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Buying a Used Car

Growing up, I always heard my parents and their friends complain that nothing was made the way they used to be when they were young. I always doubted the truth of that, but never had a way to prove it; until I thought of something. Back in the day, if you had a car that you could run for 100,000 miles, that was considered a supreme achievement. By the time the car did a that kind of mileage, it would be practically scrap metal. Going along in this day and age with that in mind as a standard for car reliability though would be an expensive and unfortunate mistake. A modern car today can easily go twice as long with regular maintenance, and could do even better than that. People using the old frame of reference quickly give up a 100,000 mile car at a low price and trade it in for new car. And that puts you, someone in the market for a great bargain in a used car, in a great place to be in. You know something the sellers don’t. You could expect great value when you go to buy a used car - $5000, and if you aren’t a cross-country travelling salesman or anything, you could probably keep it forever.

Certainly, a pre-owned car is nowhere near as exciting to own - you can’t park it in the driveway and have your neighbors look approvingly over, and you can’t go out for a celebratory drive immersed in that new car smell. What you will get in return for giving that up for the first three months the car stays new though can be pretty great too. For little more than the down payment you would put down on a new car, about $5000, a good find would last you far longer than many human organs last. If buying a used car won’t help you keep up with the Joneses, it’ll certainly help you keep down with Adamses - proving oneself frugal certainly has its cachet today in any social circle.

Let’s add up what you save when you choose to buy a used car instead of a new one. In the US, your average midsize sedan sells for about $30,000 new, and it is financed for about five years at about $400 monthly. If you actually spent only $5000 on a car and socked away that $400 every month for those five years, you would have about $25,000 at the end, with interest. In addition to that, you would save about $2500 on sales tax (as opposed to $500 when you buy a used car), you save about $300 on registration, you would save about $500 a year on insurance, and what it does for your peace of mind not trying to protect the finish every time you park it on the street is something you can’t put a price on.

When you make your decision and go out to buy that $5000 car, make sure first that you know a good Toledo auto repair mechanic who can help you maintain a used car for a good long while. Without a trusty mechanic at your side, this might be a troublesome experience. Since you don’t have the manufacturer’s warranty when you buy a used car, you want to go to an inexpensive mechanic, not the dealership workshop; and you would do well to know something about car repair yourself. And once you’ve found the perfect well-maintained used car, you need to make sure you have the time and patience to maintain it. When you actually go out shopping, try to look beyond the Accords and the Camrys. Think about finding a Mazda 626 from 10 to 12 years ago, a Mazda Miata that is reliable, and easy to maintain, or a 10-year-old Taurus or Impala.. And while you’re out there, make sure that you don’t buy a car like the Dodge Intrepid that even the used car dealers are wary of.

Sponsored by Toledo Ohio Segur’s Auto Repair

I must confess that I have an addiction. I have a weakness for after market parts.  It doesn’t matter if I’m looking at exhaust kits, car body kits, running lights, or turbo boosters for the engine. I love it all. I don’t know where my obsession started, but it has been with me for as long as I can remember. When I was in shop in high school, for example, I would stay after class just to look at all of the car parts and accessories. It didn’t matter if they were old and tarnished. It didn’t matter if they were straight from the junkyard. Every car part and accessory seemed to glow to me as if it was made of the finest chrome. They were really beautiful.

You would think that I would decide to become a mechanic growing up, but things did not turn out that way. You see, working with cars has always been a labor of love for me. I have always loved to go out and find new car parts and accessories to customize my vehicle. It doesn’t matter what I am driving, and it doesn’t even matter if it needs work done on it. Of course, if there is work that needs to be done I will buy the car parts and accessories that I need for that job. I have rebuilt engines, fixed suspensions, fixed transmission repair sylvania – almost anything that you can imagine.

My favorite thing to do, however, is to customize my car. It doesn’t really matter what kind of customization I am doing. I am in it more for the thrill of building something than for the actual results. I have put in car lift kits, I have low rided cars, I have added hydraulics, and I have taken hydraulics away. I have made cars into racers, and I have made cars into cruisers. I have done everything with after market car parts and accessories that you can do. In short, I am completely hooked.

It has gotten so bad that my wife often takes my wallet away before I go into the automotive supply store. She is worried that I will come home with a bunch of car parts and accessories that I don’t need. I don’t blame her. In fact, I am kind of grateful to her for doing it. I have enough car parts and accessories sitting in the garage to last me for several years, and I probably won’t be able to use all of them in my lifetime.