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SeaStar
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| Posted: Oct 25 2013 at 6:07am | IP Logged
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buying a car 
Yes, the car I drive is having a birthday soon- 14 years- and, sadly, it has become apparent that we need to start seriously thinking about replacing it. 
So... any and all advice/tips/hints/strategies for buying a new-to-us car that have worked for you would be appreciated. My current strategy is to pray like mad for the right car to appear... St. Jude, pray for us!
In the meantime, I figured that you all would have some helpful hints for me- maybe even some funny car buying stories to make me laugh.
Buying a car of any type feels decidedly unfrugal.
This week I received my first e-bates check for a whopping $1.97!  .
Better than nothing! With it came a $10 Walmart gift card for signing up, which was appreciated.( I only signed up a few weeks ago, so I was surprised I got a check at all).
With coupons yesterday I scored two free bags of No Yolk egg noodles and two free Lindt Chocolate bars  (dark chocolate with sea salt).
Southern Savers had a link to a coupon for $2 off Lindt bars (3.4 oz or greater), and Harris Teeter had them on sale: buy one/get one free. 
I could print two coupons from my computer.
I am sure this Sunday there will be a 50% off one used car coupon in the paper, right? Hey- with St. Jude on board I would not doubt it!
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Oct 25 2013 at 6:22am | IP Logged
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Also wanted to mention that tomorrow (Sat 10/26) both The Fresh Market and Lowes grocery stores are having free programs in the afternoon for kids.
At Lowes they can paint a free pumpkin to take home, plus have cookies.
At the FM, they can pick up free treats throughout the store if they come in costume.
My dc are pushing for the FM... one of their favorite stores 
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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guitarnan
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| Posted: Oct 25 2013 at 6:50am | IP Logged
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I had to order some items from Ulta (Christmas gifts and things DD needed) and remembered to Google "Ulta coupon code" before I checked out online. I found a coupon for 20% off...and Ulta gave me free shipping, too. Nice!
Car tips...new or used? For used, I'd get familiar with Blue Book values for cars I'm interested in as a first step. (Perhaps you could write them down on a 3x5 card to carry with you to car lots...)
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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SallyT
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Car-buying . . .
I found Edmonds.com no end of helpful when we were coming back from the UK (10 years ago now) and had to buy a car. You can search makes and models and model years and read consumer reviews -- we were in the market for a minivan and wound up buying an old Mazda MPV (1995 or 6), which was a steal relative to the Honda Odyssey I really wanted, and was a fantastic car. Mazdas, according to everything I read on Edmonds, are as well-built as Hondas and Toyotas, but don't hold their value nearly as well for some reason, making them a very good used-car bargain.
Ours turned over 200,000 miles with hardly a bad day (well, there was this day), and we'd be driving it still if my husband hadn't misjudged a distance on a rainy evening and run into the back of a guy with a trailer hitch. Didn't hurt the other guy's vehicle at all, but the trailer hitch punched through the front grill of the MPV and destroyed the radiator, totaling the van.
Here is that story in great detail for those who care to read it.
The story, continued . . .
How it turned out.
And what happened finally.
This, to us, is like the gold standard of car-buying: how little can we spend? how outrageous can the circumstances be?
But I realize that not everyone wants to start with a car in the kind of condition which prompts the seller to want to get rid of it in the first place. *I* wouldn't, myself. But my husband, who when I met him was driving a car with stereo speakers bungied into the doors and a monkey wrench to prop the hand brake, enjoys this kind of thing. Which of course is why we have an oven whose door is held shut by a hasp screwed into the side, and a fridge whose door was held on for a year by a screwdriver propped on a brick. Take that, O spirit of planned obsolescence!
Anyway, um, Edmonds.com is a great source for car research.
Sally
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Mimip
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| Posted: Oct 25 2013 at 9:33am | IP Logged
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Melinda,
We are in the same boat here. After being a one car family (+ hubby's police car) for almost 8 years its about time we bought another one. We are going the cash route and have about $4,000 to spend. Let me tell you, it is tough going this route. I am SOOOOO scared to get scammed and we need this car desperately!
We've been searching craigslist mostly and Auto trader. They are the best for looking for cheaper cars. Carmax is really well regarded here but they only deal in cars ABOVE $5,000 so for us its out.
Good luck and following this thread with much interest.
OH and most definitely know Kelly's blue book values. Helps to know what is a scam or not.
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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JodieLyn
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$5 Friday at Safeway has large pumpkins for $5 each. (regular price was $7.99)
My last car purchase was my 15 passenger van, it was almost 10 yrs ago and I'm not giving up my van until all the family still at home will fit in something smaller 
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Jodie, wife to Dave
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CrunchyMom
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I've always heard you should go at the end of the month when the salesmen are trying to meet quotas and are more likely to give you a break.
Dh also decided beforehand what we would spend and that he would walk away. When he picked up our stack of papers and started to leave, that bottom of the line deal he'd come back with the first time apparently was not the bottom-bottom.
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Lindsay
Five Boys(6/04) (6/06) (9/08)(3/11),(7/13), and 1 girl (5/16)
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[URL=http://mysymphonygarden.blogspot.com/]Lost in the Cosmos[/UR
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SallyT
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Searching a car's serial number on CARFAX (not to be confused with Carmax) will tell you whether the car has previously been wrecked or flooded.
Sally
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JodieLyn
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Back from getting pumpkins.. lg pumpkins $5 each, med. pumpkins $4 each and sm pumpkins $2 each.
We got 6 large, 2 med and 2 small.. for a grand total of 184 lbs of pumpkins.. which works out to .23/lb not bad.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Oct 25 2013 at 12:35pm | IP Logged
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These are all great tips, and I am forwarding them to dh. I like the index card idea a lot, Nancy.
Oh, Sally- I shouldn't laugh but I DID over the Saturn with the automatic lock problem. . Who would have ever thought the lock would go insane like that? It's almost a Nancy Drew mystery... "The Case of the Mysterious Lock". That is something that would SO happen to me... . I hope the car is still behaving....
Mimi, I will include your car search in my St. Jude Novena 
Jodie... you rocked the pumpkin patch at Safeway!
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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SallyT
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Oh, believe me, we laughed long and hard . . . once the mystery was solved. I really do have to admire my husband's trepidity: standing out in the dark parking lot at Belmont Abbey at 10 pm in January with his jumper cables, firm in his hope that some Adult Degree Program student would take pity on him before flooring it out of there.
Of course, we're doomed. After all that, we'll never just buy a car straightforwardly again, because we'll have the specter of the $500 car hovering over any potential deal we might make. Nothing will seem like a good buy in the shadow of that car -- which, fortunately, still runs like an absolute charm. My husband drove it to Memphis and back not long ago when he had to attend a family funeral, and it performed like a champ.
We actually, rather un-frugally, have three cars right now: the Saturn, a 12-passenger Ford Econoline van that we bought from a friend (see our theme here?) seven years ago and can't bring ourselves to get rid of, even though it's really way too much car for our family, and my mother's 2003 Honda Accord, which she handed down to us when she bought a new one two years ago.
The Honda is by far the nicest of the three cars, and my college student loves to drive it when she's home (no thank you to driving the 12-passenger van, says she). She was saying, not long ago, that she would like to buy that kind of car once she's out of college, but then I told her that the blue-book value of said car (two years ago) was $7000, and she about had a heart attack. I can't bring myself to let her know what new cars actually cost . . . probably better to let her think that $7000 is an outrageous price to pay for a car. We try to bring 'em up frugal around here, and so far it seems to be working.
Sally
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guitarnan
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I win...we own SIX cars. One is with our son in Indiana. One is the new Fiesta my husband drives - we love this car, as it gets 38 mpg. I drive a Ford Escape Hybrid (40 mpg!) that we bought used. We also have our Ford van (bought new in 2000) that is my emergency backup car, snow car (we have snow tires for it) and dance carpool car. And we have two cars that don't run right now...one needs to be fixed up so we can take it to Indiana for our son to use when his current car dies. The other is an antique car that my husband wants to fix up when he retires.
Our van's gas gauge only works ever once in a while. One of my friends asked me how I could drive a car with a broken gas gauge...I said, "I do gas math!" Now, I do wish the back lift door opened, and that the passenger side window worked, but the thing runs and all the dancers fit in it!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Christine
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If you have a vanpool in your area, you might want to check if they are selling any of their old vehicles. We purchased our van from our local vanpool six years ago and have been very happy with it.
Nancy, my mom used to "do gas math".
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Christine
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SallyT
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That's really why we keep our van -- we have only three kids at home, so as a family car it's total overkill, but those kids have friends and do activities together, and it's nice to have a car that we can pack everyone into. We also have friends with much larger families and much older vans that break down far more than ours does, so our van is kind of the community lender.
We don't drive it so much that the gas guzzlage is a consistent issue; the real issue is keeping three cars *insured,* which we do, because none of them is just parked. They all get driven. This is where owning them becomes seriously un-frugal. Our auto insurance is through USAA, which fact usually shuts the conversation right down when we get cold-called by other insurance companies. I tell them we have USAA, and they say, "Oh, well, can't beat that rate. Have a nice day."
I can't remember whether we have collision coverage on all of them, but I suspect we do. When the MPV got wrecked, I automatically assumed that of course we hadn't paid for collision coverage for a car that old, but apparently we had, which turned out to be a blessing. Anyway, even with what are apparently the best rates in town, maaaaaan, the car insurance is a killer. But even as we're combing over our budget for the billionth time, looking for ways to trim it back, we can't seem to let go of any of them. Time to pray for a greater spirit of detachment, I guess.
Meanwhile, again, my only real wisdom for used-car buying is to hit Edmonds.com hard for consumer reviews on make and model years, and then check the VIN of any likely-looking vehicle on Carfax to see if there are any disasters in its history. And don't buy any car without having a trusted mechanic look it over first. If the seller refuses, RUN AWAY. That's the best strategy that I know of for scam-proofing yourself when buying a used car.
Sally
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SeaStar
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Reading all this, I am feeling in a lighter mood about buying a car.
I had no idea about things like the van pool and Edmonds. You ladies are so helpful!
Nancy- you do win for the most cars... but I don't think any us can ever beat the $500 wonder car that Sally has. Yep... that one will reign as king of great car bargains forever.
A heads up for those who shop at Harris Teeter or Lowes for groceries:
next week will be Super Double Coupon week at HT, and possibly Lowes as well. They will double coupons worth up to $2. So a $1.50 off coupon becomes $3.00 off, etc. Sweet. 
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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CrunchyMom
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Sally, do you have to pass vehicle inspection in your state? It seems to add a whole layer to getting by with an old jalopyish car. We are still driving a 2000 Odyssey, but we just got by vehicle inspection in August.
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Lindsay
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SallyT
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Yes, we do have to pass inspection. So far, we've squeaked by every year. And our mechanic knows us well.
Sally
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SallyT
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And I shouldn't have bragged about the Saturn, because today it isn't starting. I've jinxed it. We suspect a glitch in the starter . . .
I have to say that even though our mechanic does know us well, we still haven't reached the point of spending as much on repairs as we would on a monthly car note, or even a cash purchase of another car, which would be what we'd opt for.
Sally
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SeaStar
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Wanted to update that, thanks to dear ST. JUDE, we were able to find a newer model car that fit our needs.
This all came up for my family during the St. Jude novena, so we turned it over to him.
My ds really has a hard time with big changes like getting used to a new car (though he's getting better as he gets older), so I prayed we'd be able to find a car in the same color and style, only newer. I knew if anyone could do that, it would be St. Jude.
Sure enough... same color, same make... and even came from the same dealer (in another city) where we purchased our old one. And the price was right!
That was truly the work of St. Jude... he is such a faithful friend, and I cannot recommend his patronage enough!
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: Frugal Friday 10/25: Your best tips for..
