About Used Cars

If you’re in the market for a used car, you might want to get yourself a Hyundai Elantra. Choose any Elantra manufactured from 2003 to 2008 and you’ll probably be a happy camper.

According to Edmunds.com, the Hyundai Elantra was awarded the annual Used Car Best Bet award. Because of their safety, reliability and availability Hyundai Elantras along with 14 other select few vehicles were given the prestigious award.

Edmunds provides a listing other top performers by category. If you’re looking for a Minivan, you’re pretty safe choosing a Honda Odyssey manufactured in the years 2003-2008. However if your more of a pick up truck type of driver, the compact Toyota Tacoma (2003-2008) or the large Ford F-150 (2003-2008) are winners.

Here’s Edmunds listing of the 2010 Used Car Best Bet awards:

Searching for a used car can sometimes be a crap shoot, but selecting a vehicle from the list above may help to stack the odds in your favor. For more information on how Edmunds chooses its winners and more details about each winner, visit their website.

Setting a fair car price is key when it comes to private car sales. Although you may not t have all of the tools that a dealership might have when it comes to surveying the market and setting a fair price, you do have Edmunds. Edmunds has a host of online tools that will help you set a fair price for your car in preparation for a private sale. Here’s how to set a fair car price for selling your car.

1. Go over to the Edmunds website and access the “Appraise a Car” link. You’ll find it by clicking on Used Cars and then right beneath the Used Cars text you’ll find Appraise a Car.
2. Click on a series of links. First you’ll have to click on the link for the make of your car, then link for the year of the car and finally the link for your car’s model. At this point, Edmunds will give you a car price for a private sale, but this price isn’t the one you want. You want a fair car price that’s tailored specifically for your car. So, you need to continue the car appraisal process.




3. Enter details about your car. Since you’re selling the car click the “Sell” option and enter the car color, mileage and check off all optional equipment that applies. The more information you enter, the more accurate your pricing will be.
4. Tell Edmunds the condition of your car. Select the option that bests describes your car’s interior, exterior and mechanical soundness. Most used cars fall into the average category, but if your car is in exceptional shape, select “outstanding.”
5. Confirm your zip code and get your pricing report.

Make sure to print a copy of the report and keep a copy in the glove compartment. This way potential buyers can see what the car is actually worth before you start the negotiating process.

A much untapped market is the Chinese auto buying public. Unlike US car buyers were 85% of car purchases are financed or India where 65% of car purchases are financed, China pays cash for cars. Only 10% of the Chinese car buying public finances their automobiles according to Bloomberg’s Businessweek.

The Other Way Around

The American and Indian consumers should take a page out of the Chinese car buying book. Save money and buy cash. Why go into debt over a commodity that starts to depreciate the moment you get into it.

Because the Chinese consumer prefers to save money and buy items only when they can afford it, I wonder how much money on advertising, rhetoric and persuasion the large auto companies will have to shell out in order to sway the Chinese public to abandon long standing traditions.

Struggling American Families

The American spendthrift mantra of buy now, pay later doesn’t always work. Too many Americans are paying now for foolish impulsive spending earlier. If the Chinese consumer is smart, all they have to do is look at a few American families who are living paycheck to paycheck as a result of their buy now pay later habits.

To the Chinese car buying public I say…Resist!