Not sure what i'm doing
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 31
From: Louisiana
I managed to buy a 2000 V6 for $2800. It had 145k miles on it and was misfiring. The dude that sold it to me assumed it was missing because something was really wrong, so he took $500 off of the price for repairs (he was trying to get rid of it quick). Before I bought it, I checked it out and it only turned out the EGR valve was clogged. Took a couple of hours to clean, but totally worth it.
I guess the main point of this is to make sure the person is a trustworthy person and isn't trying to screw you over. ALWAYS take the car for a test drive. (Hopefully you already knew that).
And ask the person how often they drove the car, where they drove it, and how they drove it. You can have 150k miles on a car and it'll be fine. But you can also have 40k miles on a car and the person drove pedal down the whole way. That kind of stuff puts a lot of wear on the car.
I guess the main point of this is to make sure the person is a trustworthy person and isn't trying to screw you over. ALWAYS take the car for a test drive. (Hopefully you already knew that).
And ask the person how often they drove the car, where they drove it, and how they drove it. You can have 150k miles on a car and it'll be fine. But you can also have 40k miles on a car and the person drove pedal down the whole way. That kind of stuff puts a lot of wear on the car.
Thread Starter
1st Gear Member
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 145
From: Ohio
Thanks for all the helpful tips so far.
Right now i'm in discussion with a guy about a 1991 mustang gt convertible. He's asking $3000 for it and price is a little negotiable.
I'm definitely interested the guy sent me pictures of it before and after what it looked like when he tore everything out in the interior and pretty much put new stuff in it looks really nice except the leather seats are still there and they're pretty worn but not a big deal to me. He's had it for two summers and it was his daily driver both summers he said and aparently it's the best driver he's ever had. I'm planning to go take a look at it provided it's got a title! lol. He's got 3 mustangs he's got a picture of the 91 sitting next to his new roush mustang both with their 1/4 mile times on the window and it's at the track. It's got a ford racing logo across the top of the windshield and the exterior looks really nice and clean. Everything seems to good to be true with it. The thing that worries me is he said he 'thinks' the car has about 178 thousand miles on it but he's sure that I would never know it. I asked has the engine ever been replaced and he said he doesn't know...how do you not ask that question or find out when buying it before? That's got me really wondering...
He said he wants to get rid of it tho because he's got the 2 other mustangs. I'm worried he knows there is something seriously wrong brewing with the car :l
Thoughts?
Right now i'm in discussion with a guy about a 1991 mustang gt convertible. He's asking $3000 for it and price is a little negotiable.
I'm definitely interested the guy sent me pictures of it before and after what it looked like when he tore everything out in the interior and pretty much put new stuff in it looks really nice except the leather seats are still there and they're pretty worn but not a big deal to me. He's had it for two summers and it was his daily driver both summers he said and aparently it's the best driver he's ever had. I'm planning to go take a look at it provided it's got a title! lol. He's got 3 mustangs he's got a picture of the 91 sitting next to his new roush mustang both with their 1/4 mile times on the window and it's at the track. It's got a ford racing logo across the top of the windshield and the exterior looks really nice and clean. Everything seems to good to be true with it. The thing that worries me is he said he 'thinks' the car has about 178 thousand miles on it but he's sure that I would never know it. I asked has the engine ever been replaced and he said he doesn't know...how do you not ask that question or find out when buying it before? That's got me really wondering...
He said he wants to get rid of it tho because he's got the 2 other mustangs. I'm worried he knows there is something seriously wrong brewing with the car :l
Thoughts?
Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 31
From: Louisiana
Did you ask him about when he got the engine replaced? Usually if you replace the engine for a reason other than it simply being old and crapping out, there was something pretty bad going on. And sometimes once you get a problem with the engine, you always will have one. Id tell him you are going to need a little more info. If you DO decide to buy it, you definitely need to work the price down a good bit...
Gentleman's Relish
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 13,189
From: AZ
it sounds to me like you want a mustang that is under 75k. This will help make sure that you won't get anything that needs any extensive work. It's going to be hard to find a 94-98 style in this mileage though. probably even harder to find one for your budget.
Buying a 100k car is kind of hit and miss. You have to know what to look for as far as issues go. Some people take care of their cars and they'll have no problems at this mileage, but some people don't take very good care of them and it'll end up with some expensive problems around this time.
In my experience, people sell their cars for a reason. Either because they're tired of it and want something new, had changes in their lives and need a different type of vehicle, ran into money issues and need to get rid of it, or it has problems and they don't want to deal with it anymore.
The best thing you can do is ask plenty of questions and if a sale sounds legit, have the car checked out by a qualified mechanic before you buy it. It might cost you a little money to inspect it, but better to go over it beforehand and possibly lose out on $60 bucks than end up buying a POS that'll cost you thousands to get right.
Another good thing to look for is a car with maintenance records. if someone's taken the time to keep track of all their maintenance records, chances are they care about the car. The maintenance records will also show how well they've kept up with preventative maintenance. have they changed the oil regularly? brakes? how old is the battery/alternator? has it recently had an alignment? has the vehicle ever been wrecked? Are the tires new (it'll cost at least $400 for a cheap set of tires)? Also if they take their car to a single shop regularly, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get in touch with that shop and ask them about the car.
Buying a 100k car is kind of hit and miss. You have to know what to look for as far as issues go. Some people take care of their cars and they'll have no problems at this mileage, but some people don't take very good care of them and it'll end up with some expensive problems around this time.
In my experience, people sell their cars for a reason. Either because they're tired of it and want something new, had changes in their lives and need a different type of vehicle, ran into money issues and need to get rid of it, or it has problems and they don't want to deal with it anymore.
The best thing you can do is ask plenty of questions and if a sale sounds legit, have the car checked out by a qualified mechanic before you buy it. It might cost you a little money to inspect it, but better to go over it beforehand and possibly lose out on $60 bucks than end up buying a POS that'll cost you thousands to get right.
Another good thing to look for is a car with maintenance records. if someone's taken the time to keep track of all their maintenance records, chances are they care about the car. The maintenance records will also show how well they've kept up with preventative maintenance. have they changed the oil regularly? brakes? how old is the battery/alternator? has it recently had an alignment? has the vehicle ever been wrecked? Are the tires new (it'll cost at least $400 for a cheap set of tires)? Also if they take their car to a single shop regularly, it wouldn't be a bad idea to get in touch with that shop and ask them about the car.
You can also use CarFax for this info. Get a $45 five report subscription so that you can do a further look into the cars history. It's important beause there may be things about the car even the existing owner doesn't know about (if it's not a one owner car). The value of the car is only as good/high as the worst owner. So whil the current owner has taken good care of it, one of the previous ones may have wrecked it. They may not know that. That will lower the value of the car.