Buying a Used Car (1 Viewer)

[Chadstroma]

I have not done this in many a moon as the last few of my vehicle purchases were new. However, I think on this purchase we have coming up due to my recent incident, we are going to buy used to get the purchase price closer to what I will be getting from the insurance.

My car situation is that I recently totaled my truck. Our other vehicle is really a Grand Prix but that has been used by my BIL while my FIL has let us use one of his caddy's due to it having more room and being safer to move the little ones around in. We had been planning on getting an Acadia/Enclave which would have sent the caddy back to the FIL and kept my truck. With the insurance money on the truck, we are thinking of getting that Acadia/Enclave now and replacing the truck down the line when we would have got the Acadia/Enclave in the original plan. Meanwhile, I will be driving the Grand Prix (I hate that thing) so I would like to move somewhat fast on getting the new vehicle.

Money situation is that we are healing financially from a long period of me being unemployed or underemployed. Even though I am making ok money right now- I am still about half as much as I was making previous to the the unemployed/underemployed stretch. We are paying off debt accumulated during this period and would avoid taking on a payment right now, so financing is out of the question- hence going the used route.

If it helps- blue book on my truck is about $22K and I figure I should get around that from insurance. In looking around, it appears I can get an Acadia a few years old with around 20K miles for about that $22K area.

Of course, I would like to get the most value for my money and protect myself from getting a lemon.

 

[eoMMan]

Does it have to be a GM product?

Glad to hear you're okay from your accident.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

I just bought a used car for the wife the other day.

I had been advised to go to a big city (LA or SF) by a cousin who used to work at local major dealerships. Now our city has lots of car dealers in a county of a million people, but since they dont have much competition they are way less flexible. Making the time to travel a smidge and keeping an eye on the sales from the big LA certified dealers saved me almost 20% right off the top. A certified car always has a warranty, mine has 2 years remaining and the additional 1 year with unlimited miles.

Since you are in Chicago, Id find the biggest saturation areas of whatever brand you want and keep a close eye on their website and sales (cars.com + dealer websites) and when you see the one you want.... print it and go. And you can even play that printed sale off on the other lots.

Id also recommend going through the buying a process a couple times without consummating to almost anyone who hasnt bought a car from dealers in a long while. You will help yourself and bottom line a ton by doing so.

good luck chad.

 

[Chadstroma]

Does it have to be a GM product?

Glad to hear you're okay from your accident.

We are pretty set on the Acadia/Enclave. I am no GM homer or anything but I did a lot of research before with our priorities being safety (now likely an even higher priority after this scare), reliability and size with minor considerations of things like the ride, looks, etc. From the research I did, the Traverse/Acadia/Enclave came out noticeably higher than any other vehicle of similar size and price range. Not just in the ratings but also in death rates etc (I spent a lot of time on the safety part of my research). As for overall reliability, the Acadia/Enclave gets the thumbs up by Consumer Reports so that satisfies me. Size wise, it fits what we are looking for. Finally, about 7-8 months ago the wife and I went and looked at new SUV's and drove almost all that made my final 'possible' list. We liked the Acadia/Enclave the best overall.

Why for on the question about it being GM only?

And thanks. I am healing up though still in a heap of pain and not full mobility.

 

[eoMMan]

Does it have to be a GM product?

Glad to hear you're okay from your accident.

We are pretty set on the Acadia/Enclave. I am no GM homer or anything but I did a lot of research before with our priorities being safety (now likely an even higher priority after this scare), reliability and size with minor considerations of things like the ride, looks, etc. From the research I did, the Traverse/Acadia/Enclave came out noticeably higher than any other vehicle of similar size and price range. Not just in the ratings but also in death rates etc (I spent a lot of time on the safety part of my research). As for overall reliability, the Acadia/Enclave gets the thumbs up by Consumer Reports so that satisfies me. Size wise, it fits what we are looking for. Finally, about 7-8 months ago the wife and I went and looked at new SUV's and drove almost all that made my final 'possible' list. We liked the Acadia/Enclave the best overall.Why for on the question about it being GM only?

And thanks. I am healing up though still in a heap of pain and not full mobility.

I just think that GM vehicles aren't as dependable as many other brands, currently. I hope that changes in the next few years.

That being said, I did drive a Traverse one weekend as a rental and I liked it. Very roomy and comfortable ride.

 

[Chadstroma]

Does it have to be a GM product?

Glad to hear you're okay from your accident.

We are pretty set on the Acadia/Enclave. I am no GM homer or anything but I did a lot of research before with our priorities being safety (now likely an even higher priority after this scare), reliability and size with minor considerations of things like the ride, looks, etc. From the research I did, the Traverse/Acadia/Enclave came out noticeably higher than any other vehicle of similar size and price range. Not just in the ratings but also in death rates etc (I spent a lot of time on the safety part of my research). As for overall reliability, the Acadia/Enclave gets the thumbs up by Consumer Reports so that satisfies me. Size wise, it fits what we are looking for. Finally, about 7-8 months ago the wife and I went and looked at new SUV's and drove almost all that made my final 'possible' list. We liked the Acadia/Enclave the best overall.Why for on the question about it being GM only?

And thanks. I am healing up though still in a heap of pain and not full mobility.

I just think that GM vehicles aren't as dependable as many other brands, currently. I hope that changes in the next few years.

That being said, I did drive a Traverse one weekend as a rental and I liked it. Very roomy and comfortable ride.

Yea, I am really not a GM fan and if not for the Consumer Reports giving it a go ahead then I would be reluctant. Even so with Consumer Reports it seems it just made their threshold for getting their recommendation but safety was our primary concern and now even more so with my accident and about 9 months ago a run in with a deer in the caddy. Paranoid about protecting our kids.