The one that got away...

[other dog]

I have been thinking about upgrading my vehicle for some time now, getting something bigger, stronger, faster, and newer than my 2002 Ford Ranger pickup. Which is the best vehicle i've ever owned by the way, i've had it for 13 trouble free years myself, and I bought it used.

I wanted something that I could get in and drive it to Wisconsin, or Florida, or even Macungie, and not have to rent a car or worry about it. The Ranger was a 4 cylinder, and it had around 165,000 miles on it. So I called Van, the car guy that used to be at the Chevrolet dealership in Appomattox that his father used to own. I hauled an Allis Chalmers bulldozer for his dad one time, all super nice people. Anyway, back to the story-

Van said he was going to have 2 cars soon that he was going to sell himself, not through the dealership. The former school superintendent in Appomattox was going to take two cars to Lynchburg to trade them both on a new Chevrolet. Van said he told him that he could sell them for him and get him more than he would get trading them in. He knew the cars too, he had sold both of them new .One was a 2012 Malibu, with 85,000 miles on it, he said he was going to ask about $8500 for it. Exactly what I was looking for, something around that year model, mileage, and price range.

The other car was a 2000 Impala...i'd already lost interest, I wanted something newer than the pickup, not older. He said the Impala wasn't the former school superintendent's car, it was his sister's. She was in a nursing home and couldn't drive it...hadn't been driven in a while...only had 24,000 actual miles. Back seat never been sat in. Now i'm really interested. Van said he was going to ask around $4500 for the Impala.

So this was almost like getting a brand new 2000 Impala. Or about average mileage for a two year old Impala today, for $4500. I'm all in now, I figured it was a heckuva deal even if I put 4 new tires, new radiator and heater hoses, and a new belt on it, just for my own peace of mind. Turns out it didn't even need that, it had 4 new Michelin tires on it. So I thought I couldn't really go wrong with either vehicle, but I decided I would buy the Impala.

...until he sent me a message the next day, saying that the man had given the Malibu to his grand daughter, and he sold the Impala to his next door neighbor for $5,000.

 

[HarryS]

That sucks. Either one of those sounded like a good deal. I'm a fan of slightly used cars that have been owned by the elderly and maintained. You can usually buy one for less than the price of a worn out Toyota, Honda, etc. Keep lookin' they are out there.

[HeavyGunner]

I buy cars from a body shop who buys lightly damaged cars and will seek them outright or fix the, if you'd like cheap. Bought two cars from him and he's been very honest told me even after a month of me owni g a car from him he would take it back if I didn't like it to keep his reputation as an honest salesman. I bought a Taurus that was only a few years old with 75k on it for $3500 which was less than half of what it booked for at the time. The previous owner slid off the road and a delineator post slapped the top of the door where it meets the roof. Insurance totaled the car and I still use it as my commuter car for work. Other than regular maintenance I've put struts on it and we've put just under 100k miles on it since weve owned it. 

[other dog]

19 minutes ago, HarryS said:

That sucks. Either one of those sounded like a good deal. I'm a fan of slightly used cars that have been owned by the elderly and maintained. You can usually buy one for less than the price of a worn out Toyota, Honda, etc. Keep lookin' they are out there.

Yep, I ended up getting a 2016 Impala, 4 door, V6,  with 46,000 miles on it for $12,000.  A little more than I wanted to spend, but that seemed like too good of a deal to pass up too. Clean as a pin, can't tell it's ever been sat in.