New/Used car purchase for my parents- guidance

[PurpleT]

My parents are in the market for a new/used Hyundia Sante Fe Sport (base model, FWD 2.4L). They are both retired and have been saving for what they consider to be their last car purchase. At this point they are in agreement on the vehicle and are now trying to decide if they should purchase a 2013 with roughly 30,000 miles or a new 2014. I have done some research online and read numerous posts that debate/highlight the pros/cons of new verses used and so on. After much discussion with my parents it seems an important piece of this experience will be for them to know they have made an education decision about the purchase and that the price they paid was fair. Also within this is their distrust of car dealers and the entire car buying process especially from a dealership.

I have limited experience buying new or nearly new cars so I am not sure where to start with this process aside from researching price information and working towards being informed as possible about market value for the vehicles they are considering.

Here are my questions and also my thank you to those that take time to read the posting and provide your thoughts and guidance.

1) Are there benefits to using a car buying service to help with the process? If so recommendations would be appreciated.

2) From my reading online there are suggestions to solicit quotes from dealers via email to promote competition. Doesn't seem like a bad idea I just don't have any experience.

3) Two of the used vehicles that we looked at have been vehicles coming out of rental car fleets. Not sure what I think about this as the factory warranty (5 years/60,000 miles) remains valid. The 10 year 100,000 mile is not transferable. Initial research indicates about a $4000 price difference between new and used.

4)Are there other things I should be considering?

Purchase will most likely be made using cash however that is open for discussion based on incentives and such that might be available.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[actionstan]

I can't answer most of your questions but I feel I can add just a bit to help. Hyundai has a great certified used program, if you can find a certified used, you'll get a better deal than new, and retain the 100,000 10 year power train. Certified used is how we went with the Kia, it was 4000$ less than a brand new one, and only had 10,000 miles on it and is in excellent shape.

 

[SuzukiGoat]

Never...ever buy a rental.

Im a respectable guy, but if I shoe up for a rentsl reservation and dont get what I requested, instead of driving them gently, I drive them like my personal vehicle.

That means redlining every gear, jumping railroad tracks, and crossing medians.

Id advise certified pre owned if dead set on that car... and I wouldnt touch a rental with a ten foot pole.

Once upon a time, my current vehicle was a rental.

Didnt really matter since Ive replaced everything on it anyways.

 

[cashmoney]

Several ways to go depending on your ability to tolerate risk, and how much work you want to do. In general the amount of time and more work you put into finding the right used car is directly proportional to the amount of money you can save. Buying used is not without risk, very little work produces very little savings and sometimes gets you a big loss or a lemon. Buying a new car is the least time and work required and the most expensive (by far) way to own a car.

One way to safely buy used is buying a factory certified used car from a reputable factory OEM dealer. This is a fairly safe and conservative way to go, but typically you pay a premium for the used car bought certified. Just make sure you are getting a real discount for buying a used car. It is easy to pay way to much just because the car is certified. Do your homework, go see lots of cars, and research the market on autotrader.com to find out exactly what $ range these used cars are selling at.

Second way to go is to buy a 2-3 year old low mile used car that still has at least 1 year+ warranty left on it. Before closing a deal on a non factory certified car insist that that car be be taken to dealer and have fully inspected it top to bottom. Its an easy process - just ask the seller to meet you at factory dealer for the inspection appt (that you will pay for showing you are serious) and if the car passes inspection you will sign paperwork and give him the check on the spot. If the seller balks in any way at cooperating for a full independent inspection BEFORE contract is signed and money changes hands - have the back bone to walk away.

Hertz has a program where they list cars they have for sale on a web site and you can actually reserve and rent the specific car that they have for sale and rent it for up to a week to try it out, have it inspected, etc. Then if you decide to buy that car you let them know online, and they credit you 100% of the rental fee. They are rental cars and clearly a few low life folks mistreat rental cars but in general rental cars are rented by normal folks, business people, vacationers, etc that do not abuse the car.

 

[kmcavin]

My father, at 85, is on his third "last car", so take that with a grain of salt.

Of the options listed I would look into the certified used vehicle. It may be the best option for the money.

Although I wouldn't totally rule out a rental, it might not be the best for them. My Corolla was a rental. We bought it in the fall of '09 with 36K miles on it. It now has 125K on it and the only thing I've had to replace (besides tires and brakes) was a water pump that started to weep. The 09s and 10s had this problem, but most happened under 40K miles, mine was at 110K, so not totally unheard of.

 

[Cutehumor]

if this was truly gonna be my last car, it's gonna be brand new.

 

[daves87rs]

In this case, I'd just go new.....

 

[expat]

Where we live there are a few people that are retired and find that they only need one vehicle.
With that in mind we advertised for the car we were looking for (a 2-3 year old Toyota Matrix) and the price we were prepared to pay.

We put an Ad on Craig's list and another like it.

Long story short, within a week we had found a one owner car, very low miles, full history, for much less than we were likely to find at a dealer. Plus, we met with the owner, and for peace of mind 'see' what sort of Guy he and his wife were.

All in all it was a good deal all round

 

[PurpleT]

Many thanks to everyone that chimed in and provided their guidance and insight. I am planning to speak with my parents again based on the information provided and hopefully a plan will emerge from our discussion.