My Search for the Perfect Used Car

It was time. Our Toyota Corolla wagon, a 1988 model with 204,000 miles, had to go.  While it was a well-made and reliable car, its most advanced safety feature was a seat belt.   Even though I used it mainly to drive a couple of miles to the train station, I felt anti-lock brakes and airbags should be the minimum requirements in any of our vehicles.

But I didn't really want to put out the money for another car, as we had to replace our mini-van last year when it died an untimely death during a particularly hot July.  So, affordability was critical; I wanted to spend the least amount of money possible to get a reliable and safe vehicle that would accomodate two adults and two Belgian Tervurens.  I also wanted a car that would get better gas mileage than our mini-van. Where would I find such a car?

Then, one day while walking the dogs, I spotted it. Parked in a neighbor's driveway was a mid-'90s Honda Accord wagon.  I peered into the back, and tried my best to get a good look.  Good cargo space, attractive, and a reliable brand, an Accord wagon could conceivably keep on jugging along for some time to come.

The problem was, our neighbors weren't ready to part with theirs, and yes, I did ask. I stalked another one in the neighborhood for a while, but couldn't get the owners interested in selling theirs either.  So I started to search for one of my very own.

After doing my research, I knew exactly what I was after.  It had to be the more expensive EX model with the VTEC engine, since it got better gas mileage than the LX version.  (23 city, 29 highway, old EPA MPG).  I considered anti-lock brakes and driver and passenger airbags to be mandatory.  Side airbags would be nice, though not required.  My perfect used car would have under 100,000 miles on it, and cost under $7,000.

There was just one problem.  You may recall that the nineties weren't kind to station wagons.  They didn't sell well, and, in fact, the Accord wagon was discontinued after the 1997 model. Since there weren't many made, finding a used one that met all my criteria would be a challenge.

If there was an Accord wagon out there for sale within a 50 miles radius, I wanted to know about it.  My tool of choice?  The web, of course.

First stop, AutoTrader.

AutoTrader.com

My sister told me about AutoTrader.com after she used it to find a used Acura for her daughter.  In fact, that's how I found my Toyota Sienna mini-van last year.  A number of web sites, including Yahoo, have car listings powered by Autotrader, so it gets a lot of exposure and is a popular source.  You'll find a selection of private parties, dealers, and small used car lots listing cars for sale on AutoTrader.  

You can search by mileage, color, features, and keywords, and several other criteria. My main problem was in pinpointing the wagon.  Even if I specified "wagon" under body style and/or as a keyword, I still retrieved listings for sedans, meaning that I had to sift through a number of listings to get to the ones I wanted.   This was a problem that was common with the other web sites I used as well.

I immediately found one listed at a Honda dealer about 35 miles away.  We hopped in the car and headed out there only to find that it had been sold the previous evening.  That's when I started to realize that I wasn't the only one out there looking for an Accord wagon, and I had my work cut out for me.

You can set up saved searches on AutoTrader and I was pleased to see that there was a recently added an email alert feature to let you know when new listings appear that meet your search criteria.  If only the alert feature worked.  Well, to be fair, it works sometimes, but it is very undependable.  A couple of weeks ago, I received one saying that 100 cars met my criteria, which seemed unlikely.  But even worse, I often wasn't alerted to new listings that DID meet my requirements.  I was reduced to visiting AutoTrader several times a day, re-running my search each time to make sure I didn't miss anything.   I was becoming a compulsive AutoTrader visitor which was good for AutoTrader, but bad for my productivity.

Craig's List

A search for a used anything wouldn't be complete with Craig's List, the most well-known online classifieds site around. Don't expect much structure; things are pretty free form on Craig's List. You'll be lucky to get mileage, VIN or other details.  Sometimes you get pictures, sometimes you don't.  When searching, choose your area first, then select "Cars+Trucks", opt for dealer listings, owner listings or both, then type in a few keywords to describe the model you're looking for.

There's no charge to list an item for sale, making Craig's List a popular choice, or at least, a first try, for many sellers.  They don't offer email updates, but they DO offer RSS feeds to keep you notified of any new listings.  This worked great for me, since RSS is how I keep current on just about everything.  If you don't know, or want to know about RSS feeds, you can use an RSS to email service to subscribe to new listings via email.

Googlebase

There are a lot of car web sites out there. I figured I was only seeing the tip of the iceberg with AutoTrader and Craig's list, but it wasn't practical to search them all every hour on the hour. Then I stumpled upon GoogleBase Vehicle Search.

I found out about GoogleBase one day when I randomly typed Honda Accord Wagon into Google. I knew that searching Google made no sense in this situation, and wasn't the right tool for the job, but I was feeling particularly desperate and frustrated. Imagine my surprise when a search box popped up asking for location and other criteria. I filled in the information, and I was off to the races!

GoogleBase aggregates listings from a variety of different car sites and dealer inventories.  It's still in beta and offers updates via RSS feeds. A GoogleBase Vehicles search found listings from sites that I otherwise wouldn't have found.

CarFax

It's ironic, really. My least favorite of these tools is the one that finally did the trick.

CarFax just recently introduced their "Find a Car" service. Select the year, make, model and zip code, and CarFax will nofity you via email whenever a car matching your criteria is added to their database. No salvaged vehicles or those with other major problems are included. As an added bonus, you have the option of viewing the CarFax report for listed cars free of charge.  As with AutoTrader, I could ask for Accords, but couldn't specify wagons only.  As a result, I received an email almost everyday, and I had to skim it to see if any wagons were included.

CarFax's Find a Car fills an important niche. CarFax already has their foot in the door with dealers since running a CarFax history report on trade-ins is a standard practice. I imagine that as long as they are already on CarFax to pull the report, it was easy enough to use the new listing service as well. I found car listings on CarFax from dealers that didn't show up on any other web site. This was the missing piece of the puzzle in terms of coverage of the used cars in our area. Not only that, cars were posted to CarFax very quickly, often before the car was even ready to be put on the lot.

From my point of view, there's one major downside to looking for a car using CarFax. Only the most basic information is included in the listing. You won't see price, mileage, pictures or other details, though you sometimes can get an approximate idea of the mileage from the CarFax report. This means is that you have to email or phone the dealer for further information. I don't know about you, but I try to provide my contact information to as few used car dealers as possible. I tried checking the dealer's web site, but I could very rarely find the listing there. So, I just had to bite the bullet and call.

CarFax Find a Car is also a relatively new service, and may not have yet be commonly used by buyers, which means you may have less competition than with Craig's List and AutoTrader. Keep in mind that what you won't find are cars for sale by private parties.

The Reward

My car search bordered on obsession for several months. But it paid off; I eventually found a great car at a bargain price. I love my 1997 Accord Wagon. There's enough room for crates, the gas milege is good, and it drives beautifully. Who needs to spend $30,000 for a new car when you can find the perfect used dog car on the web?

For More Information

• CarBuyingTips.com - How to Buy a Used Car & Avoid Scams
• Cars.com - Car Shopping Advice
• Consumer Reports Used Car Buying Guide