The $500 Car

[Blunt Object]

My Bro wants to Buy a Grand Marquasis (sp?) I believe its aboot 10 years old and as the name of this thread says its only $500. Now I know when buying a car $500 is way to cheap, even for a used LaBaron.
The way I see it the car won't be able to run or it's gonna need all the certificates (E-test ect...).
Now my question is if you were selling a car for $500 what kinda of condition would it be in (hnestly) I just figure  the car is useless to someone and they would rather a bit of cash in their pockets.

      I'm going to put up some pics ASAP for some advice.

                      Cheers

 

[Springroll]

You get what you pay for.....that's about all I can say.

We just sold my husband's 96 Grand Am SE on Saturday for $1500 and it had rims, tires, properly lowered, new exhaust and alot of customizations. We were asking more($2100), but we could see the kid could really use it and care for it, giggled when hubby took off in it, and all it was doing was sitting in our driveway.

 

[TN2IC]

"Parts" car... that's about it.

 

[Cliffy433]

Back in my High School days, I had a friend who refused to pay more than $500 per car.  When they stopped running, he'd sign a sales slip, leave it on the dash, and hitch-hike home and buy a new car.  He went through roughly one car every year.  That was before emissions tests, safety inspections, etc hit SK.  He had nothing but giant 1970's boats.  I was there for two of the following incidents, and heard from 2 independent witnesses each that the others are true.  No more than two vehicles were used in the course of the stories below.

1. We were heading to a campground in Southern SK (friend from North Battleford, me from Rosetown) and had to stop frequently for $10 worth of gas.  Any more than that, and it would pour out of the rust holes in the tank.

2. At the beach, friend left his keys in his jeans, and locked them, along with our other wallets and valuables in the trunk.  When it was time to go, he lay under the car, reached through a rust hole, pulled out his jeans and unlocked the car.

3. At an unspecified location in Saskatoon, his gas tank fell off a car.  There was enough fuel in the lines for him to do a u-turn, return to the fuel tank, and put it back in place with wire coathangers (he always kept a few in his trunk), and keep driving.

4. At an unspecified rural location in SK, one of his cars overheated, when he finally pulled over, the old cast iron engine was glowing red in the night.  He walked a couple miles to the nearest farm, got a bucket of water, walked back and refilled the rad.  The engine was still warm to the touch, but no longer glowing.  He started the engine, returned the bucket, and only had to add a liter of oil every second fill after that.

Though funny at the time - you can see the cars were inherently unsafe, environmental catastrophes.  I've heard that if you aren't in a rush, you can get a safe reliable veh for $500 - but I have yet to see it happen.

tlm.

 

[TMM]

I'm not an expert but some cars last forever. In September we sold our 1989 Camry for $500.00; it passed all inspections and is still running. With beaters you can really take a big risk so have the thing checked out before buying. No sense in buying for $500.00 anf haivng to spend $3000.00 on fixes.

 

[rz350]

I paid 600 for a car, it needed a head gasket, had it done, and now it runs great, been two years. (so really it cost me 1200 cause of the head gasket, but hey)

 

[F/Sgt. Reid]

$500 is cheep for any car, considering tires these days go for more than that..  but just because it's cheep doesn't necessarily mean it's not worth it.  At 500 or less, there very well may be something wrong with it, but check it out, see how much the repairs will cost, and you might still come out ahead!  My cousin just bought a car for 300$ ...  engine runs great..  the only problems with it are that the trunk is rusted out and the speedometer doesn't work... nothing a few hundred bucks in parts and and a couple hours in the welding shop wont fix.  For a highschool student, I'd say he's doing pretty good to have his own car at under 500 bucks!  Getting around now to actually answering your question, my advice is to check it out, if you don't know much about cars have someone that does take a look at it,  and see..  ultimately it depends on what you're looking for and how much you want to spend in maintenance and repair

 

[Hockeycaper]

I'm thinking the same as Junior18...As I paid $250 for and 1984 Oldsmobile Omega( back in 1999-2000). The first day the fuel sensor went, but after that I drove it back and forth from Arnprior to Petawawa (122Kms) for 18 months....no other problems. Take it for a spin and have a friend look at it. You never know it could work out to be great. Another quick war story... my brand new ( 13 Kms when bought) 1996 Plymoth Voyger had the "Tranie" drop out after 30 thousand K's.
Good Luck

 

[WannaBeFlyer]

My wife just went on mat leave and my '90 Cavalier with 344K just quit. We live in an area where there are no buses so I had to pick something up to get to work that was cheap but reliable (good luck). So I hit the newsgroups here in Ottawa and I picked up an '88 Grand AM with 41K on it for $800. A guy was selling his mother's car that she had used it to go to the mall and bingo for 6 years until she parked it in a car port until recently. She also had the rust proofing done on it so there was only a little surface rust on the roof. It was like a brand new old car. (It did smell like an old hockey bag that had not been opened since last season inside though - nothing some febreeze and some air fresheners couldn't fix.) Put some new tires on it, replaced the muffler and installed a $100 cd player myself and I'm happy.

I have a lot of experience working on friends and family cars though and have done everything from changing brakes to replacing head gaskets (My CRX ate them like crazy) I also took some classes back in high school so I know what I am getting into and I almost always do the labour unless it is too big at which point I go shopping again. If you don't know what you are doing though, take it to someone you trust before you buy it. A $500 car can cost a lot to put back on the road! Good luck...

 

[Thompson_JM]

my freind had an old 92 Grand Marquis a couple years ago.... Grand Marquis for those who dont know is the Mercury version of the Ford Crown Victoria... the same big old V8 4 door boat the cops tool around in... so keep in mind when buying a car like that, the year and mileage on it... also keep in mind the cost of fuel... Crown Vics arnt very freindly at the pumps, and after a certain point those big V8's just start to Hog Oil and Gas.... my advice is to not buy one... my freinds car lasted him a year and a half... but he had to repair it a fair bit, and it never really worked right..... 500 for a big car like that? not worth your time and effort bro.

 

[c.jacob]

I bought a  Mercury Topaz for $500 once.  It cost about $750 to pass the safety and e-test.  Then I got about 1 year out of it.  But some people live from beater to beater.

 

[GO!!!]

DO IT!!

There is no cheaper car then a "paid for" car.

I owned a long line of pathetic old vehicles, ranging from a 1985 Chrysler Laser to a 1976 Chevy Nova and worse. Drive 'em until they can't be fixed for less than 500$, then off to the Kidney foundation, who would give me a 500$ tax receipt, making them essentially free.

Now that I have two nice trucks, I would never go back, but this philosophy is useful when one is young and broke, and also breeds a mechanical aptitude that cannot be taught!

PS - tell him to get CAA (70$) and a Haynes manual (30$). Both are MEK!!

 

[F/Sgt. Reid]

Concurred

On a side note..
Head Gaskets :  Guhh!  Haha, I had a new 2000 Pontiac Montana ..I couldn't believe when they started cracking at 100 thousand clicks.  Just goes to show that even new cars can be useless

 

[Roy Harding]

My first car was a '62 Rambler, with "three on the tree".  It cost me and my buddy $50.00 in 1975 (we split it even - and registered it in HIS name).

Having spent all our money on the initial purchase, we were at a loss what to do when the windshield wipers stopped working.  We didn't have any money for parts!  My buds (being MUCH more mechanically inclined than I), rigged up a handle which protruded through where the ashtray was supposed to be.  If you pulled this handle back and forth, the windshield wipers would do their job.

This worked well for a while, but eventually caused the loss of girlfriends - imagine that you're driving in the rain in such a set up.  You need your right hand on "the tree" to gear down when turning, etcetera, but you need the windshield wipers going too.  Logical answer - get the girl to pull the handle back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.  This works until one of your (or her) buddies see's it in action and reports what they've "seen" in school.  Ouch.

Anyway - that car ended it's life wrapped around a tree on Pigeon Mountain - and it's STILL the car I fondly remember to this day.

Go ahead - get a beater - but remember that you signed up for MUCH oil in the eye, gashed knuckles, and transportation difficulties.

Despite that last sentence - I still can't think of a "funner" thing that I've ever owned - your call.



Roy Harding

 

[RowdyBowdy]

When I was in High school (mid nineties) my dad bought me an 1981 Chevette for $900, I decided I wanted something cooler (an 82 Firebird, horrible car) and sold it for $800 to a co-worker of my dad's. I think they just got rid of it after close to ten years.

In the late 90's I bought a 1981 Olds Cutlass Supreme Coupe for $650.  I drove it for a couple of years and it never broke down on me.  This was my favorite car and I regret getting rid of it.

 

[Springroll]

When I was in high school, I had a 1976 Volvo that I bought for $180. The car was a tank.
If I had not over corrected on a turn when I started to slide, I am sure that it would have lasted longer than a year and a half.
The accident broke the fan and a few other things that I could not afford to fix. A guy pulled my car out of the ditch and I drove it home. She lasted another 5 months after that before she died.

Car after that was a 1981 Civic....my first standard. Bought it for $500 and she lasted 3 months.