We bought a 2000 Dodge Neon ES from Economy Cars in North Charleston, SC, a used car dealer, and signed the final paperwork earlier tonight. They were very busy with their Grand Opening but I finally got the paperwork signed and the car home in my driveway tonight.

2000 Dodge Neon ES Journal

As with many posts on this blog, I’m writing for my own benefit as well as hopefully for anyone else considering a similar purchase. This is our first used car purchase in probably 15 years and my disclaimer is that I AM NOT an experienced car buying consumer (as you’ll see reading below).

As you can see from the picture, our Neon is in fair/poor condition, and that’s part of what makes it such a great purchase. This car needs some real work done on it, so the asking price is lower (the Kelley Blue Book suggest retail price is below). Now I’m not some master wheeler and dealer on used cars, so when you read this, keep that in mind. I’m an average Joe when it comes to buying cars and I’m not trying to tell you I got a great deal.

This used car was $1,900, plus after we asked for 2 new tires, an oil change and new spark plugs the price went up to $2,300. With taxes and tags we were quoted about $2500, and out-the-door today the actual prices was almost $2,900. Again, I’m no master dealer, so don’t use any “buying tips” from this post. I checked Kelley Blue Book today (http://www.kbb.com/) and the suggested retail price from a used car dealer is about $4,400 if the car is in excellent condition, and ours is in Fair/Poor condition (see KBB Conditions, below).

As I was writing this I went back to Kelley Blue Book and checked out trade-in values for the Dodge Neon ES and they are Excellent $2000, Good $1725 and Fair $1250. It hadn’t occurred to me to check out trade-in values to get an idea of what the car may actually have cost the dealer until now. I was too caught up in the excitement of having a second car.

A Note on Used Cars

Depending upon the used car dealer and the car you are looking at, it may not be cleaned, polished and all spiffed up. This car was a trade-in to Economy Cars of North Charleston and it looked like it was not touched beyond being dropped off on their lot. It still had some personal belongings from the previous owner and was sorely in need of cleaning, a tune up, the windshields are dirty and more… it needed some attention and maybe we got to it before it got processed by the used car dealer. After all Economy Cars is in the middle of their grand opening.

Kelley Blue Book’s Rating System

Excellent

• Looks new, is in excellent mechanical condition and needs no reconditioning.
• Never had any paint or body work and is free of rust.
• Clean title history and will pass a smog and safety inspection.
• Engine compartment is clean, with no fluid leaks and is free of any wear or visible defects.
• Complete and verifiable service records.
• Less than 5% of all used vehicles fall into this category.

Good

• Free of any major defects.
• Clean title history, the paints, body, and interior have only minor (if any) blemishes, and there are no major mechanical problems.
• Little or no rust on this vehicle.
• Tires match and have substantial tread wear left.
• A “good” vehicle will need some reconditioning to be sold at retail.
• Most consumer owned vehicles fall into this category.

Fair

• Some mechanical or cosmetic defects and needs servicing but is still in reasonable running condition.
• Clean title history, the paint, body and/or interior need work performed by a professional.
• Tires may need to be replaced.
• There may be some repairable rust damage.

Poor

• Severe mechanical and/or cosmetic defects and is in poor running condition.
• May have problems that cannot be readily fixed such as a damaged frame or a rusted-through body.
• Branded title (salvage, flood, etc.) or unsubstantiated mileage.
• Kelley Blue Book does not attempt to report a value on a “poor” vehicle because the value of these vehicles varies greatly. A vehicle in poor condition may require an independent appraisal to determine its value.

Its a good idea to visit Kelley Blue Book online to get estimates for yourself before making buying decisions.

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This entry was posted on April 30, 2011 at 12:12 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Posted in Automobile by George | No Comments Yet