Well we went ahead and purchased it over the weekend... waited for the owner to come home.
The mechanic said only thing immediately needed was an alignment. Soon were to be belt and brakes. Still in spec but nearing the end of life. It’s an 07 with 83k miles.
Vibe has New tires, wheels, and struts. Owner had bought it for his college age daughter. But she decided not to take it to college this fall.
It wasn’t really up for sale. I had put out word to my friends that we were looking for a used car after my ‘08 Prius with 190k miles was totaled. Being in Houston, one month after Harvey, I was nervous about buying “cold”. Even dealerships were selling vehicles that smell like bayou.
Our insurance settlement was only $5200. I expected to have to pay $7-8k for “decent.”
My friend (fellow Girl Scouts leader) told me her neighbor managed a car lot. I looked at his dealership website, and while he didn’t have anything in my price range, I emailed him to keep an eye out for me. That’s when he told me about the Vibe he bought his daughter but she hadn’t taken to school. Our mutual friend backs this up as she knows the family well.
(I found out he knows another of my friends who we helped “muck and gut” their flooded house one weekend. I was helping on a Friday. He was there with his sons on a Saturday... so we almost could have met in real life)
So, while I did hesitate about the car, I took comfort in knowing we have a couple of mutual close friends (and several more mutual FB friends). The car is 1 year older than my Prius but 100k miles newer than the Prius.
I shudder to think what my old Prius would show in a pre-purchase inspection. At 190k miles I already knew it’s brakes were going to be needed soon, the struts were shot and it burned oil. And yet I loved that car.
So for the same money as my insurance check, I have a car in better shape than I did before.
I did try to negotiate with the kbb quote (which came out to $4300 private party). NADA came out at $6k retail and Carfax came out at $6400. He said, ok try to find that car out there at $4300. Sure enough I cannot (AutoTrader, CarGurus, etc...) especially under 100k miles. KBB is only as good as local inventory. They can tell you it’s only worth $2000 but try to buy it then.
Overall, I am satisfied. The used car market in Houston is especially tight right now after so many people had to replace cars lost in the floods. So prices are a little high too. But I managed to break even on my car settlement, and I didn’t expect that to be possible.