Buying a vehicle (non motorcycle) as is from private vs dealer

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mimico_polak said:
Congrats! What did you end up with? My Maverick was 36k listed and we ended up at 11k after trade and all was said and done.
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1999 Mazda B4000 2wd 5 speed manual, 5 seater with 3 seater bench seat in the front and crank windows. Minimal rust and overall good body. All for $2600.

I was gonna get a $20k tundra or $24k Tacoma but with tariffs, overall uncertainty and less folks getting a mortgage (shameless plug I'm a broker with mortgage alliance, would love to do more business with GTAM folks!), I decided to get this. It is a well maintained and documented vehicle, and certainly has got a character to it. I will post pics later.
 
black_CG2 said:
1999 Mazda B4000 2wd 5 speed manual, 5 seater with 3 seater bench seat in the front and crank windows. Minimal rust and overall good body. All for $2600.

I was gonna get a $20k tundra or $24k Tacoma but with tariffs, overall uncertainty and less folks getting a mortgage (shameless plug I'm a broker with mortgage alliance, would love to do more business with GTAM folks!), I decided to get this. It is a well maintained and documented vehicle, and certainly has got a character to it. I will post pics later.
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Awesome! I love those older Mazda / Ranger trucks.

I actually considered keeping the GTI and buying a beater truck...my wife beat that idea out of me pretty fast.

The Maverick appeals to me simply because it returns back to those older days of smaller trucks (which I find much more appealing than a current F150/RAM1500/Silverado offerings). The Ranger was under consideration, but the Maverick has a smaller bed...but more rear seat room. Plus the fuel economy and overall size is much more in tune with what I was looking for....a CUV/SUV with a lot of cargo space.
 
black_CG2 said:
1999 Mazda B4000 2wd 5 speed manual, 5 seater with 3 seater bench seat in the front and crank windows. Minimal rust and overall good body. All for $2600.

I was gonna get a $20k tundra or $24k Tacoma but with tariffs, overall uncertainty and less folks getting a mortgage (shameless plug I'm a broker with mortgage alliance, would love to do more business with GTAM folks!), I decided to get this. It is a well maintained and documented vehicle, and certainly has got a character to it. I will post pics later.
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That is the truck I would buy. Good call! A $2600 vehicle means you don't get bent out of shape by the first scratch.

I miss the old beaters that I used to clean off in the winter with an aluminum snow shovel.
 
oioioi said:
If I had the room on the driveway, I would entertain getting something like that for the the few times a year I need a pick up for.
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I’ve got the space and wife made a hard stance against it.

In all honesty for 3k…I could just rent a truck a handful of times and still come out ahead.
 
I miss my stick shift.

Always reminds of the line I saw painted on the back of a drag car way back "I'd rather eat worms than drive an automatic"
 
oioioi said:
If I had the room on the driveway, I would entertain getting something like that for the the few times a year I need a pick up for.
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Cheaper to rent a U-Haul trailer a few times a year in the end. That's what I do. I don't miss my pickup truck much at all honestly.

timtune said:
I miss my stick shift.

Always reminds of the line I saw painted on the back of a drag car way back "I'd rather eat worms than drive an automatic"
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Honestly, modern autos outperform sticks now in both performance and fuel economy, so aside from the "I like to feel the car" aspect, I don't really get the attraction anymore honestly. All of our class 8 tractors at work are now going to full auto as the new drivers just don't know how to operate a 10, 13, or 18 speed manual. Some of the old timers like me have got their boxers in a twist over it and moaned to the company about wanting a stick again, but me? I love it. I've been at this sh!t for almost 30 years, I have nothing to prove to anyone anymore, I can jam an 18 speed manual with the best of them if I needed to, but my left knee and right shoulder don't miss the shifting thing anymore honestly, especially when you spend a lot of time doing short hops and/or sitting in traffic where you shift hundreds of times a day.

I'll keep my auto tractor now, thanks.

On that front, they say that there's always a "last time" you do something, but you rarely know when that last time might be until you realize it's come and gone.

But when I drove another drivers tractor a few weeks back with 10 speed manual, I suddenly realized that it might be the last time I ever shifted and drove a manual big truck. Sure enough that tractor went off to retirement last week when the odometer hit 750,000km. And that was the last manual at our terminal.

In the moment of realization, I snapped a photo of that "there's a last time for everything" moment. Which very well was likely the last time.

I don't doubt the skill will remain with me forever, if I was to suddenly get into another manual tractor in 15 or 20 years I'm sure it would come back instantly, but the chances of that happening are somewhere between slim and none - reality is that manuals are likely to be completely phased out within the decade in this industry.

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Might save a few dollars buying someone else’s 20+year old truck buy I don’t miss working on rusted old machines or chasing random sensor issues.
I did a brake service on the wife’s 2020 Odyssey yesterday and it’s so nice working on something spotless and still new underneath.
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Might save a few dollars buying someone else’s 20+year old truck buy I don’t miss working on rusted old machines or chasing random sensor issues.
I did a brake service on the wife’s 2020 Odyssey yesterday and it’s so nice working on something spotless and still new underneath.
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Odysseys are fantastic and I love ours. We wanted to replace wife’s odyssey with a new one but the prices are way beyond my budget for used. 45-55k for an odyssey with decent mileage.

Maverick should do us good for a couple years while the odyssey takes a breather. 160,000km already so I figure by the time I pay Maverick down, the odyssey won’t depreciate much more than it already has.

On the hunt for a roof / cab rack for the Maverick now.
 
Is there anything extra that needs to be done if purchasing a vehicle privately from another province? Are rebuilt titles easily hidden by sellers? Been looking around at some play cars and a few are in QC.
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Is there anything extra that needs to be done if purchasing a vehicle privately from another province? Are rebuilt titles easily hidden by sellers? Been looking around at some play cars and a few are in QC.
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VIN washing is a thing and QC is known in particular for having questionable vehicle histories.

There’s been a handful of reports where cars from Ontario would be shipped to QC after flooding / hail damage in order to register and clear titles before shipping back.

@PrivatePilot has bought from QC on a few occasions so can chime in.
 
black_CG2 said:
How has been the buying experience for you guys recently?
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I usually buy my vehicles NEW because I look after them. I buy Toyotas and Hondas and I am a tough sale getting huge discounts. I Krown them and do not drill holes and do all of the maintnenance and repairs myself. I also keep them 15 years. I also do not beat on my vehicles. My last used car at 14 years that I bought new was sold to my friend. Last year it was 25 years old and he still drives it. By the way, do not waste your time with grossly overpriced aka high profit "dealer extras" such as paint and fabric protection, also that grossly over-priced and useless electronic rust protection module :rolleyes:, etc. Just buy the car.

My used cars are toys and I check them myself. I connect my scanner to check for "over-revs" in the vehicle's computer since they have standard transmissions. I also run a Defelsko paint thickness gauge over it to check for re-paints and collisions. Actually I do that to new cars as well.

Buy quality, buy once.
 
MCT said:
I usually buy my vehicles NEW because I look after them. I buy Toyotas and Hondas and I am a tough sale getting huge discounts. I Krown them and do not drill holes and do all of the maintnenance and repairs myself. I also keep them 15 years. I also do not beat on my vehicles. My last used car at 14 years that I bought new was sold to my friend. Last year it was 25 years old and he still drives it. By the way, do not waste your time with grossly overpriced aka high profit "dealer extras" such as paint and fabric protection, also that grossly over-priced and useless electronic rust protection module :rolleyes:, etc. Just buy the car.

My used cars are toys and I check them myself. I connect my scanner to check for "over-revs" in the vehicle's computer since they have standard transmissions. I also run a Defelsko paint thickness gauge over it to check for re-paints and collisions. Actually I do that to new cars as well.

Buy quality, buy once.
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One strategy my friends swear by is buy a used vehicle and keep it max for 3 years. Sell it before major repairs and get 80/90% of original purchase money back. Buy next car that requires less maintenance. I tried it and it worked for me as well. Obviously this time I had to go a lot cheaper and older due to the economy.
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