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Tricks to Buying a Used Car, Part 2

Finding your something special

It would prove harder to find a CR-V than a Rav4. Hondas, with their high resale values, usually cost more than matching Toyotas. I'd have to look harder. I wound up on San Diego's Craig's List for a sump of first-generation CR-Vs and Rav4s. Front-wheel drives and all-wheel drive, stick and slushbox, clean and beaten like an 18p nail.

Don't freak out, just think about it.

The shopper is in charge. You've researched, and you have a clue. You aren't going to be surprised by details, and you know what to expect. You don't have to buy. Trust your instincts if they're any good, and bring someone who has good instincts if you're prone to buying bridges. Please don't wait until you're desperate for a car. It's a lot easier to get ripped off when you're panicky. Know you'll need a car? Start looking months beforehand.

Be realistic. A car with tocks on the ticker will have wear. Don't confuse the type of wear with a lack of care. Certain vehicles are going to be used a certain way. A little econobox trucklet probably won't have a race history, but might have little shoe marks on the back of the seats. Cushions might be shmooshed and plastic might be faded, but don't sweat scratches, dings, a cracked fascia or a dried out bit of foam. Things that are worn out should come out of the price, though. A beat seat and a dead seat are different. Even some leaks are understandable, as is a little slime under the valve-cover gasket, or some grunge around the oil filter or a shock. Of course, puddles and active drips are a no-no.

There are some things that a used car's owner can't skimp on. Routine maintenance is everything. If the seller can't provide receipts or show new parts for wear items like belts, filters, pumps, pulleys, C-V joints, or shocks and brakes, find another car. A used car without maintenance is waiting to empty your wallet.

After seeing a few CR-Vs, I was not so impressed: $6,000-$7,000, even with 110-125K, and the CR-V interior felt uninviting. One of them was so stained by nicotine that the interior had turned yellow. Gross. I'm planning to daily-drive this thing so I don't need a car so smoked out that I could get a headache from the headliner.

Rav4s, meanwhile, continued to impress. The same years as the CR-V ('96-'99) priced out about $1,000 less per example. The only thing the Rav4 was giving up was a few horsepower. The Toyota was built well, and the interior of the Rav4 is friendly. Small enough to be cozy, with lots of smart functionality, and big enough for a six-footer.

I drove every CR-V and Rav4, studying my prey. I figured out what a good CR-V and a good Rav4 felt like. With a car that's got a lot of miles, you'll always have some slack in the engine and trans, a surplus snicker in the valvetrain, and extra feeling coming from the suspension when you enter a driveway. That wear has to feel natural. If you're motoring along and something goes "Clunk!" or you drive over an expansion joint and there's an unnatural suspension "Squeak!" or something under the hood sounds too raspy to be smooth, that's not natural. Always stop for a minute to listen.

16 trucklets and a Starbucks addiction later...

I found a 1998 Toyota Rav4 on Craigslist that looked worthy: five-speed, four doors, all-wheel drive (with the neat electronic center locker). Maintained but not babied, it had already spent lots of time in airport parking because the owner was a flight attendant, and its mileage was mostly freeway. Body condition does not always dictate mechanical condition, and on a used compact SUV, who cares? Besides having used a color wax to hide bush-rash on the doors, the owner wasn't concealing anything. It had been his father's before his, and he was not car savvy. It would've been hard to bluff me.

Small stuff is forgivable when the rest of the rig has potential, but a suspicious raspy ticking from the engine set off my radar. It sounded like a hard part, not a belt—more like a bearing or tired lifter. Methinks a bearing. Time for help.

There's always someone who knows more than you, so I took the Rav4 to a friend. Big E" owns a local Big "O" and has forgotten more about cars than I know. He heard the tick too then pulled out a crowbar to find it. With one of those cool shop tricks that will always impress, he touched the business end of the crowbar to parts of the running motor, cupping the other end to his ear. "Torched bearing in the tensioner or water pump," he said. It's nice to be right.

Owner Todd told us that both parts had been replaced during the 120K service, and he had receipts. I might not have believed him without. He promised to take it back to the shop that had done the work. The rest of the Rav4 was in inspiring shape, so I told him to call me when things sorted themselves out. If he was up to something, he wouldn't. A few days later he did. The new water pump had been bad, and the shop had replaced it again. Whether or not this was the first or second pump for the Rav4 in the past month, the tick was gone, and the deal was on.

Time to seal the deal.

I've heard a lot of ways to bargain, but most wind up the same. Figure market value, figure seller motivation, figure your need. Leverage the weight of your personality against the seller's then offer less than you ought. I don't always lowball the price because some people don't know how to haggle and they just get offended. Others want to sell the darn thing because they hate selling things, or they're just no good at it. Then there are those who want to grind you for every penny (these people need a hobby and it won't be me). Rav4 Guy wanted $6,000. I listed a few things that would need fixin'—fuel filter, shocks, rear brakes, a bad trans mount. Told him it would cost about $1,000, and that I'd meet him at $5,500. Rav4 Guy was not a haggler. He bit, and I bought.

I knew the Rav4 and did the research. I had confirmed my analysis of the particular vehicle with an expert's expert. Rav4 owner Todd had done a solid thing by rectifying a croaked water pump, and had behaved honestly. This was a good value—not the cheapest Rav4 in San Diego, but cheap isn't always inexpensive. You buy the cheapest and it could cost you more in the long run. I spent $500 more than I'd planned because I'd found a well-maintained compact trucklet with all-wheel drive, a five-speed, in quality condition, and with a good history—just what I'd wanted. This Rav4 was a good deal.