Buying a used car for a road trip
 

I'm looking at buying a used car for a 2 month road trip across Canada and USA.

I'm thinking of buying a car for $15,000 and selling it after the road trip.

Questions:
1. I'm looking at putting 12,000 KM to 15,000KM on the car. How much will the car depreciate in value when I sell it?
2. What would be all the transactions costs in terms of buying/selling the car? Eg. insurance, sales tax, etc. What else am I missing?
3. If I'm renting a car for 60 days, I'm looking at $80-150/day. $80/day for a economical car, $150/day for a fun car like a mustang. If I rent the mustang, I'm looking at $9000 in rental cost. Is buying/selling a used car worth it in terms of costs and headache?

Thanks

...

buy nabs' tsx

that thing is proven road trip monster

Depends if you use that money to buy a 2006 Corolla or a 2001 S600.

I think renting will always be cheaper, unless of course you're under 25. You usually get a larger discount when you rent longer, however for 60 days I'm not sure.

How much have you researched renting a car? I just tried 60 days in an intermediate size car (corolla) and it's around $47/day (including taxes, loss damage waiver).

Renting a car for two months will not cost you $9000. There are monthly rental rates.

Do you have your own car? Drive that instead.

If renting, we will be renting a fun car like a mustang or similar. Definitely not an economy car.

If buying/selling, probably looking at 2005 bmw 6 series convertible for $17k, 03 mustang for 9k, Lexus 250 for 20k, Infiniti g35, etc.

Lol @ 6 series convertible. Let us know how that one works for you....

used 6 series for a roadtrip..:heckno:
is250 is not a fun car lmao

Something tells me you're going to wind up stranded in the middle of nowhere cause you bought a lemon.

Or you will wind up spending 1000's throughout the trip on parts.

I feel like people underestimate the wear and tear on a vehicle when you do something like put 20k on it in 60 days. Many people don't drive that much in a year, let alone in a couple months.

To get to $9000 of rental you would have to be paying $150 a day for a car, unless I am missing something that's absolutely absurd. I rented a Jeep SRT8 from National last week for $300 for 5 days.

A regular Ford F150, or silverado usually costs me around $160/ 5 days.

I just rented a truck from Zeemac here in edmonton, a brand new F350 Diesel, a 3 month rental was just under $6000. We're talking about a $60000 vehicle. One that the rental company expects me to put 30000km on, and be bombing around back roads killing with rocks and dirt.

If all else fails, I think this should convince you:


It's a pretty well known fact that rental cars are the fastest cars....IN THE WORLD!!..

lol, seriously? I have one piece of advice for you: buy the bcaa roadside assistance package that provides the highest level of coverage possible.

in this case, just rent. you'll be better off..

Depending how much shit you're taking with you, I would either do a Corolla if it's a relatively light trip or I would do a TD Landcruiser for cargo and fuel economy.

what about a 4runner? they're reliable as fuck.

Very reliable, yes.

But on a 20,000 km trip, OP will probably spend double the car's book value on gas alone...

OP, just rent a car or truck. A long-term rental, especially for >1 months, is significantly cheaper than the "tourist rate" of per-day renting. Not to mention you just have to return the car and the keys when you're done.

No worrying about maintenance, resale value, posting the ad on CL and dealing with tire-kickers/flakers/lowballers as well as the very real possibility (with the cars you've chosen anyway) of costly repairs and/or depreciation. If something breaks, simply get it towed to the nearest rental facility, hand them the bill, and get another car in the span of an hour or so. With a car you own - especially a high value one - the cost of repairs and a tow could very well add up to what you would have paid for a rental for the same time period.

Mercedes 300D Turbo Diesel.

Cheap to buy, cheap to fuel, comfortable, built like a tank.

I have done just this. Picked up the car for $1100, drove in it for 2 months straight and put over 30k on it in that time. All I did was change the oil a few times and it was solid.

Sold for $1200 when I got back.

Lincoln town car. There is no better road trip car.

If you want something that is fun to drive, but comfortable, why not an older 5-series like an E34? Pick one up for 2 grand, put another 1200-1500 into it to make it road worthy (tires, suspension components, brakes, cooling system) and then sell it for the same price you paid for it when you're done?

Cruise in style:

1990 Bentley Turbo R R ONLY 60 KMs 1YR WRNT for $16,890 in Burnaby | autoTRADER.ca

1986 Rolls-Royce Silver Spur New Leather for $14,999 in Surrey | autoTRADER.ca

If renting, confirm with the rental company about limit on mileage. Although many advertise as "unlimited", in the fine print it usually lists as having a maximum of xxxx KM (I think Hertz was 3600) per rental.

Honestly, I have done a few long drives including transcontinental drive twice. What you want is reliability and fuel efficiency. At 12,000KM, a car that does 12km/L vs. 10km/L will make a $100s difference in gas alone.

As for "fun to drive"... that novelty wears off after 5hr of departure. We are in North America. No matter which route you take, after you leave the city, you often just hit straight roads. The only thing I'd make sure the car has is cruise control. Your feet will thank you.

Not sure how many of you are travelling, but a buddy of mine bought a 2005 Smart fortwo diesel for $6000 a while ago, added the cruise control for another $200, a rack for luggage for $300 and away he went for his extensive 3mth US/CA trip. He averaged just a tad over 5L/100km. Oh, and he removed the passenger seat and DIY'd a flat surface so he could take a nap on road comfortably.

I think he racked up 40k in mileage... sold the smart for 4000 when he got back.

Granted he did spend money on the trip to replace tires and stuff... but still.

Where are you starting/ending the road trip? And where the hell are you getting $9k from? A quick check with Enterprise and they'd charge you ~$3k for a luxury sedan for 2 months including the charges for the extra km.

Just rent. Is cheaper and you don't have to worry about maintance and resell value.

He's basing it off of $150/day x 60 days. That right there is $9000. It's logical to think that way, but that's without assuming rental companies wont give you an extended rental rate.

Fun car =/= Comfortable car. A fun car will be enjoyable for a few hours or even a couple days. However, you'll quickly realize that while those firm, heavily bolstered seats are great in the corners, they will give you a backache after a couple solid days of driving. Depending how long you plan on driving every day and how many stops you'll be taking each day, you may want to look into something that's more of a long distance cruiser, especially when it comes to ergonomics in the driver's seat. Is the seat comfortable? Are there arm rests on either side of you (if you're the sort of person to rest your left arm on the window sill, is the height going to be an issue?) Does the driving position of the steering wheel, pedals and shifter fall naturally to hand? As someone who has spent the majority of his day driving 150km's or more in a single day for the past couple years, take it from me that you'll want a comfortable car far more than a car that might be "fun."

I'll rent you my TL Type S for $4000.

:concentrate: