need help with choice of used cars

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Posted by Peter (99.160.57.114) on 21:48:21 09/21/08

My daughter turns 16 in November our state allows her to get her license at that time. She has been driving with supervision and I am starting to trust her judgement.

That said, my kindly old and generous uncle bought me an very used VW Bug when I got my license and he would like to do similarly for my daughter. When I got my VW, my folks knew little about cars other than my Dad always drive Buicks. I, on the other hand have learned a great deal from all of you and my trusted mechanic/neighbor.

My uncle has connections with a dealer and has access to recent trade-ins. He called today with a choice of a 1995 Jetta ("very clean") or a 95 Blazer ("pretty rough"). I checked with my mechanic for an opinion and he says to skip both. He dislikes European cars and a "rough" car is probably not worth the effort. He seems to be saying that a new European car might be OK (though he still doesn't like them) and a 13 year old car will likely be spending some time in his shop which offers me little benefit and much expense. He says the parts are expensive and a 1995 will likely need some sooner than later. I can accept that since he will be the one doing the work and I trust him implicitly.

I would normally just say "not this time" and wait to see if something else comes along. My problem is that I tend to ana-lyze to the n-th degree and I am afraid I will find something wrong with each vehicle he could present. Along with that, if I turn him down once too many times, the offers will probably stop. (It happened to me a couple years ago when he offered to buy me a used mini-van on the spot and I could not get myself to find one on the lot that was "perfect". That offer never came back.)

So, are these vehicles really something to be wary of? Should I stick with my mechanic's suggestion of Japanese and American? I don't have negotiating power here. It is just a yes or no.

Any thoughts?

Follow Ups:

Re: need help with choice of used cars - drfife 22:58:45 09/21/08 (0)
Re: need help with choice of used cars - gorilla bob 22:05:24 09/21/08 (1)
- Re: need help with choice of used cars - JimS in TX 09:46:18 09/30/08 (0)

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Comments:	: My daughter turns 16 in November our state allows her to get her license at that time. She has been driving with supervision and I am starting to trust her judgement. : : That said, my kindly old and generous uncle bought me an very used VW Bug when I got my license and he would like to do similarly for my daughter. When I got my VW, my folks knew little about cars other than my Dad always drive Buicks. I, on the other hand have learned a great deal from all of you and my trusted mechanic/neighbor. : : My uncle has connections with a dealer and has access to recent trade-ins. He called today with a choice of a 1995 Jetta ("very clean") or a 95 Blazer ("pretty rough"). I checked with my mechanic for an opinion and he says to skip both. He dislikes European cars and a "rough" car is probably not worth the effort. He seems to be saying that a new European car might be OK (though he still doesn't like them) and a 13 year old car will likely be spending some time in his shop which offers me little benefit and much expense. He says the parts are expensive and a 1995 will likely need some sooner than later. I can accept that since he will be the one doing the work and I trust him implicitly. : : I would normally just say "not this time" and wait to see if something else comes along. My problem is that I tend to ana-lyze to the n-th degree and I am afraid I will find something wrong with each vehicle he could present. Along with that, if I turn him down once too many times, the offers will probably stop. (It happened to me a couple years ago when he offered to buy me a used mini-van on the spot and I could not get myself to find one on the lot that was "perfect". That offer never came back.) : : So, are these vehicles really something to be wary of? Should I stick with my mechanic's suggestion of Japanese and American? I don't have negotiating power here. It is just a yes or no. : : Any thoughts? : :
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