Topic: Buying a used car, best offer based on black book

[arezooman]

I found this forum yesterday and I really like it.  

I am in the market for buying a used car. I am going to pay Max. $21.000 (preferably $15000-$16000). I want to buy a japanese car (Toyota Corolla or Camry however I really like Mazda 3, but I am not sure whether it is a good choice $$$ wise or not), I will put about 15,000 KM on it each year.

From what I read, my best chance (please correct me if I am wrong) is to search for a 2002-2003 (for Mazda 3, only 2004) used car using autotrader from private sellers.

As this is my first car, I am not sure about some issues:

1- I heard autotrader prices are overpriced, do you guys believe it is a good idea to search for the same car with the same Mileage on the black book to know the wholesale value and give an offer based on it? And if positive, how much do you believe if I add to that price, it is still a good deal?

2- Do you think, it is better to search for cars that are still covered by bumper to bumper warranty and buy an extended bumper to bumper warranty?  

3- Should I show the car to a body shop in addition to a mechanic to make sure it had no accident?

4- For searching the VIN, should I use carfax.com or there are better options out there?

Thanks

[84im]

First of all, it's a 'Japanese' car.  When you say it's a 'japanese' car you sound like a racist.
Ron

[arezooman]

84im,

I did not mean anything and I saw it used many times in this forum and other forum as well. I am sorry for that and unfortunately I can not edit my post.  

Thanks for telling me and I will not use it again.

[ovr50]

Rzoo - welcome to the Forum. I'm no expert on this but as to query #1 - Autotrader prices are asking prices so you should know what the fair, trading price is for the car you want before you contact the sellers. Access to used car pricing books (black books) would be helpful and some internet auto sites let you do this (not sure if they are totally accurate however). Others on here know how to access "black books". Once you have a handle on fair prices, then you can look at actual cars for sale, both in Autotrader, classified ads or dealer's lots. Yes, a good check over by an independent mechanic would be a good idea. Be prepared to walk away from a car if the price is too high or the deal doesn't "feel" good to you (eg. the seller's story is suspicious) or if the seller won't let you have the car checked out.  
I recall there is an article in the achives of this site about things to do in buying a used car. Do a search and find it - it would be very helpful.  

[arezooman]

Thank you very much Ovr50,

For the black book address, I use this address:

http://www.toyota.ca/NWS/english/confighelp/appraise_tradein_vehicle.html