Help set me straight

[Eos]

It's finally time to get another vehicle. I've narrowed it down to just one car; 2011 Toyota Avalon Limited. The hard part is supposed to over, right? Apparently not. I must have some kind of mental thing going on, because I am so scared of making a mistake that will cost me thousands of dollars. This will be the most expensive purchase I've made, except for the house of course. So I'm freaking out and researching EVERYTHING, and trying to get all the info I can from multiple people. At my CU today, I threw questions at the poor "member services" chick for twenty minutes. She answered them, but I bet there was other stuff she could be doing.

1) Carfax It looks like this isn't really the great soother in the used car industry. It's easy to not have data on there for a number reasons, it doesn't tell the whole story, etc. True?

2) We're financing as little as possible, for as short as possible through the CU. I have this weird thought that when we're at the dealer, and I ask the salesman, "Will you take $x for this car?", he's gonna ask how I want to pay. Then I'm gonna be screwed because the negotiating power is now gone, since he knows I'm not on the hook for their padded financing "deals". True? If so, how do I get him to answer the question without pushing me for how I'm gonna pay? Keep in mind, there's eight Avalon Limited models within 300 miles. EIGHT. There's not a lot of "Leave and don't look back".

3) The difference between a 2011 model with <10k miles, and ~25k miles really isn't much, is it? There's some really low mileage cars in the group of eight. One at 2300, another at 6000, another at 8000. The rest sit at ~25k. There's no valid reason to discard the "higher" mileage cars, right?

4) The three cars (literally) down the street appear to be former rentals. This dealer rents one each of the Toyota models. It was put in service last March, taken off the road in September. It's been on the lot since. 22K miles. The Carfax states "corporate fleet vehicle". Should I be concerned with this class of vehicle (for old people) as something that was abused during rental driving? Kids aren't gonna rent the Avalon, right?

I'm in no rush to buy. There's a six month window to buy something. I last bought in 2000, and I don't recall feeling buyer's remorse, but that was only $20k.

Help me get my head on straight! Freaking out...

 

[SearchMaster]

Here's my advice:

0) Relax! You're buying an almost new, reliable vehicle...even an abused model is almost certain to be solid for years to come.
1) I'd recommend supplementing Carfax with Autocheck. When I was looking a few years ago, Autocheck showed some history that Carfax didn't (I never saw the reverse). With your nervousness, it's a small investment and you can get a month's worth of unlimited searches for $45 if you want.
2) Don't talk financing during negotiations. If they push, just say you have outside financing. Once you get a price agreed upon, you can negotiate the financing to see if they have a better deal.
3) The higher mileage cars are likely rentals, unless they just happen to be highway miles from a salesman's car or something. Personally I'd avoid the rentals just because I trust a single driver over dozens of random strangers. Service records would be a bonus - even if the car only has 10K miles, if the oil has never been changed I'd be wary.
4) I bought a former rental once and never had a problem. However, I only did so because it was purchased at auction (through my father) and was a fantastic bargain (I sold it 2 years later for more than I paid).
5) Relax!

 

[Zap]

How much are you saving over the MSRP of a new vehicle? Have you shopped for a new one? Why I ask these is because the used car market is on the expensive side right now. Since you will be doing financing, sometimes the best deals are with new cars. For instance let's say a new car costs $5000 more. However, what if your APR on your CU was 5%, but you can get 0.9% on that new car through a Toyota incentive? IDK what current deals are, but they come and go so you can probably find one in your 6 month window. For new cars you can also go through a buying service. I've personally used AAA, but Costco has their own service and I'm sure many other organizations do too. It was a hassle free experience. With AAA and the dealer we went through, they laid out the dealer invoice and flat out told us dealer invoice on vehicle, dealer invoice on all options/accessories, +$600. In addition to that we got 1.9% APR which was a Subaru incentive, and which did not affect pricing whatsoever.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

How much are you saving over the MSRP of a new vehicle? Have you shopped for a new one? Why I ask these is because the used car market is on the expensive side right now. Since you will be doing financing, sometimes the best deals are with new cars. For instance let's say a new car costs $5000 more. However, what if your APR on your CU was 5%, but you can get 0.9% on that new car through a Toyota incentive? IDK what current deals are, but they come and go so you can probably find one in your 6 month window. For new cars you can also go through a buying service. I've personally used AAA, but Costco has their own service and I'm sure many other organizations do too. It was a hassle free experience. With AAA and the dealer we went through, they laid out the dealer invoice and flat out told us dealer invoice on vehicle, dealer invoice on all options/accessories, +$600. In addition to that we got 1.9% APR which was a Subaru incentive, and which did not affect pricing whatsoever.

You went through AAA for Subaru? Have you ever tried their VIP program or had any experiences with that?

 

[StrangeRanger]

1.) Carfax don't mean shit. The dealership I worked at use to buy their cars from auctions. Some of those auctions tried using carfax to entice our buyer. Many, many cars came in with issues even though carfax said it was clear. I remember one Audi that came in with seaweed hanging off all over the bottom of the car! LOLOL
Plus even places like NADA will run a VIN for free now.
2.) True, if you finance you might get a slightly better price, but that doesn't have to come up.
Have you considered the dealer financing? If you're buying such a low mileage car they can probably offer better financing on what should be a CPO car with a warranty.
3.) On a snoozemobile like an Avalon no, no real difference. It's not like many grandfathers take their Avalons out drifting on the weekend. Seriously, you typical Avalon owner is like my 72 yo dad who just tools around in it. And for that matter takes better care of it.
4.) Think of it this way, I certainly know how I treat rentals. I wouldn't touch one - but that's just me

 

[amish]

when i was in high school my dad purchased two 97 monte carlos for a song from national rental. they both came with 30K - 40K miles on them. i drove one when i was in college, was given it as a graduation gift, and later traded it in with 125K miles on it.

the transmission was a little wonky, it had a really hard shift from 1st to 2nd, but the car was sound. the car was probably ridden hard and had poor maintenance, but it still lasted another 100K miles (almost).

a toyota will probably fair just as well if not better. the MCs for that model year weren't anything to write home about and mine came out fine. just haggle as much as you can. the rental company has already made all their money back on the car through rentals and partial depreciation.

 

[Eos]

How much are you saving over the MSRP of a new vehicle? Have you shopped for a new one? Why I ask these is because the used car market is on the expensive side right now. Since you will be doing financing, sometimes the best deals are with new cars. For instance let's say a new car costs $5000 more. However, what if your APR on your CU was 5%, but you can get 0.9% on that new car through a Toyota incentive? IDK what current deals are, but they come and go so you can probably find one in your 6 month window. For new cars you can also go through a buying service. I've personally used AAA, but Costco has their own service and I'm sure many other organizations do too. It was a hassle free experience. With AAA and the dealer we went through, they laid out the dealer invoice and flat out told us dealer invoice on vehicle, dealer invoice on all options/accessories, +$600. In addition to that we got 1.9% APR which was a Subaru incentive, and which did not affect pricing whatsoever.

Used models range between $29k and $32k. New 2011 models are between $36k and $38k. I think it would be great, but even with 0% for 60 months the per month price is more than we should commit to while I'm still in school.

 

[Zap]

You went through AAA for Subaru? Have you ever tried their VIP program or had any experiences with that?

Yes. No.

Used models range between $29k and $32k. New 2011 models are between $36k and $38k. I think it would be great, but even with 0% for 60 months the per month price is more than we should commit to while I'm still in school.

Still in school? I think even $29k would be too much.

 

[T2urtle]

with 6k difference, thats only $100 a month. But at a 0% VS w/e used car % it could make it a lot less.

TRUE CAR price right now for a limited 2011 is $32848 and a 2012 limited is $34323. Maybe get new so all your worry is gone about the car and you just have a little worry about making the payments.

I dont know how most people do the 1yr old VS new. I always do the 3-5 year old cars, the ones that come right off leases so they have 30-50k. I pay roughly 66%-75% of sticker new. Plus with lease returns they almost always come back clean.

I dont like rental cars because i do stupid things on my rentals, mainly brake torquing cars and drive many of them pretty hard. I feel rental cars have a harder life.

 

[soccerballtux]

people going crazy for carfax means there are deals to be had for rebuilts.

 

[Eos]

Here's a scenario; hopefully it makes sense.

The wife and I use our Amazon Visa for almost all purchasing. Even though we make large payments each month, there's almost always an outstanding balance left. IOW, when the billing cycle ends on the 17th, we make a payment soon after that covers all purchases from the previous cycle, but leaves purchases made SINCE the 17th as outstanding. We never pay interest.

Now, when we go to apply for a loan at our CU, should we try and get this CC balance as near to zero as possible? High balance to available credit seems like a bad thing (at least to new creditors), IIRC. Or does the balance to available amount count as a sum of all CC under our names? We have three others with zero balance; like $35k available.

What say you?

P.S. Found a CHOICE car: http://www.toyotaofseattle.com/seat...U374321/~/VehicleType_~Price1_~Make_~Model_/2