Where Are Cheap Cars?
Basically, there are four kinds of cheap cars: cheap new cars, cheap used cars, cheap leased cars, and cheap repariable cars.
Then, there are free cars, but we’ll leave that topic until another time.
We’ll be discussing all these types in upcoming articles on this web site.
Meantime, we’ll give you some information and ideas that you can get you started on your quest for a cheap car.
Here are just some of the places you might look for your inexpensive car:
- Small independent used-car lots
- Consignment car lots
- Police seized-property sales and auctions
- Government surplus vehicle sales and auctions
- Insurance auctions of salvage vehicles
- Repossessed vehicle sales and auctions
- Bank repo sales
- Wholesale public car auctions
- Buy-here-pay-here (BHPH) used car dealers
- New car promotional sales
- Special car lease deals offered by car manufacturers
- Unclaimed and abandoned car auctions
- Rental car sales
- Previous-year model sales
- Personal distress sales
- Repair shop unclaimed vehicle sales
- Car lease takeovers
- Internet discount cars sites
- Online personal auto sales and classified ad sites
These are only some of the sources of possible cheap cars that we’ll be discussing here on this web site in future posts. We’ll explain in detail how each works, where to find them, how to deal with them, and what you should expect to get. We’ll give you the information you need to get the best possible deals and prices.
Please come back often.
Buy a Leftover Car – Good Deal or Not?
Is it possible to get good deals on last year’s model leftover cars at dealer clearance sales?
When car manufacturers come out with next year’s new model cars, last year’s models become “leftovers.” Manufacturers and dealers often get caught with too many unsold leftovers. These are cars that must be sold to make room for the newer models. These are typically called “clearance sales.”
Is there an opportunity for buyers here?
You bet there is.
Car manufacturers add “incentives” to the leftover models to make them attractive to potential customers. For example, they might add a $3000 rebate to a 2010 model after the 2011s have come out. This means car buyers can pick up last year’s model for $3000 less than the new model, even though the two cars are essentially the same. Rarely do car makers make big changes from year to year. Many car buyers routinely buy cars in these clearance sales to save money.
So what’s the catch?
Read the rest of this entry »
Best Deals on New Cars
Finding good cheap deals on brand new cars is not as hard as it used to be.
In the old days (three or four years ago), the way to get the best deals on new cars was to have good negotiation skills and to wait until the time was right — which meant waiting until the end of the model year, or the end of the month, or anytime when sales were slow. You also needed to shop around and know about MSRP, dealer invoice prices, and holdbacks if you expected to get a price down anywhere close to a dealer’s cost.
In the new economy, those techniques are still valuable but you don’t have to work nearly as hard now to get a great deal on a new car.
Why?
In a word, INCENTIVES — rebates, low interest rates, 0% interest, special lease deals, and secret factory-to-dealer cash — all of which come from car manufacturers to help dealers sell cars in a slow economy. In other words, car manufacturers are now offering better new-car deals than customers could make for themselves. The deals are there for the asking, with no need for additional negotiations in most cases.
Car makers are currently offering more and better incentives than in any time in history. And, since the economy is not going to turn around in a flash, these incentives are going to be here for at least a couple of years to come. Of course, the deals will vary month to month, changing as the manufacturers see need. For example, you can always expect incentives to be better on last years leftover models than on brand new models.
How do you get these great deals?
Read the rest of this entry »
Cheap 2010 Leftover Cars
The best car deals for August and September 2010 will be on “leftover” 2010 models, now that many 2011 models are already out.
Car makers help dealers sell leftover models by providing factory-to-customer rebates, low interest loans, special lease deals, and hidden factory-to-dealer cash that dealers can use to reduce prices.
We’ll see plenty of that kind of help in August and September of this year.
What this means is that August and September are two of the best months of the year to buy a new car. Some incredible deals can be had.
Let’s look at some examples of the kinds of deals we can expect:
BMW will be offering extremely low interest loans (although not quite 0%) on 2010 models such as the 6-Series, M6, X3, and some 5-Series. Factory-to-dealer cash as high as $10,000 (6-Series and $7000 (5-Series and M5) will also be available
Chrysler will have rebates in the $2000-$1000 range on nearly all 2010 models — as well as 0% APR loan deals on nearly all 2010 models. Dealer cash of approximately $1000 will be offered on some models.
Ford will offer customer rebates in the $500-$2500, depending on model for 2010s — or 0% APR loan deals on nearly every 2010 vehicle. Dealer cash in the $3000-$6500 range will be available for many 2010 Ford models, especially Lincoln and Mercury.
Read the rest of this entry »
Vehicle History Reports – Important or Not?
When you buy a used car, you typically don’t know where that car has been, or whether it has been in accidents, or that it might possibly be a “lemon” car, or worse.
One of the worse possible events that can occur in the history of a vehicle is having been “totaled” in an accident or destroyed in a flood or fire, and then restored back to life as a salvage vehicle. Many states give such vehicles “branded” titles — Salvage, Junk, Totaled, Lemon, Flood, Reconstructed — but others do not.
If you didn’t know about a vehicle’s former life and ownership, you might be buying a vehicle that has not only been poorly reconstructed but is unsafe to drive. Many such vehicles have bent frames, unsafe steering mechanicals, non-working air bags, or wheel misalignment. In fact, many salvage cars do not even have titles, making it impossible to register and get tags and insurance. Don’t buy a car that you will not be able to drive.
It also helps to know if a vehicle has had many owners (why was it sold so many times – was it because of some problems?), whether it was used as a company or rental fleet vehicle (was it maintained properly?), whether the odometer has been rolled back (is the car’s low mileage real or not?), or whether it was involved in a flood (does it have hidden rust and water damage?).
Read the rest of this entry »
Cheap Performance – Cold Air Intake Kit
Many car owners look for ways to improve the performance of their vehicles, at the lowest possible cost.
One of the best ways is to replace a car’s factory air filter with a cold air intake system. The idea is to allow unrestricted cool air to enter the engine, which allows more oxygen to mix with the gas, which increases power, engine efficiency, and in most cases, improves gas mileage.
A factory air intake system restricts air flow due to having a large filter, inefficient filter housing, and complex piping.
Any vehicle’s power can be improved by replacing the factory air intake with a less complicated, less restricted system with a simple filter. Essentially, all add-on cold air intake systems consist of a simple filter, a short pipe to the intake manifold, and possibly a heat shield. By using a heat shield and placing the intake filter as close to the front of the engine compartment (and away from the hot engine), the more effective the system will be. Cool air is much more efficient than hot air.
We have reviewed a number of cold air intake system kits and have selected the #1 best air intake kit of those available, based on the reviews of hundreds of actual buyers/users.
The best intake system will be one that is easy to install, relatively inexpensive, is guaranteed to produce the power increase promised, has a long-life warranty, and comes from a reputable company. You’ll pay anywhere from less than $100 to $300 or more, but make sure you look at more than just cost. Also make sure you buy the model that fits your vehicle.
Click on the link below to see our #1 pick for best car air intake system kit:
Best Vehicle Cold Air Intake Kit
Cheapest Used Cars
If you are looking for the absolute cheapest and most inexpensive used cars, there are some things you need to know so that you’ll know what to expect when you start your search.
Of course, the bottom is the limit in the sense that it is always possible to find a great car in great condition for $250 or $500. But it’s not very likely. If you do you’re either extremely lucky, or you had the patience to have looked at hundreds of cars before you found the one “jewel.”
Most used cars guides such as Kelley Blue Book don’t even list cars with values under about $1750 and those in the price range under $2500 are vehicles that are about 20 years old, including many makes and models that are now obsolete. You won’t find $500 cars in a used car price guide.
However, if you are looking for a cheap car in the $2000 price range, you would find some of the following vehicles:
Read the rest of this entry »
Cheap Cars for June 2010
If you are in the market for a cheap new car, you have a number of choices for June 2010.
In most cases, these are base model cars with smaller engines and not much luxury equipment.
However, if you are looking for a vehicle that gets you from point A to point B for the least money — while giving you the lastest safety equipment, new-car reliability, and modern styling — you could consider one of the models listed below.
Cheapest Cars
2010 Chevy Cobalt – about $14,990
2010 Chevy Aveo – about $11,965
2010 Honda Fit – about $14,900
2011 Ford Fiesta – about $13,320
2010 Hyundai Accent – about $13,645
2010 Hyundai Elantra – about $14, 145
2010 Toyota Yaris – about $12,605
2010 Kia Forte – about $13,695
2010 Kia Rio – about $11,495
2010 Mitsubishi Lancer – about $14,790
Read the rest of this entry »
Leftover New Cars for Cheap
When most people think of cheap cars they automatically think “used” or “pre-owned.” They assume that buying a brand new car is too expensive and they never investigate to see if they might be wrong.
Many of those people would be surprised at what they find — if they looked at buying last year’s leftover models. For example, when 2010 and 2011 model came out, many dealers still have unsold 2009 models sitting on their lots. They MUST sell those cars to make room for new cars.
Car manufacturers help these dealers out by offering heavy customer rebates and giving dealers “hidden” factory-to-dealer cash on leftover models. Dealers can use the hidden money any way they like, but they almost always choose to give it to customers as a price discount.
If you are looking a good deal on a brand new car, why would you consider last year’s leftovers?
First, many car models don’t change much, if any, between last year’s models and this year’s models. The older model may look essentially the same, have the same engines, and have the same equipment. Second, the price is significantly less due to rebates and factory-to-dealer cash.
Here are some examples of car makes and models with heavy incentives on leftover models. In some cases where 2011 model are already out, the “leftovers” are 2010 models.
Read the rest of this entry »
How to Negotiate Cheap Car Deals
We often hear from people who have bought a new (used) car and ask, “Did I get a good deal?”
Our first thought is usually: “Isn’t that something you should have asked BEFORE you did the deal?”
What this means is that a lot of people are out there buying cars and having no idea if they are paying a good price or not. They are buying only on the basis, “I liked the car — and I bought it.”
Let’s look at a couple of scenarios.
First, let’s say you found a nice car at a used car dealer and he had a price of $10,000 posted on the window. You assume because the dealer is an upstanding business in the community and that the $10,000 is a fair asking price for the car. However, you, being a smart buyer, want to try to get a bargain on this deal. Therefore you “talk” the dealer down to $7500 for the car. He accepts and tells you how he would go out of business if he sold all his cars at this kind of discount — but he likes you and you get a special deal.
What’s wrong with with this deal?
First, the dealer KNOWS that every potential buyer for this car WILL try to ”talk him down” on price. He knows the car is only worth $6500. If he puts a $10,000 price tag on it, he’ll be happy to allow a buyer “talk him down” to $7500. That means he makes $1000 more than he should, but the customer is happy because he thinks he got a $2500 discount. Everybody is happy. In fact, the customer paid $1000 too much.
How can this situation be prevented?
Read the rest of this entry »
Cheapest Car Lease Deals
As of this writing there are numerous car manufacturers offering special cheap car lease deals.
So which cars are the cheapest to lease? Which cars have the lowest monthly lease payments?
Most special car lease deals being offered by car manufacturers and dealers are genuinely good deals. However, these special deals may only apply to a few models or styles. If you like those styles, great. If not, you can lease another model or style but you might not be able to get the same manufacturer-backed special deal.
Another thing to know about cheap car leases is that the low monthly payment offer might be accompanied a down payment (cap cost reduction) requirement to get that payment. Even though the deals are good and genuine, you might have to have some up-front cash to get it. You can still get the deal even if you don’t have the up-front cash but you’ll pay about $20-$30 more per month for every $1000 you don’t pay down. It’s still a good deal but you’re simply paying more per month.
to set the stage, the cheapest lease payments are generally in the $200 (or less) a month range. These are typcially for 36 month leases, 10K-12K per year mileage allowance, and usually require some money up front (cash due at lease inception) that includes a down payment and the first month’s payment.
Here are some of the promotional cheap car leases available at this time. All are 2010 models except where noted.
- Honda Accord – $219 a month, $2599 due at inception
- Honda Civic – $159 a month, $1399 due at inception
- Hyundai Sonata – $199 a month, $2399 due at inception
- Hyundai Elantra – $159 a month, $1399 due at inception
- Kia Sorento – $209 a month, $2669 due at inception
- Kia Soul – $129 a month, $2279 due at inception
- Mazda3 - $239 a month, $0 due at inception, $0 first month’s payment
- Nissan Cube – $199 a month, $2449 due at inception
- Nissan Altima – $199 a month, $2999 due at inception
- Scion xD – $189 a month, $837 due at inception
- 2011 Toyota Camry – $189 a month, $1999 due at inception
- Toyota Matrix – $149 a month, $2949 due at inception
If you don’t understand car leasing or know how to determine if leasing is right for you, we suggest you visit LeaseGuide.com before making your decision.
You can get free quotes on any of the above cars from Edmunds.com.The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.
Cheap Car – Cheap Insurance
Most people who are looking for cheap cars are really looking for the least expensive way, overall, to own and drive a car. A cheap car that is expensive to insure is not a cheap car at all.
Unfortunately, car insurance is one of those evil necessities of car ownership. And it’s not always cheap. But there are ways to make sure you get the lowest price possible.
Every car owner needs auto insurance because 1) it’s the law, and 2) it protects you from financial disaster in case of accidents. Every state has some kind of financial responsibility laws that require you to have the ability to pay for your liability in an auto accident that you cause. In some states the minimum requirements are quite low, which means that if you only choose the minimum coverage, rates can vary widely between different states. Your cousin in Tennessee could be paying a lot less than you for the same car, same coverage in California.
Furthermore, the cost of insurance in all states is regulated by state government insurance agencies. Again, this means that rates in different states can vary widely. To make it even more complicated, auto insurance companies keep statistics that show accident and claim frequencies in each state, which means rates will be higher in those states with higher numbers of accidents.
On a personal level, car insurance rates typically depend on the individual insurance company. Some companies are cheaper than others for certain classes of drivers, age of driver, driving record, credit score, where he/she drives , how far he/she drives, and the type of car he/she drives.
Certain cars such as small high-powered sports coupes are more expensive to insure — because they are wrecked more often by young drivers. New cars cost more to insure than old cars. Luxury car insurance costs more than for economy cars. Cars that are expensive to repair have higher insurance rates.
What does all this mean in terms of finding and buying cheap auto insurance?
Buy Car – Bad Credit
Many people find themselves in the unfortunate position of having bad credit – or no credit – and needing to buy a car with a loan.
Banks and car loan companies have become much more restrictive in the last couple of years. They want to be reasonably sure that borrowers will pay back their loans. They only lend money to borrowers with a good credit history, represented by a credit score.
Your credit score is a number ranging from 300 to 850. The higher the score, the better. The score (often called a FICO score) is based on a combination of factors such as your payment history (number of late or missed payments), how much of your available credit you are using (credit cards not maxed out), length of your credit history (a few years is good), types of credit, how much credit (number of loans or credit cards) that you have, or have applied for recently.
If you don’t know your credit details, you should. You can get your current credit reports and credit scores (there are three different credit agencies) from MyFICO.com. These will be the scores that car dealers and other lenders see. Make sure you don’t have any mistakes or old information in your report that is pulling your score down.
A “good” credit score is about 700 or greater. Ascore in the 620-700 range is considered as “sub-prime” which might get you a loan approval but you’ll likely pay a higher interest rate than someone with a better score. You might also have to make a larger down payment to reduce the amount of your loan.
So how does someone wit bad credit, or no credit, buy a car?
Cheapest Way to Drive a Car
Looking for a way to drive a relatively new car for cheap? There’s one good way that most people don’t know about.
It’s called a lease takeover, or lease assumption, or lease transfer.
Here’s how it works.
Someone leases a brand new car, makes a down payment, makes the first month’s payment, pays dealer doc fees, pays taxes, and pays a bank fee. His monthly lease payments are probably very low compared to a conventional loan for the same car. Maybe he got a special promotional lease deal and got even lower payments. (If you don’t understand car leasing, see our sister web site LeaseGuide.com.)
Now, let’s say the person has run into financial problems (got divorced, lost job, illness, etc.) and can no longer afford the car lease payments. Instead of simply returning the car or letting it be repossessed, which can be very expensive and damaged to his credit, he chooses to put the car up for a lease assumption.
In a lease assumption, or takeover, the “seller” finds a “buyer” who would like to take over the car and the lease for a couple of years. It is a big advantage to the “buyer” because he simply pays a small transfer fee to the lease company and takes over payments. He avoids all the up-front payments, fees, and taxes associated with an original car lease. Furthermore, he gets the benefit of any low-payment special deals that the original lessee got. Finally — and here’s a big benefit — in most cases the “seller” actually offers to pay a cash bonus to anyone wanting to take over his lease. What a deal!
So how do you find “sellers” who want to transfer their leases to willing “buyers?” Where do you find these kind of deals?
Cheap Used Cars for Teens
Teenagers often need to find the best used cars possible for the least amount of money. They want cars that are reliable, dependable, cheap to operate and insure, but yet offer reasonable style, performance, conveniences, room, and comfort.
Buying a cheap car only to find that it will cost hundreds or thousands more dollars to maintain and repair is not what most buyers want. Therefore, smart teen drivers (and parents) will choose cars that have a proven record of better-than-average reliability but still sell for low prices.
We’ve said it before but we love Consumer Reports magazine (and web site). They do extensive research on both new and used cars, and the results are published each year in their annual Auto Issue in April.
We’ll give you some examples of this year’s used car recommendations below. Make, model, and years are shown. However if you want to see complete listings you can find copies of the magazine on some newsstands and in your local library — or you can go to the ConsumerReports.org web site, which requires a modest subscription fee.
Best Used Cars for Less than $4000
- Acura Integra ’00
- Honda Civic ’00
- Hyundai Accent ’04
- Subaru Impreza sedan ’00
Best Used Cars for $4000 – $6000
- Honda Civic ’01-’02
- Honda Accord ’00-’02
- Hyundai Sonata (V6) ’03-’05
- Nissan Xterra ’02
- Pontiac Vibe ’03
- Toyota Camry ’00-’01
Bank Repo Cars
Looking for a cheap car for sale? You might to look no further than your local bank.
Let’s explain.
Banks and credit unions finance a lot of cars for people who need auto loans. Sometimes those people lose their jobs, get into divorces, or otherwise find themselves in situations in which they can no longer keep up car payments. They often are late with payments, or miss a number of payments altogether.
If a borrower stops making payments or is consistently late, the bank places the loan in repossession status and takes steps to recover, or repossess, their car. They will send a towing company or repo company to find the car and bring it in. Even if the borrower voluntarily returns the car, it is still considered a repo.
After a car is repossessed the bank can either try to sell it themselves (watch for “for sale” cars in the bank parking lot), or they can turn the car over to a professional car auction company. Smaller banks might use the “self-sell” approach while larger banks nearly always use an auction service. Ask your bank who auctions their repossessed cars. Then contact the company to find out where and when auctions are held.
Cheap Cars on Craigslist – Scam Alert
Is it possible to find find cheap cars online at Craigslist.com or other online automobile classified ad sites?
Yes ….. maybe, sometimes, and no.
While it is certainly possible to find bargain car deals online, it requires an extra bit of caution when doing so.
There are certainly people who are trying to sell cars cheap because 1) they are desperate and need to raise money fast, 2) they haven’t done their research and don’t really know what their car is worth, 3) the car has serious problems or has been wrecked and repaired, but they don’t mention it in their ad, 4) the car is stolen and they don’t actually have the title (although they’ll make some excuse for the reason they don’t have it), 5) the car is a salvage (totaled) vehicle but with a clean title (allowable in some states), or 6) it’s a scam.
There is a common car-selling scam that is now costing innocent people millions of dollars. People get sucked in every day by the promise of a cheap car, lose their money, and never get the car. You don’t hear much about it because the victims are too embarassed to speak up and law enforcement can’t catch the criminals, who are nearly always in another country. It rarely makes the newspaper or local news.
Here’s how the scam works.
Cheap Used Cars
Cheap used cars are everywhere. They can be found online, from private sellers, dealers, and at public car auctions of many types. There’s no shortage of cheap used cars.
However………..getting a good car cheap is a bit more tricky.
On this web site, we’ll be discussing and explaining how and where to find good used cars, and how to avoid problems. In this post, we’ll discuss some general tips that you should use when buying any used car. In future posts, we’ll get more and more specific.
One of the best pieces of advice we can give is to not let price alone be your only decision factor. All cars are different — especially in terms of reliability and dependability, two factors that should be important to any car buyer. Used cars, in particular, can have hidden problems that are not obvious at first glance.
Before you go searching for a good cheap used car, do some research first. We like Consumer Reports magazine (and web site) for their reports of the best (and worst) used cars to buy. They list specific makes, models, and years that are recommended — as well as those to be avoided. As an example, they suggest you not consider a ’06-’08 Jeep Commander because of it’s below-average reliability. They even show you a “worst of the worst” list of vehicles. Such vehicles as the Kia Sedona, Lincoln Aviator, Mini Cooper convertible, and Volkswagen Cabrio are on the list, along with many others. Buying a vehicle with a poor reliability history is only going to cause you trouble and expense in the long run.
Cheapest New Cars
We love Consumer Reports magazine, especially the annual Auto Issue that comes out each April. Anyone thinking of buying a new or used car should pick up a copy of the publication before they make a move.
In addition to all the ratings, rankings, safety reports, and used car reports, they publish a list of the best cars that have list prices under $20,000.
This is a list of the cheapest brand new cars you can buy.
Following are Consumer Reports’ selections for 2010:
- Ford Focus SES ($19,995)
- Honda Civic LX ($19,115)
- Honda Fit ($16,410)
- Hyundai Elantra SE ($18,695)
- Mazda3 i Touring (sedan) ($19,070)
- Nissan Sentra 2.0 SL ($19,530)
- Nissan Versa 1.8 SL (hatchback) ($17,250)
- Scion xB ($18,360)
- Scion xD ($16,620)
The prices shown on the above cars are MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price). With price discounts, rebates, and factory-to-dealer cash, you may be able to do much better than these prices.
Not only do the above cars offer great purchase prices, they have rated Very Good to Excellent in the magazines tests of each car. Furthermore, they all have great gas mileage and low maintenance costs which makes the overall cost of ownership very low.
If you are looking for a cheap new car, consider these vehicles first.
You can get free price quotes on any of the above cars from Edmunds.com.
The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.
New Cars for Cheap
If you are currently looking for an affordable automobile, right now is a great time for automotive consumers. Cars for cheap prices seem to be everywhere — especially if you want a brand new car. In fact, new cars have never been cheaper.
Why?
You may have noticed that in the current economy new car sales have decreased dramatically during the last three years. Car makers have had to borrow money from the government to stay afloat. Whole brands have disappeared, or will soon disappear. Car dealerships have been shut down and many have gone bankrupt. Car often sit on dealer’s lots for months before they sell. The U.S. government had to back a “cash for clunkers” program to try and stimulate sales.
Although the situation seems to be getting better now, car manufacturers are currently offering some of the best new-car incentives they’ve ever offered in their history. New cars are cheap compared to a couple of years ago.
What makes new cars so cheap now?
First, there are factory-to-customer rebates — large rebates. Rebates are like cash that you can apply as a down payment to your new car, which can be great if you are already short on down payment money. Rebates reduce the amount you have to pay, although it’s different from a price discount. A large rebate can actually allow you to buy a car for less than dealer invoice price.