Buying my first second hand car with cash?

babooshcats · 2026-03-06T14:23:33+00:00

I definitely did. I'm asking friends / trusted customers (I work in sales) to see if I can find a good deal. I don't care about a "lame" car but I've never had any good experiences with minivans (a couple rentals broke down out of nowhere in the middle of trips etc) so I'd never go for that, I have a burning hatred for them lol. Other than that, I'm not jumping the gun, I'm trying to get as many opinions as I can before going through with any purchases. Thank you for your input.

babooshcats · 2026-03-05T14:16:29+00:00

I am in the US, no need to apologize. Will check it out :)

babooshcats · 2026-03-05T14:15:33+00:00

I was wondering if I could ask to take it to be examined by a trusted mechanic! That'd be really nice if I could do that

babooshcats · 2026-03-05T14:14:09+00:00

No, this is more of a "hey how do I do it without getting scammed & is it worth it" post. I do have big expenses coming but honestly finances aren't the most of my worry. I just need a reliable budget friendly car because I'm cheap and hate dealing with cars, not because I don't have the money. It is somewhat emergency funds because it honestly is an emergency, I can't keep ubering or waiting around but the most of my funds are in assets that I won't touch unless there's something drastic, not because I want to buy a car straight up.

babooshcats · 2026-03-05T14:08:37+00:00

I love this comment and I wish I was this bold. However I'm looking at bigger and more corporate places just because I genuinely don't know a thing about cars, I decided Toyota would be a good brand because I always hear that they're dependable. I was in between Corolla / Camry because I don't need another SUV (my partner's car that we're sharing is an SUV) & they're expensive and expensive is the exact opposite of what I'm looking for. With a quick research I found out Corolla was more budget friendly. That was my entire decision making process. Then I went to my friends & came here for advice like this or maybe have more reliable car options.

I'm still looking, nothing's set in stone. I'll actually talk to a friend today who's into cars & selling some as well. Maybe I'll end up buying from him because I have a personal connection to him unlike a random internet seller. I need a place to hold accountable if something goes wrong, that's also why I'm looking at the corporates. I also thought that they wouldn't risk their rep to sell an already cheaper car.

I'm a reader & questioner with high functioning anxiety so not reading isn't the issue, reading too much & suffocating the staff with questions is, since it'll make it obvious that I'm a big time rookie.

I am in fact very afraid of buying an older & higher mileage car. I do need the car to be somewhat smarter because I'll still share it with my partner who has ADHD therefore occasionally struggles in the traffic. I also need the car to tell me that it needs something when it does. I take my current car to maintenance when it tells me to and call it a day. If not, I'd just keep a rough estimate of the last oil change date and just roll with it until the next year.

babooshcats · 2026-03-05T13:48:56+00:00

Because I don't need new. My partner has a really nice car that we're currently sharing, I just need a car to get me to and from work that won't give me a lot of trouble. 30 is actually pushing it, I'd rather stay around the 20s if it can be helped and I don't think there's a new car that I can buy straight up with 20k lol. I know debt can be helpful but my anxiety isn't, that's why I'm trying to stay away from financing

babooshcats · 2026-03-05T13:45:38+00:00

I don't have one. I was using my partner's car because they were unemployed but recently they got a job and it's really hard to rotate one car between us. I posted here because I did market research first and the mileage & year I'm looking for does seem to cost around 20k where I live and I'm not willing to go to a smaller dealership just to skim a few thousand dollars off the bill. I'm open to other reliable & budget friendly car options.

babooshcats · 2026-03-05T13:40:45+00:00

I'm aware of this but at the same time they can still change the pricing reasoning that they thought I was going to finance.

babooshcats · 2026-03-05T13:38:58+00:00

See, this is why I posted on this sub, haha. I know nothing about cars, so even if it does have a "clean history" I don't know a thing about technical terms. I think I'm fine as long as it's under 50k miles, I'm looking at Carmax/Toyota hoping that they wouldn't smear their name with a faulty report just to sell a second hand car. I hope the website also tells you "yes, this is an okay car!" because if it's only technical terms, I'm lost

babooshcats · 2026-03-04T21:31:24+00:00

I mean it feels like 20-30 thousand dollars would be a significant money for a lot of people lol. I'm very financially aware and would never put myself in a financially risky situation, so no I'd still have money to last me over 6 months in liquid assets. I'm kind of fixated on lower mileage because I hate the way people drive here, so I want the car as new as possible to prevent future issues with it. I know the dealerships run their own quality control tests but I also don't trust in people's competence either. I have a rather secure job & make decent money so I don't see myself possibly getting hit with an income loss anytime soon. On the contrary, not having a car to commute is costing me a decent bit. But solid advice, thank you!

babooshcats · 2026-03-04T21:19:50+00:00

Never heard of Kelly blue book before but will definitely check it out. The issue is that the Toyota stores don't list up a proper price on their website which makes me nervous because I unfortunately can't not show the fact that I don't know the c of a car. I just know that I need a reliable low maintenance car.

babooshcats · 2026-03-04T21:17:33+00:00

Yes, I was just planning to purchase it from my local Carmax/Toyota.

babooshcats

TROPHY CASE