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Is financing older cars a stupid decision?
celliot130
Member Posts: 6
I know a lot of dealerships around here are basically giving away almost new Cruzes and Sonics that are only a couple years old. I've considered a few of these deals, but I'm not thrilled with the idea of giving up all the great features I have in my current vehicle while taking on a car payment. I'm also concerned about the depreciation of these cars. They're made to be used and thrown away, and I feel like after a 5 year loan, it'll be worth nothing and a nightmare to drive. Also, I live in one of the snowiest metros in the country, I've owned compact cars in the winter, and I don't miss it. I'm only comfortable spending $11,000, so I'm starting to look at older vehicles.
Our mechanic recently inspected a 2005 Audi A4 Quattro 1.8T for another dealer. It's immaculate, has been serviced every 10,000 miles religiously at the Audi dealer, and only has 82,000 miles. I've known my mechanic for a very long time and trust his judgment that this is a solid vehicle.
The lowest offer the dealer will accept is $8300, with $6800 financed on a four year loan. I also have the option of buying an independent 3 year bumper to bumper repair plan for $900. I love the car: AWD is an asset on our nasty rural winter roads, it's spacious enough to rear face my toddler, not expensive to insure, and I expect it to hold its value much better than a newer car. Financing for four years instead of 5-6 is also appealing, as even with a higher interest rate I'm spending considerably less on car payments in the long run. And it's been way too long since I owned a car that was actually fun to drive. I work two jobs and spend a lot of time in my car. Comfortable to sit in and fun to drive are big pluses for me.
But it's 10 years old.
Am I crazy to consider financing something this old, despite it being in such great shape? Also, what kind of maintenance costs am I looking at? In the past, I've bought newer vehicles that have had minimal maintenance beyond brakes, tires, and oil changes until after they've been paid off. I don't have time or money to spend on a vehicle that needs to constantly go to the shop, hence the reason I need to trade my current vehicle. Is the $900 repair plan worth it? I've had $1500 worth of repairs done in the past year on my Buick, with $1500 more required to pass inspection by the end of next month, and it's only a year older than the Audi. The frame is starting to deteriorate, so repairing it and keeping it seems like a bad decision.
Should I be looking for newer cars instead? Different older cars? What is the best way to spend less than $11000 on a financed vehicle without needing to do a whole lot of maintenance/repairs for the duration of the loan? It would put me well above my price point to take on both frequent repairs and a car payment. Future trade in value 6-7 years down the line are important to me. I'm planning to undercoat/wash weekly whatever I buy in the winter, but our climate is very hard on vehicles.
Our mechanic recently inspected a 2005 Audi A4 Quattro 1.8T for another dealer. It's immaculate, has been serviced every 10,000 miles religiously at the Audi dealer, and only has 82,000 miles. I've known my mechanic for a very long time and trust his judgment that this is a solid vehicle.
The lowest offer the dealer will accept is $8300, with $6800 financed on a four year loan. I also have the option of buying an independent 3 year bumper to bumper repair plan for $900. I love the car: AWD is an asset on our nasty rural winter roads, it's spacious enough to rear face my toddler, not expensive to insure, and I expect it to hold its value much better than a newer car. Financing for four years instead of 5-6 is also appealing, as even with a higher interest rate I'm spending considerably less on car payments in the long run. And it's been way too long since I owned a car that was actually fun to drive. I work two jobs and spend a lot of time in my car. Comfortable to sit in and fun to drive are big pluses for me.
But it's 10 years old.
Am I crazy to consider financing something this old, despite it being in such great shape? Also, what kind of maintenance costs am I looking at? In the past, I've bought newer vehicles that have had minimal maintenance beyond brakes, tires, and oil changes until after they've been paid off. I don't have time or money to spend on a vehicle that needs to constantly go to the shop, hence the reason I need to trade my current vehicle. Is the $900 repair plan worth it? I've had $1500 worth of repairs done in the past year on my Buick, with $1500 more required to pass inspection by the end of next month, and it's only a year older than the Audi. The frame is starting to deteriorate, so repairing it and keeping it seems like a bad decision.
Should I be looking for newer cars instead? Different older cars? What is the best way to spend less than $11000 on a financed vehicle without needing to do a whole lot of maintenance/repairs for the duration of the loan? It would put me well above my price point to take on both frequent repairs and a car payment. Future trade in value 6-7 years down the line are important to me. I'm planning to undercoat/wash weekly whatever I buy in the winter, but our climate is very hard on vehicles.
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If you nose around the net, there's a lot of complaints about VW and Audi reliability. But it's hard to pin down reliability on a specific car. You have low miles and some service history working for you (even better would be having an actual printout of all the work done on the A4 over the last decade). And apparently the 06 generation of the A4 was more problematic than the years through 2005.
So, conventional wisdom would say run the other way. Your mechanic, someone who's actually gone over the car, says it's a good car. That would carry a lot of weight with me.
Going by conventional wisdom, the $900 repair plan would be worth it.
You love the car and you drive a lot and it checks out okay. I don't think you need much other justification; you've spelled out the pros and cons well.
I wouldn't count on it holding it's value all that well over six plus years, but no used cars are cheap anymore and you may very well come close to breaking even if you trade it then.
If it helps, I spent $10,500 on an '09 minivan a year ago that had 125,000 miles on it. 20,000 miles later, so far, so good...(touch wood, lol).
You might try to search the warranty company on the 'net and see what kind of rep they have.
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2015 Subaru Outback 3.6R / 2014 MINI Countryman S ALL4
My mechanic works on Audis, and I do have the entire service history on it. I don't have any evidence of the car ever having a major repair, but all the maintenance was done on schedule. I'm have no experience with 3rd party service plans-- the one offered seems to cover everything except maintenance. But maintenance can get pretty expensive. I'm going to hit 100,000 miles in less than 2 years. I'm trying to get an idea of how expensive maintenance is on an Audi... I know it's more expensive, but HOW much more? $1000 for a timing belt type expensive? That could be a deal breaker for me.
Can anyone recommend any vehicles that might be a bit more practical, newer and still in the same price range? I don't need an Audi, but I really enjoyed the tiptronic transmission, easy acceleration, and high safety rating. The dealer is highly recommended by my mechanic who inspects all his vehicles, and I noticed he has a 2012 Mazda3 with less miles on it. Maybe I'll set my boyhood fantasy aside and take it for a ride.
If anyone can recommend some other models which might be affordable and still offer a good driving experience, I'd really appreciate the input. I've been driving a Buick LeSabre Limited for 7 years and love the interior features, but I wasn't overly impressed with its slow gear shifts and stiffness.
If I was paying cash, I would buy the A4 in a heartbeat. Unfortunately, my Buick went downhill so fast that I'm not well prepared to replace it this year. I can handle another loan, but none of this is in our budget.
I assume you are in Subaru country so that's a possibility. That's what I drove in the snowy UP in recent years. People mile them up although the head gasket issues that affected older models may still be around in ten year old models. But that issue seems to have mostly gone away.
Don't know - Mazdas have a good reputation too. Shoot, most modern cars are pretty reliable these days, thousands of complaining forum posts notwithstanding.
You've got a good handle on the pros and cons. I'd go with my gut and get something kind of fun since you drive so much. My gut is saying A4 even though my billfold twitches some when I say that.
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And, 900.00 sounds WAY too cheap for an aftermarket warranty. The warranty companies that are willing
to sell a good warranty for an Audi will charge a LOT more than for say, a Honda or a Toyota.
You sound like a Subaru customer to me!
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