Does this seem like a good deal?

[Thanase]

I looked at a 2003 black pontiac grand am yesterday.
We negotiated the price down to $3600 from $4000.
The car has 85,300 miles, it has a sunroof/moon roof, spoiler, new tires and rims, new stereo.
The cons that we noticed, it has some white fading on both front and back bumpers, there is a dent on the driver's side door, there is a cracked air vent in the car, the dashboard has a crack in it, and one or two other problems that don't seem to be too big of a deal.
The car overall is in decent shape, but we didn't take it to get lifted and checked by a mechanic, but if nothing were to really turn up wrong with the car,
would this seem like a reasonable price?

 

[richardgriese]

You have several questions to ask yourself.

1) You are buying a preowned car. This means you don't know the history and everything has a life span. @ 85k it has life left in the engine and transmission (if it were not beat to a pulp)

2)Are you going to repair things when they go bad?

3) When things do go bad, are you going to repair or take to a mechanic?

Keep in mind that (especially if you do the work yourself) you will always save money by repairing an older car - parts are cheap, ins is lower, easier technology (work on it yourself easily), and NO car payment. Ok I know say an engine needs to be replace or rebuilt. it will cost idk 2k (check local prices); anyway, people say that they can put that down for a new car (or another used). But if you buy another used car, you'll be in the same jam. If you buy a new car, you pay interest and a lot of money. That 2k (done by a good mechanic) would hurt but you would be set for a while rather than pay more.

All that said, everyone on here (and anywhere) will have varying opinions if that is a good deal. Here's my 2 cents: I live in DFW. I saw a decent looking 02 or 03 Grand Am back in Aug last year. It was listed asking 3400 (idk maybe a few more miles but over all clean) it didn't sell for months finally I say him lower it to about 2600 then 2400 then I left the country for a while and I never bothered looking for it again.

SO, look around. Decide if you really want that car or not. Have a mechanic check it out. L

 

[Thanase]

Thanks for response.


Any other opinions appreciated as well.

 

[melsg5]

did you look at sites such as www.edmunds.com www.nada.com and www.kbb.com to see what the retail price for a car in that condition should be?

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[Thanase]

Yes I did. The prices on those websites said this car is worth more than what i'd be paying for it, but I know those websites normally have overpriced used car values.

 

[Thanase]

Actually, I take that back.
KBB has a price higher than $3600, and edmunds has a price lower.