I’m sure that you, like me, are always happy to get a great deal on anything. Dawn is 30% off? Huzzah, no Great Value Dish Soap for this guy!
But a great deal on a car – man, that’s next-level (because cars are expensive, obviously). Even a small savings percentage-wise can mean thousands of dollars staying safely tucked in your mattress. And a super-score on a car is also super-satisfying because a good car gives you so much. I mean, can you imagine not being able to just go wherever you want, whenever you want, hauling whatever and whoever you want? Maybe it’s even a fun machine to drive, and/or it swaddles you in luxury. That’s just icing on the car-cake. Other than a house, I can’t think of a purchase that delivers more utility and hopefully pleasure than a car.
So yeah – getting a great deal on a car matters. A lot. My all-time best scores were my 1980 Honda Accord, a fantastic $500 find (if you’re a Member, you can read about it here), and my 2012 Mustang GT. The GT wasn’t exactly cheap – I negotiated exactly zero dollars off – but thanks to my employer at the time, I was able to get X-Plan pricing, which is fixed and low. No haggling, no muss, no fuss, just a brand-new, Coyote-powered Mustang with a bunch more money left in my pocket – which was spent on tires and speeding tickets in short order.
Now let’s hear from the gang:
Matt Hardigree
Someone sold me a creamy Volvo 240 wagon with 15,000 miles, owned by an older couple, for $2500. It was a great car and was, in theory, a starting point for a 302 swap. I never did the swap, partially because the car was in such great shape. When my wife got accepted to grad school we decided we couldn’t take it with us so I sold it for $2,000 to a family friend with the agreement I could buy it back. That friend sort of disappeared from the radar and I have no idea where the car went. I regret letting go of it all the time and wish I could have it back.
Mercedes Streeter
I scored a 2005 Smart Fortwo Passion Coupe for free. Yes, I got it for no money at all. There was nothing wrong with the car itself but with a state government. See, the original Smart Fortwo was never officially sold in the United States, but they were one of a handful of cars some crazy companies went through the work to make legal.
Unfortunately, federally legal doesn’t mean state legal and some states have no idea how to handle a modern gray market car. One of these states was Colorado. While the state allowed my car to be registered with its previous owner for a while, it eventually stopped registering the vehicle because the car couldn’t pass the state’s OBD-II scanner emissions test. I knew these cars were kosher in Illinois, so saying yes to a free Smart was a no-brainer.
Of course I still have it.
Mark Tucker
Easy: my ’89 Chevy K1500, in forest service green. $1,200 to buy, and I’ve spent maybe $2,000 more on it over five years. Oh wait, I forgot, I replaced the brakes during a cross-country trip. More like $3,000 in repairs. Still a bargain.
Stephen Walter Gossin
My best buy is the 230,000-mile Jaguar XK from Jacksonville, Florida that the seller bought at auction, then ditched in a parking lot for two years, untouched. He then found a 4-speed all-original GTO and completely forgot about the XK and sold it to me for $1800. I still can’t believe it.
We had a 1990 Mazda B2600i 4×4. It looked rough, but ran well. I think $1000 in 2005. Got 10 years more out of it before we donated it, still running, because I’d gotten a newer truck and it was basically redundant.
I got my 2019 Toyota Yaris used with 10k miles for $12 grand in 2019. 70 percent of msrp on a 1 year old Toyota? Must have been because it is a mazda rebadge and it has a manual transmission. Glad I bought it when I did. Now used ones with 100k + miles are listed for more than I paid for mine
Seems weird, but I had a 1972 Cadillac Hearse by Superior Motor Coach, and it had a leaking main rear seal (among other problems). I was committed to finding a new car and saw on a lot in my town another Cadillac hearse! This one was a 1973 by Superior and a 3-way (look it up). I had originally paid $1,000 for the ’72 a scant 18 months before, and this new Hearse was up for $1,500. But, I had just done some new work, distributor cap, spark plugs and wires, and new tires on the old caddy. When I approached the guys about this new hearse they were thrilled by a trade. Turns out they bought this 3-way at auction to use as a Demo car, but it was just “too nice”. So we made a deal.
I got to keep the ’72 and take the ’73 for a day to swap off any and every part I wanted to keep, including the tires. Then I brought them my old hearse and $1,200 bucks cash. I loved the newer hearse and they got a crappier version they had no guilt beating the tar out of. Later I got the same leak on the new hearse, but by then I knew you didn’t have to drop the tranny to get at the main rear seal on that model so it was all good! (plugging the hole for the oil pressure sensor with an actual sensor also helped not squirt oil out the back of the block…)
2023 Bronco Base – ~$27k. Ordered through Granger Ford in Iowa at 2k under invoice. Original order was for Black Diamond, which gave me slightly higher price protection. Included a few options (Aux Switches, removable steps, roof rack).
Now that Ford has killed the base, and upped the price: The cheapest Bronco is $10k more than mine was.
1990 Dodge Caravan SE, free, with only 100K on it. It was 25 years old, owned by a pair of heavy smokers, and the paint was in terrible shape, but mechanically it was pristine, with the 3.0l Mitsu V6 and the 3sp auto, and extensive maintenance records. For the time I had it, it was a pretty amazing vehicle. Traded it in on a 2005 Tundra, but I wish I’d traded in the ’95 Neon on it…then, I’d probably still have the Caravan, alongside the Tundra.
I have never paid over $5000 for a car, so I feel they all were good deals. If I had to pick one it would probably be my 2000 S10 that I paid $1000 for. Everything works including a/c, its gets 22mpg no matter how I drive it, and I have used the bed to carry at least 5 engines now. All it has needed in 4 years is regular maintenance, a set of tires, and a new catalytic converter after someone stole the stock one, although that is hardly the trucks fault.
To sum up all my scores –
99 Miata – repo after it spun a bearing – $500
2004 Mazdaspeed Miata – spun bearing – $2900 with original hardtop
2004 Mach 1 – abandoned in a field for 2 years, 92k miles, drove it home – $5000
1958 Bel Air w/ 348 big block – sat in a garage since 2004(this was 2013), their former daily driver – $4000
2001 Miata – unknown issue, ended up just needing a fuel pump – $2000
I also bought 2 wrecked Mazdaspeed Miatas, each for $2100, parted out for ~$5k each
Probably my latest purchase, a 1997 Mitsubishi Pajero Jr. that I bought in auction in Japan. All in was under $10,000 USD including shipping to the east coast. Nothing to brag about except if you consider it is a one owner, lady owned and had 27,000 km (16,800 miles). Except for a few scratches on the plastic bumpers, it is absolutely mint.
Can’t beat my 600$ Civic with a nearly mint interior.
I got my ’98 Honda Civic EX coupe, in a “Junkyard-Or-Us” deal for 600$. Needs work, but overall its in decent shape, (for 320,000+ miles…) and the interior is almost undamaged and remarkably clean!
2006 Dodge Charger R/T with 16K miles on it, in 2007. I believe it was $17.7K after negotiating, no trade. The dealership regretted minutes after I put down deposit and signed some papers saying “we lost money” as the manager eluded to their wish to undo the deal. Got 125K miles out of it with only a suspension issue along the way. Loved that car! Now I drive it cousin the 300 with now 163K. Got her for $33K brand new in ’13.
I bought a running, driving, titled 1980 Grand Prix for $50.00. The junkyard told the owner they would give her $50.00 for it since it ran. I paid, drove it for 3 weeks and sold it for $350.00.
In the late 90s I answered an ad for a $200 Mazda RX-3, expecting at that price for it to be a rusty hulk that might have some good parts I could onsell to friends.
When I got there it turned out to be an original, one owner RX-3 12A auto sedan, still with delivery plastic on some of the interior trim, and unmodified, right down to still having the original hubcaps and tyres. The battery was dead and it wouldn’t crank even with jumper leads from another car (which was the reason he was selling it), but I bargained the price down to $150, grabbed a trailer and took it home. On the way I was flagged down by someone who offered me $3000 cash for it!
Turns out the battery had internal damage, and disconnecting the earth lead then jumpstarting it saw it fire up straight away.
Unfortunately, when I pulled the engine to replace a few leaking gaskets it got stolen, and I ended up selling the rest of the car for $600 since i couldn’t find an affordable replacement.
I wish I still had it – some research of local values suggest an RX-3 in unmodified condition could well fetch $100,000+ with the right buyer, since nearly every other RX-3 has since been wrecked or turned into a drag car, making an original car vry rare.
My best was a 1976 Mini Clubman 1275 GT that I scored for helping a family friend move house. It needed some work, but nothing major, anyways about $1000 later I had an incredible run around car to get to uni and back. I ended up selling it about a year later for $10k, I’d hate to think what it would be worth nowadays!
My best was a ‘98 Ranger extra cab 4X4 in very good condition w/ a 4.0 that had cracked heads. Bought it from a co-worker around 2005 or 6 for $1000. I bought a wrecking yard motor for $750 that seemed to be in good shape and installed it that weekend. My wife drove it for another 50K miles till we sold it for a 2010 Taco in 2012. Made a grand or so on it.
Probably the 2012 Optima I bought early into the pandemic. Our Soul was having problems with the clutch again (I’m pretty sure a dealer messed something up doing warranty work about a year prior – which the service manager got fired for approving but that’s another story…) and not wanting to spend a ton of a car we’d hardly drive, I opted to trade it in for the used Optima.
The car was originally priced at $17k (way over priced) and had been sitting, and was marked down to $13k when I saw it. Dealer didn’t want to go any lower (I offered $11k), which was fine, because it still was a decent price and it was a loaded car. Doesn’t hurt to ask, right? I had to come back the next day to close the deal, and by chance I had a super busy day at work and couldn’t take any phone calls.
I checked my most recent message after work and on that one the dealer agreed via voicemail to the $11k asking. Turns out they REALLY wanted to get rid of the car, because they were going to put in an order for new vehicles the next day and selling the Optima would net them one more spot for their order. Made the purchase, and overall, a smooth process. Kia dealers get a lot of hate but they were good and I’d buy from them again.
Fast forward a year and a half and we’ve decided we really do need a van if we’re going to continue the one vehicle thing for the family. So I check Carvana and they quoted me $12k to buy my Optima. Everywhere else would only offer $7k. Sold. Factoring in tax+license for the Optima, we really only pad ~$1k to own for that time.
I have had a lot of cars over the years and due to my situation, made money on basically all of them.
But my best was a 96 Miata M Edition that I bought 8 years ago for $2200. Needed some body work and a few things but nothing to keep it driving. I threw tires on it and that was it until 6 years ago when I did all of the high mileage maintenance. Sold it for $4500 last year and still made about $1000 on it.
Really hate that I sold it but circumstances meant it was not getting used and I really needed the space.
My best deal was a free 2003 Camry we got in 2019. My wife and I had left our jobs to buy a cheap old sailboat and sail it in the South Pacific. Two years later she as diagnosed with breast cancer (in her 30s) and so we came back to Wisconsin for care. No jobs, no insurance, no belongings, and very little in remaining savings.
We were living with friends while I looked for work and she signed up for Medicaid. An old work friend of hers offered the Camry (base model and a CEL for fuel vapor leakage and a bum O2 sensor), explaining that she had given it to her son but he got a DUI and then it sat parked for a year and racked up a bunch of tickets. Today Kate is fully healthy and we still have the Camry. When we bought a Chevy Bolt last year, it was demoted to towing our current sailboat (an ancient Wayfarer dinghy).
Being an air-cooled VW person, I spotted a ’64 Baha bug sitting behind a gas station for months. Finally asked about it and the folks there knew nothing about it. I opened it up and rummaged through, and the only clue was a phone number on a piece of paper. Turned out to be a former girlfriend of the owner. Owner couldn’t get it running, so parked it. I paid $200 for it and towed it home. All it needed was the distributor turned to the correct position. Boom! Got a running car with rusted floorboards, holes through the firewall, and garnet infused rear tires! A winter car. The seats were captains chairs from who knows what. They were supported by 2x4s screwed to the floor pan. The passenger side seat swivel lock didn’t work, so going around corners, the passenger would swing one way then the other! And yes that passenger still married me. I tried to remove one rear wheel, and even with a four foot cheater pipe and me hanging onto the car port structure and jumping on it, I never got the wheel bolts removed. Sold it like that for $900 about a year later.
Not exactly a stunning deal, but I’m still pretty darn happy with it. I have a 2016 Cadillac ATS Coupe that I got for $19k. That’s about a thousand below low book, for an immaculate car with only 24,000 miles on it. Why am I proud of such a boring deal? Because I got that deal from an actual for-real Cadillac dealership.
Free!
Sentra SE-R was a high school graduation present, new in 1993. Still have it. Has long outlived both grandparents who bought it for me, which probably would have surprised them.
Fiat (Spider Turbo) was a father-son project given to us by a friend of my dad’s when I was 15. I received the title when I was in engineering school.
2013 JSW TDI was bought in 2020 with money that was a gift from an ex-girlfriend who was pretty extra. Technically not entirely free because I donated my ~$5k Accord to her cousin.
I’d probably say it is a toss up.
My Scout Cab Top was given to me by a friend in exchange for a tune up on his Celica. This was many years ago so it was $100 or so for the parts and of course my time. It had been parked because it wouldn’t pass emissions. That was due to the fact that a valve job was done, that it probably didn’t need and the mecanic that did it had no clue on the proper way to do the intake/exhaust install and created a couple of serious intake leaks. I think it was $12 for the gasket set and after another hour or so of work I had it purring.
The other would be my daughter’s CVPI. She grew up in Panthers and learned to drive in one so she wanted her own, wanted to buy it with her money and wanted it cheap. As you might expect I purchased it at an auction, one held by my local county. They did 2 auctions per year and it was normal for them to park them in the lot in lots. As the auctioneer even pointed out the first one is always the cheapest. This was the first in a batch of ~20 CVPIs that year. The reason it was in the #1 spot was because it was the first one put out to pasture after the last auction. Because of that the county mechanics decided it was fair game when they needed a windshield wiper motor and/or linkage for another vehicle. They took everything from the mounting bracket to the blades. The hammer fell at $600. I spent about $60 at the wrecking yard for the missing pieces and then bought a new set of blades for about $20. What made is such a good deal is the fact that it had only 60k on the clock and had a standard rear seat. The other all whites ended going for $1000-$1300, none of them had under 100k on the clock, some of them had the ABS perp seat, one had the K-9 platform and associated smell. She finally gave it up and we sold it with ~130k on it for $1450. Of course I did do the brakes, replaced the tires and battery while she had it. The only real repairs were an alternator and later the belt tensioner in that 70k.
It was a decent deal at the time, but for sure the best deal I’ve ever gotten on a car in hindsight. In January 2020, I bought a 2002 Suzuka Blue Honda S2000 with less than 22K miles for $21,500. Not cheap, but much better than the roughly $30K+ it probably would’ve cost just a year or so later. The lead up to my purchase of it was also a very lucky series of events.
I had decided on searching for an AP1 S2000, with 60K miles or less, and at least mostly unmodified as my search parameters. I started working with a local car buying service to look nationally, but wasn’t having any luck since they only dealt in the wholesale market. So as I was in the process of going to a different service (actually Tom McParland for those Jalopnik folks), I decided to hop on Facebook marketplace and have a look. And there listed just 15 minutes away from me was this low mileage 2002 S2000 for good price. I messaged the guy, went to see it that Tuesday afternoon, agreed on a price, went home to get a loan in order, took my BMW 335 to CarMax that Friday, and then took an Uber from CarMax to go pick up the S2000. I have absolutely loved the car since and don’t plan on ever getting rid of it.
In 2002 I bought a 1990 Jeep Grand Wagoneer (white with maroon interior) with 10,000 miles for $4000. It still had factory plastic on the rear seats and cargo area when I bought it. The husband of the woman I bought it from called me almost immediately and offered to buy it back for twice as much.
$350 for 2 Subarus. I didn’t want the sedan with an automatic (the running one), but knew someone who needed it. So I got my 87 GL wagon for free. That was my favorite Subaru of all the 80s ones I had: once I put a Weber on it, it never gave me trouble—and absolutely absorbed the abuse I dished out.
I’m almost embarrassed at my $300 Rav4 coupe score as I’m one of those guys who always drops his toast on the jelly side. When something good happens I’m inclined to think the universe got confused.
https://imgur.com/gallery/300-toyota-rav4-why-do-people-go-into-debt-new-cars-that-are-less-cool-ZbwQIyh
Best deal, tough to say as I have spent so little on daily drivers. Probably the time I traded a water pump install ($50 + my labor) for a 1984 Celebrity Wagon with the Iron Dule and a 5 speed on floor. I never put anything in it except oil changes, Drove the hell out of it for 3 years. Tough car, total stripper, No rear window defogger, hand crank windows, no radio. Was a useful vehicle.
That guy saw you coming. He probably lists it as the best deal he ever made. ????