How to Buy a Car for Under $500

How do you buy a decent car for under $500? That has been a challenging quest for many people for years. It's not easy, but, it can be done. Over the years, including over seven of them in the car selling business, I have seen many people looking for this car, including myself. If you can take a little time and seriously dedicate yourself to the task, you can succeed.

When you are looking, keep in mind that one of the most important things you need to know about any car is its history. More important than mileage is how many owners the car has had and how they have maintained the car. This is much easier if you are dealing with a one owner car than 2 owners or more. An older car can have over 200,000 miles on it, but, that car can be in much better shape than one with 30,000 miles. Usually this is reflected in the condition of the car. This usually necessitates actually seeing the car. If everything works, inspection is up to date, body is clean, etc., you can be pretty sure that this car still has life in it.

If you find a car like this, regardless of the mileage, test drive it and check everything you can: windows, doors, trunk, hood, oil, etc.. If you don't feel comfortable with your own judgement, take along a friend who does work on his own car and see what they think. Also, if you want to spend the extra money, you can then have a mechanic give it a once over. Also, if you need more reinforcement, you can check the cars history at CARFAX. Many times this will tell you if the car has been in an accident, odometer check, etc.. A Carfax does not necessarily have all the information but often it can give you an idea of the cars history (sometimes reported service checks are listed on these also).

The hard part is finding these cars. I hope the list below can provide some insight into the process.

1) Newspapers (metropolitan and local), Trading Post type sales papers

This has been tried over and over through the years with not much success. Most of the cars listed in these sources are either dead or on life support. If you do call any of these, don't even bother if the car is being sold by a dealership because they probably paid $100 or less for it and it has probably not even been inspected.


2) Internet - eBay, Craigslist

Unless the car is local, where you can go and see it, I don't really recommend looking for one here that is less than $500. Ebay sells more cars than anybody but many of the cars listed are being sold by dealers. In any case, the same rules as to qualifying a potential buy apply.

3) Relatives and Other Senior Citizens

This can be your salvation if you do a little digging. Senior citizens do not usually do much driving and most of them make sure their cars are well maintained. If they have had the car a long time, the car may have high mileage but its the condition you are looking at. Check with your older relatives or ask your mother or father if they know of any senior members of the family who might have a car they might part with or are not really using. If any of your older relatives are thinking of purchasing a new car they are more likely to sell their car to you before trading it in. Typically, even if a car is 15 years old but immaculate with only 20,000 miles, it will still not get much in a trade because of age. Also, check with friends, people at work, at church to see if anybody might have a senior relative in such a position. These cars are out there, I have seen them traded in for next to nothing and then marked up a couple of thousand dollars because they are in such good shape.

4) Inside Contacts

Another very fertile area, but you have to know somebody or know somebody who knows sombody. Most dealerships have a section of their used cars that is their "bargain basement". Many times these cars are still priced from $2000 on up. Usually these cars are "as is" which means they may not be inspected or even checked out. Some of these cars were traded in for $500 or less. Also dealerships may have posted some of these type cars on eBay. Your task is to find someone who either works in sales or is a service technician for a likely dealership. Many times these are the folks who scarf up these cars for their friends or relatives or themselves. Some dealerships will let them buy these cars for their cost or $100 over their cost (if you work for them). If you or a friend of yours can find a person like this, you can tell them what you are looking for and they can keep an eye out. You might persuade them there is a case of beer in it for them if they find something that works out. The sales people are involved when these cars are traded in and many times these cars usually go through the service department before they hit the lot. Once you have decided on a car in this situation, it may require the sales person or service tech to purchase the car and then sell it to you. Of course, these are cash transactions. A car found this way can be the best of both worlds. The sales person usually gets the history of their trades and the service tech that checks out the car will spot most problems.

I hope this helps in your quest and GOOD LUCK!