Tips for buying a used car?

[goodcents]

Hi All,
Well as I enter my early 30's I can proudly say I have never purchased a car. City living has kept us on public transportation for 10 years but now with 2 kiddos it is time.

So I want to buy something that is fuel efficient, has low insurance rates (think saturn, minivan, taurus ~ something totally UNSEXY!), and safe. I would like to buy used, but I don't want to buy something totally crappy and have to put big bucks into repairs.

Any thoughts, advice or web sites to recommend? Thanks girls!

[root*children]

I drive a Toyota Previa minivan. and LOVE it! But it may not be right for you. We bought it for individual reasons. Like we are constantly hauling the kids plus lots of other large things - hence the minivan choice. But I also needed something 4WD since we're rural. You probably don't need that. And we're brand loyal, so we always have Toyotas. Mine is a '93 and it gets 23 miles to the gallon. not bad It's only had one major problem since we've had it, which I found out is becoming typical in that model recently. But I saved about $500 buying a new part through Ebay instead of the auto shop, so I haven't actually spent huge bucks on it yet (and hope to not ever!)

Do you need a minivan? Or could you get away with something smaller (ie - more fuel effient)?

[Mavis]

I've noticed that with any used car my husband and I have bought we've had to replace the battery.

Good Luck!

[KariM]

The car talk guys from NPR have a site where they list their opinions on various car makes/models.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/testdrives/

[Throkmorton]

www.edmunds.com is a good place to look up official fuel mileage, specs, reviews, etc.
My best advice is to take your time and let everyone around you know that you are looking.
We have been searching for 6 months and just got a car 2 weeks ago at a steal from my grandma. She has been thinking of selling the second car ever since Grandpa lost his license, and when we asked, she sold it to us. It only has 80,000 KM on it, gets 30 MPG and we got it for practically nothing. Yes, it is a '93 Buick Century, the exact opposite of a sexy car but it runs like new.

[chel]

honda are great, IMO. Honda even has a special used car program where the cars have been checked-out. If you don't know alot about cars I suggest finding someone that does to check the car out before you buy it.