My brother's girlfriend is going to buy a 91 Toyota Corolla... UPDATE:

[Eli]

They're getting financing on it.

I honestly don't know much about the whole car buying scene, but for some reason this just struck me as a bad idea. I don't know, maybe it's not.

It probably doesen't help that I don't know any details really, either. Her mom is cosigning. The total price of the car is 3000$. I don't know what the monthly payments will be.

They're going to have it checked out and stuff before they buy it. I dunno, I think the idea of paying payments on a 3000$, 12 year old car is strange.

What do you guys think?

Also, how much is full coverage on a car like this for an under 21 female?

Update:

Well RossMAN... Our worst fears have started to come true. :Q

Only it's not $5000, it's 500.. lol.

I was misinformed, the '91 Corolla wasn't 3000, it was only 1200. That makes it a lot better.

But apparently she doesen't want to do the whole Finance thing, and is just going to outright buy a 4 - 600$ car.

She was looking at an 80's Escort with a lot of miles for 500, but hopefully we talked her out of it......

There's an '86 Accord in there.. AT, PS, PW, PDL, CC, AC.. for $650. Damn, I wonder if it's still availble.

 

[Jugernot]

Heh, yes, payments on a $3k car is weird.

If you need to pay $3k in a long term loan, you have other money problems to worry about.

 

[Eli]

Originally posted by: Jugernot
Heh, yes, payments on a $3k car is weird.

If you need to pay $3k in a long term loan, you have other money problems to worry about.

Well.. it's either that, or she gets a 500$ piece of sh!t I guess....

I don't think the loan is long term, it won't take her long to pay off 3k.. especially if she takes my advice and pays more than the minimum payment if she can, heh.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: Jugernot
Heh, yes, payments on a $3k car is weird.

If you need to pay $3k in a long term loan, you have other money problems to worry about.

She needs financing on a $3k car? So what? Maybe she needs a car to get back and forth from a job to actually make money.

 

[Eli]

I also don't like the fact that they went through a dealership... Although I guess that's the only way to get financing.

When car salesmen see two women walk into their territory, you know they're going to get taken for a ride.

If it was me, I would be looking for a really good deal on a one owner car that has all service receipts. They're few and far between, but you do find them. Cash is the problem at that point, though.

She was going to buy some POS for 200$, just to get her by.... but her mom talked her out of it, lol..

 

[RossMAN]

My sister's first car was a 91 Corolla DX automatic with 67k miles, she bought it for $5,000 back in 1999.

It was a good reliable car, then she bought a friend's Dodge Neon Sport Coupe and got rid of her Corolla.

How many miles does this have, are you going to have a mechanic check it out?

 

[Oakenfold]

3K huh? How many miles does this thing have?
If the mom is co-signing why don't they try for a bit more $$$?

 

[chin311]

HOLY, 3k for a 91 corolla? i've seen it before, around here they are around 2500$ or so, ah well, good reliable car.

i paid 3k for my 96 corolla dx, loaded, like 6 months ago, w00t, i feel like i got a deal on mine now , my 'rolla has about 99k on it, no major problems, just the usual preventive maintence. my check engine light is on now, seems to be the EGR flow or something, still runs normal, so ill drive it till i run into problems.

 

[RossMAN]

Taken from OregonLive.com

Unless the car your brother's g/f is looking at has LOW MILEAGE and is in EXCELLENT shape, I'd shop around.

Toyota
90 COROLLA wagon, new tires, brakes, timing belt. Excel trans. $1800/obo. 503-570-3423
Published in The Oregonian on 05/08

Toyota
91 COROLLA, metallic blue, AC, AM/FM cass, CC, runs great, $2000 OBO. 503-267-7446
Published in The Oregonian on 05/09

Toyota
92 COROLLA Wagon, 105K, 4wd, AC, 5 spd, looks & runs great. $2199/ofr. 503-998-9004
Published in The Oregonian on 05/07

Toyota
90 COROLLA DX, 4 dr, AT, 04 tags, very clean, excl cond, runs grt $2200/obo 503-984-3185
Published in The Oregonian on 05/03

Toyota
93 COROLLA DX, AT, 140K mi, 2nd owner, slight frnt bumper dmg, $2,350/obo, 503-544-2422
Published in The Oregonian on 05/04

Toyota
91 COROLLA EX Wagon, great driving, great mpg. AT, CC, cold AC, $2450. 503-661-4541
Published in The Oregonian on 05/07

Toyota
1993 COROLLA DX wgn, AT, AC, PS, PW, PDL, 148K well-maint mi, $2500, John 503-620-4480
Published in The Oregonian on 05/07

Toyota
91 COROLLA, 4 dr, 5 spd, A/C, CD stereo, new tires. Very good cond. $2500/obo. 503-653-5099
Published in The Oregonian on 05/09

Geo (rebadged Toyota Corolla)
90 PRIZM LSI Sdn 4dr, snrf, CC AT AC PW new tires. Records. 113K. $2000. 503-245-6613

 

[chin311]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Taken from OregonLive.com

Unless the car your brother's g/f is looking at has LOW MILEAGE and is in EXCELLENT shape, I'd shop around.

ditto, oregon? those cars are probably rusted thru. , i dunno how cars fair up north, since i live in florida, rust is hardly ever an issue.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: chin311

Originally posted by: RossMAN
Taken from OregonLive.com

Unless the car your brother's g/f is looking at has LOW MILEAGE and is in EXCELLENT shape, I'd shop around.

ditto, oregon? those cars are probably rusted thru. , i dunno how cars fair up north, since i live in florida, rust is hardly ever an issue.

We don't use salt on our roads, rust isn't THAT big of a problem here.

Viper GTS

 

[chin311]

We don't use salt on our roads, rust isn't THAT big of a problem here.

Viper GTS

Ahh, thats always a plus. I was thinkin of moving to NY, im sure they use salt, anyway i'd know? sorry to hijack the thread, but how long does rust damage usually take to start showing? I wanna move, but dont want my car to get all rusty fast.

 

[djheater]

I drive a '92 Toyota Corolla with 95000 miles on it.

It's been a great car. I'd say mine in current condition is (worth to me) about 1200

That's a fair price. I'd be happy to get 1500.

It's in very good condition.

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: RossMAN

It was a good reliable car, then she bought a friend's Dodge Neon Sport Coupe and got rid of her Corolla.

So, has the head gasket gone out on her yet?

Neon's, especially the Sport Coupe's have that problem, up to year 99
The head gasket's crack at about 50-60000 mi. If she bought it from a dealer thaey can bill Dodge for the labor. Having mine replaced cost me a little over $200 (The bill came to over $1500)

You prolly already know that though

 

[PricklyPete]

While I agree on the dealership not being the way to go on a car like this, a 91 corolla with low miles is not a bad thing. My sister had a '90 corrolla in college that she sold when she finished. The car is still running beautifully to this day with nearly $300k on it. I had a '92 corrolla in high school and the car was great...until it got totaled by this ass. Anyway, the cars are built well and should last...

 

[djheater]

Originally posted by: PricklyPete
I had a '92 corrolla in high school and the car was great...until it got totaled by this ass.

A friend of mine totalled his SHO on a deer. I imagine a donkey would be worse.

 

[grillmasterP]

Corolla's are great economical cars- 3K sounds a bit on the high side unless it has really low miles.
Whats the mileage.

- Yeah - figure you just pay cash for that amount.

 

[StageLeft]

In 2001 I paid $2300 for a 93 sentra with 143k miles on it. In 2003 paying $3k for a 91 corolla I'd only do if the thing was really low on miles like well under 100k.

Chances are she'll be reamed on payments on that thing. Financing on cars of that age is generally at a very high interest rate (like 15-20%). However a friend of mine did buy a $2500 car from a private seller and got financing through his bank and got something low like 7.5% (definitely under 10 anyway which is great for a car that age). She doesn't have to go through the dealer - especially since dealers severally over price used cars in my experience.

 

[astroview]

Originally posted by: djheater

Originally posted by: PricklyPete
I had a '92 corrolla in high school and the car was great...until it got totaled by this ass.

A friend of mine totalled his SHO on a deer. I imagine a donkey would be worse.

lol

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: chin311

We don't use salt on our roads, rust isn't THAT big of a problem here.

Viper GTS

Ahh, thats always a plus. I was thinkin of moving to NY, im sure they use salt, anyway i'd know? sorry to hijack the thread, but how long does rust damage usually take to start showing? I wanna move, but dont want my car to get all rusty fast.

Alright, I live up in upstate NY, near the canadaian border and the seaway, so we tend to get more snow then other parts of the state (well, other then syracuse region *shudder*).

We certainly do use salt, which although it's unfortunete it IS needed. So many people up here commute long distances that not using salt would have hundreds and thousands of people dying, versus hundreds and thousands of cars losing paint

However, to give you an idea of how bad it is, I've got a '95 cutlass supreme, and in '00 I had to put a new gastank in it because of rust damage. My old man drives a ford ranger, and he got 6 years out of his tank before it too gave. Expect lots of underbody damage from the salt and also the rapid changing tempertures (We had, literally, a few days over the winter where it went from -35C to 70c and then back down to -30C over the course of 24hours). Also, cars are expensive here, because everyone needs at least one to get to work (typical driving time to work in the morning is ~40 minutes)

 

[RossMAN]

Originally posted by: djheater

Originally posted by: RossMAN

It was a good reliable car, then she bought a friend's Dodge Neon Sport Coupe and got rid of her Corolla.

So, has the head gasket gone out on her yet?

Neon's, especially the Sport Coupe's have that problem, up to year 99
The head gasket's crack at about 50-60000 mi. If she bought it from a dealer thaey can bill Dodge for the labor. Having mine replaced cost me a little over $200 (The bill came to over $1500)

You prolly already know that though

She knows that Neon's are a POS but it's a 96 Neon Sport Coupe which only had around 36k miles and she got it for only $2k thanks to my bartering (friend accidentally sold it for $1k less than it's actual worth but held up his end of the bargain).

Since it's a manual and her Corolla was an automatic, I wonder which transmission she prefers now. I've always heard once you go to Manual you never go back to Automatic.

 

[StageLeft]

However, to give you an idea of how bad it is, I've got a '95 cutlass supreme, and in '00 I had to put a new gastank in it because of rust damage.

Salt is a whore on cars. My 93 sentra which has lived its entire life in alabama has 163k miles on it and no rust anywhere. The thing is perfect! Contrast that to my accord I had up in canada and with 118k miles on it it had already had a new paintjob, the headlight housing was so rusted it barely held the lights in anymore, and there were other bits of rust here and there too.

 

[mAdD INDIAN]

We sold our 91 Corolla which had 140k km (87.5k miles) for $4000 CDN. The interior was in mint condition, it looked brand new. The body was also good, except for a few rustspots on teh wheel wells (common on all Corollas of that year).

 

[wasssup]

if cars get messed up so quickly in canada, why do they get better cars than we do? when i went there two years ago, i saw civic si's and civic type r's (and accord type r's i think) everywhere :Q

 

[blahblah99]

How come I have a feeling they are going to be spending more than $3,000 on this car in the long run? Repair bills may add up in a car that old.