I was in the same situation last year. I did mountains and mountains of research, and wound up limiting myself to Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas. (Yes, other brands may be cheaper, but you wind up paying more over time with all the repairs they need.)
My number one piece of advice: Do NOT buy any used car until you've checked it on CARFAX (carfax.com), which is a service that offers vehicle history reports. Given a car's VIN, you can see how many owners it's had, where it's lived, and (most importantly) what accidents it's been in. Buy one of CARFAX's one-month passes for $30, and you can check an unlimited number of reports for no extra charge.
Why does this matter? Well, I almost bought a white Corolla, which the seller swore had never been in any serious accident, but when I looked it up on CARFAX, the darned thing had been totaled and rebuilt. If I'd bought it, I'd now be helplessly watching the car fall apart in my driveway.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-04-13 01:00 pm (UTC)My number one piece of advice: Do NOT buy any used car until you've checked it on CARFAX (carfax.com), which is a service that offers vehicle history reports. Given a car's VIN, you can see how many owners it's had, where it's lived, and (most importantly) what accidents it's been in. Buy one of CARFAX's one-month passes for $30, and you can check an unlimited number of reports for no extra charge.
Why does this matter? Well, I almost bought a white Corolla, which the seller swore had never been in any serious accident, but when I looked it up on CARFAX, the darned thing had been totaled and rebuilt. If I'd bought it, I'd now be helplessly watching the car fall apart in my driveway.
Lesson: Trust CARFAX. Don't trust sellers.