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I've been needing a car to learn to drive with and after looking around so deals are on for used cars we didn't find anything interesting, so we decided to go to the car dealership where my mom got her car, because she knows the guy is trustworthy etc, and after looking at my budget, and the cars for sale, and after hearing about all the stories behind the cars I think I picked one out that could be a pretty good buy.
The car is:
1998 Ford Contour Sport SE
2.0L In line 4 Cyl. Engine (quite good on gas)
Front Wheel drive
Automatic Transmission
237768 Km
Greenish Colour, little to no physical damage such as scratches/dents, etc
Features: A/C, AMFM Stereo, Alloy Wheels, CD/Casette player with built in CD stacker(multiple CD's in the disk drive at a time for fast changing), Cruise Control, Dual Air Bags, Power Locks, Windows, Mirrors, Tilt Steering
This is THE car, not just a random Google image:
+ Show Spoiler +
This was right around my budget which isn't a very flexible budget but I'm still attending school, gr.12 starting next week so I ain't rich.
Now as for the pricing:
Regular: $3,875
Discount: -$1,000 (because my mom knows him)
Before Tax: $2,875
DOC Fee: $185
After Tax: $3,438.40 CAD
That also includes a 6 month warranty, which hopefully shouldn't be needed, because they fixed basically everything on the car already, if anything was wrong with it. I know because they showed me a spreadsheet of problems for the car after they brought it in for testing, and all problems are fixed.
Now mind you I live in Canada, so that's CAD dollar, and Km, not miles. Also the Km count kinda bugged me, but it was mostly a transport vehicle from Canada to the States on long trips so it wasn't handled by some reckless driver or anything.
So altogether I'm liking it, and I'm thinking of buying it, any opinions/feedback?
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
I'd take it. I mean, the 240k is a little high for my liking but it's only 3.5 grand. Did you look at how much insurance will be?
It also helps if you know what uni you want to go to next year and if you're planning on commuting, etc.
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Thats 140,000 miles. It's really up too you thats a lot of miles and the car is 10 years old. But my gf brother has a 98 sable with 210k and it still runs ok
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Thats not something I would get but I don't know the exact value of the CAD. Or how high/low the average price for a car is over there.
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
The car itself looks fine. You could probably get something with half the km and life for double the price (but the budget, I know).
I think the most important questions are: "do you really need it?" and "will it be worth the insurance you pay on it?"
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On August 27 2008 10:35 infinity21 wrote:
I'd take it. I mean, the 240k is a little high for my liking but it's only 3.5 grand. Did you look at how much insurance will be?
It also helps if you know what uni you want to go to next year and if you're planning on commuting, etc.
Idk about the insurance yet, I just got back from the dealership today, so I'm still looking into it. As for uni and work, both will be pretty close, ~5-10 minute drive to work, ~10-15 minute drive to uni.
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everything seems alright but the kilometre count is a little high for my liking. The price is pretty decent though. Buying from a used car dealership is always sketchy, but if you are confident that the guy is trustworthy since he knows your mom, then I would go for it.
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I don't the insurance should be high at all, because a few reasons:
a) It's not really new car, so lower valued cars obviously just have a lower insurance rate
b) It should be able to be put on my moms insurance plan, and she has very good credit rating, her insurance rate is very low.
c) It is a 4 door car, which has a lower insurance rate than 2 door cars for some reason.
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Also I somewhat actually do need it, it's not just a want. I dunno how the driving licenses work for new drivers in the States but in Canada you have to get your "Learners" license, which means you always have to drive with someone 25 or over with a full drivers license, and you have to have that for a year before you can go for you "New' Driver's license, which lets you drive by yourself (that is what I'm looking forward to). I have had my Learners license for ~9 months and haven't driven yet ONCE, because my parents think I would crash their car if I learned to drive on it, so I need to get my own car to learn to drive with.
On August 27 2008 10:44 Mastermind wrote:
everything seems alright but the kilometre count is a little high for my liking. The price is pretty decent though. Buying from a used car dealership is always sketchy, but if you are confident that the guy is trustworthy since he knows your mom, then I would go for it.
And yeah my mom knows the guy pretty good, she got her car from him and it's still working beautifully, Also the inspection said it has no problems and there is a 6 month warranty for free. I doubt most random car dealers would give you a free $1000 discount as well.
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
What province are you in? In Ontario, you can start driving by yourself in 8 months when you get your G2 if you went to drivers ed.
G1 at 16 - allowed to drive with someone with 5(?) years of G experience.
G2 after 12 months (8 with drivers ed) - allowed to drive alone
G after 12 months - full drivers license
btw, do your parents really distrust you that much? You can just drive with them sitting in the passenger seat and prove to them that you can drive independently (i.e. they don't have to say anything).
ask them to take you to an empty parking lot (like train stations on a weekend) and practice there. If they refuse to do that.... -___-
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Heh, I'm in a similar position.. Starting university this coming semester, so getting a car would be optimal. Make sure you a get the vin for the car so you can do a background check..also try to compare the prices on websites like craigslist and stuff. I'm planning to a get a ~6k car myself, and the ~3k insurance doesn't seem fair 
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Well I guess I shouldn't have said parents, my parents are divorced and I live with my mom so there's no chance my dad could take me driving. I live in BC btw. Yeah I guess you could say my mom distrusts me that much, and believe me, I've tried to get her to allow me to drive her car (2001 Pontiac Grand Am) but she absolutely refuses to let me. I would need a car anyways when I get my N so I figured I should get a car with the money I have before I blow it on something else. I've looked around at prices on different sites, and anything similar I find is either quite a bit more expensive, somewhere way to far away to check the vehicle out, or around the same price with not as many features/extras that I will be getting if I take this deal.
EDIT: AND FUCKING 3K insurance??? ARE YOU SHITTING ME? Where you live?!?!
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infinity21
Canada6683 Posts
Ask her what the dangers of driving in an empty parking lot is...
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EPT![[image loading]](http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/1281/1654ld4.jpg)
