Like trying to pick up a date at the geriatric center; finding the right beater car is proving harder, and the candidates are uglier, than I first hoped. The market is offering few viable prospects and it seems to be a case of a feast when you’re not hungry and famine when you’re starving. With two bad analogies out of the way let me bring you up to date.
I’m looking for a cheap beater car for a year of hard commuting on one of America’s most ferocious road ways. Like a member of Britain’s royal family seeking a mistress; I need something cheap, common and easily disposed of when I’m finished with it. OK I’m done with the bad similes, I promise.
Currently, the two most likely candidates are a 1995 Saturn SC2 (what’s with being pulled toward Saturn, must be the gravity) for $1500.00 and a blue 1999 VW Beetle for $3,000.00. Both cars are bearing the scars of over 135,000 miles of loving abuse. Although I consider myself secure in my manhood driving around in a Beetle is pushing it. The only consolation for the VW is that my daughter loves them and I’m not above buying her admiration. I have called about both cars and so far only the Saturn owner called me back.
Fingers crossed one of these will be the one. I’m looking forward to finally putting the beater search to bed so I can once again concentrate on hopelessly impractical sports cars.
More to follow.
Marve Harwell (c) 2011
I’m looking for a cheap beater car for a year of hard commuting on one of America’s most ferocious road ways. Like a member of Britain’s royal family seeking a mistress; I need something cheap, common and easily disposed of when I’m finished with it. OK I’m done with the bad similes, I promise.
I’ve been searching all the usual venues, Craig’s List, Autotrader, local newspaper ads, bulletin boards and driving around looking for sale signs on windshields. So far I have driven a 2002 base model Chevy Cavalier with 95,000 miles, a dashboard in fragments and rust on the rocker panels for the low price of $6,400. After staring at the salesmen in stunned disbelief waiting for the punch line, I wished him good luck and hoped that P.T. Barnum’s wisdom holds true for him.
I next spied a 1999 Saturn SL1 with 145,000 miles on it parked on the wholesale line behind the used car department of a large dealership. Generally the wholesale line is populated with trade-in cars too old and worn for sale or cars that were offered in the used car corral but didn’t sell. The latter was the case with the Saturn. The wholesale lane can be a good hunting ground when bottom feeding for your transportation. The trick is to get there early before the dealer has made an agreement with a wholesaler (who often buys several cars at once). The other key is to have cash in your pocket so you can make a right-now, serious offer. I went to the used car office and asked the salesman about the Saturn. He went through his inventory sheet and said that the car was being wholesaled but I could still look at it. We approached the line of forlorn cars and I gave the car in question a quick inspection. The body panels being made of plastic were naturally rot free but to my surprise the undercarriage was clean despite the lack of undercoating. The interior was in good shape and the engine started easily and settled into a quiet idle. I took it for a quick spin around the dealership and experienced the unmotivated acceleration and clunky gearbox familiar to anyone who’s driven an old Saturn. The struts and brakes had seen better days but overall it was in decent shape for an old car made of Tupperware. The plastic paneled Saturn gives up much in the way of driving dynamics to a VW Golf or Ford Focus but doing battle on the Baltimore/Washington Beltway in a dent resistant car has its appeal. Another advantage is that in case of an accident I’ll remain fresh until the paramedics arrive and break the seal.
After the test drive I was ready to regale the salesman with the irrefutable logic behind my reasonable offer. My thinking is that if a wholesaler buys the Saturn he in turn would have to sell it to another dealer with enough room for the next guy to make a profit. I told the salesman that the wholesaler wouldn’t pay more than $1,500.00 for the car even under the influence of a hypnotist; I, however, would pay $1,800.00, giving them the extra $300.00 for their trouble. The salesman talked to his manager and came back with a price of $2,600.00 and would accept no counter offer. In the grand scheme of things $2,600.00 for a clean car in good running condition isn’t insane, some people pay as much for a sofa, but why should I pay $600.00 to $800.00 over blue book value? I passed on the car and focused on private owner offerings.
I have already mentioned above that the beater market is looking sparse of late and a propensity for people to overstate the condition of their cars has caused me some wasted trips. Nothing is more frustrating than having a seller described their car using phrases like “very good condition” only to arrive and find it little better than a stain on the driveway. Currently, the two most likely candidates are a 1995 Saturn SC2 (what’s with being pulled toward Saturn, must be the gravity) for $1500.00 and a blue 1999 VW Beetle for $3,000.00. Both cars are bearing the scars of over 135,000 miles of loving abuse. Although I consider myself secure in my manhood driving around in a Beetle is pushing it. The only consolation for the VW is that my daughter loves them and I’m not above buying her admiration. I have called about both cars and so far only the Saturn owner called me back.
Fingers crossed one of these will be the one. I’m looking forward to finally putting the beater search to bed so I can once again concentrate on hopelessly impractical sports cars.
More to follow.
Marve Harwell (c) 2011
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