wrangler. From all the years running the Subes, and now having used this plastic light weight plow on the Jeep... it would work nicely on the front of a Subaru wagon... no sweat.
