Most people I know cannot afford to purchase a new car from a dealer. The reason being the sticker price is shocking, high sales tax and licensing, and they add all kinds of dealer prep charges. I have had good luck looking at cars within 100 miles of where I live on Car Gurus. Our last car was purchased after seeing a Car Guru ad at Earnhardt Toyota in Mesa Arizona. I noticed a Hyundai Santa Fe for a below market price with only 61,000 miles on it, one owner car from Arizona used as a trade in for a Toyota. I answered the ad on Car Gurus, a young salesman called me and answered my questions and we decided to go see it. The salesman asked when we expected to arrive. He said he would have the car ready and waiting when we got there which he did. They had an interesting parking place inside the garage marked This car is our next sale today

We arrive at the dealership and check in and the salesman comes right out and shows us to the car. He asked if it was all right if he rode with us as we took it for a few miles including a short distance on the freeway. We loved the Hyundai Santa Fe with a 3.5 engine which gave it lots of power and acceleration, the interior was perfectly clean and it ran great. The salesman gave us a CarFax which showed the service that had been performed on the vehicle. We decided we were definitely interested in this car if we could buy it ar the right price. A great thing about Car Gurus is they tell you on the ad whether they think it is being offered below market, at market, or over market in comparison to other cars being offered in your area. There are a lot of statistics shown in the ad, like expected miles per gallon, horsepower, any accidents, number of owners, and the dealership or used car lot where it is being offered. There is a CHAT button you can ask any question about the vehicle and the chat person will find out from the dealer the answer to your questions. You do not have to talk to any salesmen or saleswomen until you are ready to make an appointment to see the vehicle. I made an offer on the vehicle trading my Hyundai Santa Fe in, plus a cash amount with $10,000 to be financed. The dealer shuffled some figures around and made it work. The loans were made by Toyota. Some dealers have agreements with Credit Unions to finance their car sales and the interest rates depend on the persons credit history and rating.

There are used car lots that have cars listed on Car Gurus that are not dealers and do not have a maintenance facility to fix cars. Many of those lots say buy here pay here. I would stay away from those lots they hope to sell you a car and finance it with a high interest loan.

I would suggest looking at used autos offered by dealers with a good reputation that offer a short term guarantee on the vehicle so you can have any items you discover after getting the vehicle corrected. Most dealers would like to sell you a maintenance agreement. For instance, we bought our car from a Toyota dealer, Toyota offers a maintenance and repair plan that they can add the cost to your purchase price to be paid in monthly installments. We were not going to take the agreement but the finance person said you have a great credit rating, I can lower your interest rate enough to pay for a maintenance agreement and the monthly payments will be the same. So, we took the offer, the cost of the agreement over the term of the car loan was $2700, two weeks later the business officer that did the paperwork called and said , “I have bad news and good news, Toyota would not put a maintenance agreement on that vehicle because it will be ten years old this year. They only have those agreements for cars less than ten years old, so the good news is I need to refund $2700 to you which will be applied to reduce the principal of your loan. So, we were elated. You see working with an honest dealer has many advantages over purchasing from a car lot or an individual. You have no assurances when dealing with individuals or shady car lots.

A recent caution has been shown on the major news services beware of flood damaged cars after the recent hurricanes, they are hard to detect. Buy cars that come from a known area where there has not been flood damage, or hail damage.

Good luck finding a good used vehicle for your family