Tips on Buying Cars: repair vs trade in, toyota rav 4, 2008 honda crv

Question
Hello,
My car inspection is due at the end of Oct; it's a paid off 2003 Subaru Forester w/ 90k miles that threw a cat code estimated at $1k and is due for a timing belt at $600-800.  It's been feeling labored lately and my sense is this is the tip of the iceberg in what it will cost to keep it in good shape.  I'm a mom w/ 2 small kids; we need AWD or 4WD for our driveway in New England. My debate is about peace of mind and good sense vs financial sense. I think it's time to replace it and am considering a 2008 Honda CRV or Toyota Rav 4; I qualify for %3.69 thru my credit union or %3.99 thru USAA; my trade in would get $4-5k so it'd be financing $13-15k depending. What would you suggest and any advice on rav 4 vs crv?  thanks so much.  L

Answer

CAR GUY Hi Lea ...Just got your question and will get an answer over to you post haste... I have a couple of quick questions...

1) Is the exact mileage just over or just under 90K?
2) When you say "threw a cat code" was this determined through the use of a code reader / scan tool or through having a warning light turn on?
3) Where are you getting those quotes to replace a Cat Converter AND do the timing belt at the same time? A Subaru Dealer?

Some additional food for thought ... I realize that there are sometimes significant differences in a used cars actual cash value due to the cars geographic location in the US BUT when I ran a quick book sheet on your 03 Forester and booking it as an "x" and not an "xs" then cross referencing that number against the cars MMR valu (Manheim Market Report...a.k.a. what your cars twin sold for at auction in the NE portionof the US in the last 30 days ) I get an actual cash value (wholesale) of closer to 6k than to 4K or 5K?. putting the conversation as to which SUV would make the better replacement to the side for just a second ... My recommendation is going to be as follows:

I instruct people just like you (as well as graduating university seniors etc) all the time on the best way to buy a car...whch includes what to do when there is a trade in involved... isolating what to do with the Subaru right now I would give that car a very thorough detail and wax job right away ...either that or pay the $85.00 to have it done professionally ...I would NOT spend another dime on it other than that and I wouldtake a minimum of 12-16 high resolution pictures f it ...pick out the best 4 and upload the rest to some free photo storage website like photo bucket or imageevent or use.com hen I would wait until it ws quiet so you can concentrate and I would write a craigslist ad for that car ... In that ad I would describe the car as though it were almost a member of your family ...use descriptive phrases whenever possible and stress (without lying) the things that you would want to know about a used car if you were a buyer...like "service records available " or "1 owner" or "title and carfax report are both clear" or "never wrecked...No paint work" or "a/c blows cold" or "oil changed every 3-4K miles religiously" "all scheduled maintenances done up to the 90k service" it's important to do your services BUT going into the Subarau Dealer and paying almost a grand for him o do 8 different system flushes is a huge waste of your money ...don't do it...you don't have to and it will NOT add the amount it will cost you in extra value for your car. I would plug in "03 Forester" into your local craigslist and see where the other 03's are currently priced and then I would price mine just below the average price of all of the 03's combined (then divided by the # of cars available) or just make sure that your pricing puts you on the less expensive side of average OK? ... My quick check of the avialble 03 Foreseters out here in Oregon (the nations #1 market for new and used Subarus) tells me that if your car has never been wrecked and is clean that you would want to list it for 7995 -8995 if you lives out here ... almost all of those cars in dealer stock are priced at over 10K !    UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU EVER TRADE A CAR IN WHEN BUYING A NEW ONE ! EVER! ...RETAIL IT YOURSELF ...ALWAYS!    the goal here is to let you put yourself into the shoes of the dealer where you will sell your trade in for retail which frees you up to buy your new CRV or RAV4 at wholesale with no way for the dealer to beat you! if you were to come into one of my stores wit a trade in I promise you that we will beat you every single time. ... make sure you have your credit union 's current rate with you when you buy the new one as well and make the dealer either write your new loan directly through your credit union using the CUDL system (credit union direct lending) or to match or beat your quoted rate ...if he can't do either one then go to your creditunion and do it directly there. By doing it that way you have just taken away the second biggest way the dealer can beat you ...thru the financing.!

OK so far just by doing a little extra work (showing your car and selling it yourself and by not throwiong anymore money at it PERIOD! we have neutralized two of the three biggest traps you could fall in and end up paying too much and we have taken your 4-5K in trade equity and run it up to 6-8k (an increase of 2-3,000.00 real green dollars PLUS by not doing the 0K service and by NOT doing the timing belt for the next owner you have saved another 1500.00 bucks ... Total in saved money by being smart about how you do things = $3,500.00 - $4,500.00 MORE! ... PERSONALLY I would only put down $1,000 (if that) on the buy on the new car and I would take all $7,500.00 in sales proceeds from the subaru sale and stash it at your credit union for your rainy day fund until the world calms down some. ...okay look for my CRV vs RAV4 advice coming right up to you in a couple of hours ... the short answer is going to be CRV in case you want to start looking around this weekend... IF YOU TRADE IN YOUR CAR YOU WILL BE HANDING SOMEONE YOU DON'T KNOW AND PROBABLY DON'T NECESSARILY LIKE THE $2-3k YOU WILL PICK UP AT A MINIMUM BY BEING SLOW DELIBERATE AND PATIENT AND DOING IT THE SMART WAY!!! IF THIS INFO HAS GENERATED ANY FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS THEN PLEASE ASK AWAY ...MY PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS IS ROADLOANS@GMAIL.COM   THX


ROGER THE CAR GUY!