"Pszemol" > wrote
> "Elle" > wrote
>> I finally got serious about looking for a second Honda
>> Civic, c. 1989-1997. A few observations:
>
> What kind of money are we talking about here?
> In other words, how much do you want to spend
> and where are you located? Maybe I will have
> a car for you.... :-)

Write me where you are located. :-)

>> -- A friend of mine convinced me Carfax was worth $35 for
>> 30 days, unlimited checks. For the four cars I checked,
>> it revealed: (a)
>> Odometer tampering with two, with the advertised mileage
>> being over 100k lower than the Carfax title reported
>> mileage; (b) lying about the number of owners for a
>> third; it had had four owners in 18 months. Many reports
>> attest to how Carfax is not perfect, but so far it sure
>> saved me some trouble.
>
> With the car that old I would say actual millage is not
> as important as the current technical condition of the
> car.

A 90s Civic engine with 100k-125k miles on to me likely has
at least 75k miles more left on the engine.

A 90s Civic engine with 200k and up miles on it to me may go
at any time. If I knew the owner and the maintenance record,
I might feel a little differently.

There's a huge difference in risk. This is all we can talk
about here, ya know, probabilities.


>> -- craigslist.org has been my best resource. (Thanks to
>> regular poster JT for sending me there!) Ebay,
>> autotrader.com and dealers have turned up little. Dealers
>> do not like to deal in cars that do not involve
>> financing, so low price beaters generally are not
>> advertised for sale by them. Though oddly, on my Carfax
>> checks, there's always an advertisement by dealers for a
>> 199- Civic, complete with VIN. Then I call the dealer,
>> and the car is not there. Maybe when a car is traded in,
>> carfax automatically retrieves it and its filter puts the
>> ad up? But in fact most of these cars are sold at
>> auction?
>
> I am not surprised new car dealers do not keep these cars.
> The car you are looking for probably is worth much less
> than
> a 1000 and takes the same amount of space on the dealer
> parking
> lot as tha 20k one.

Kelly blue book puts them at $1200-2500, depending on
condition, for private party. Retail is usually more.

The dealers do not keep them because financing generally is
not done with such a low cost.

> Also, on average it will look horrible
> compared to new cars, so new car dealer selling not old
> used
> cars does not want to clutter his parking lot with trash
> like top down rusted 1989 honda civic.

I am sure you are right. :-)

>> -- used car dealers are a hoot! Unless you know what to
>> look for on these older Hondas, do not buy from a used
>> dealer. A fine looking Honda Civic DX came up on Craig's
>> list at a mom n' pop used car dealership. I went to see
>> it. Great body, engine compartment sparkled, fluids
>> looked clean and topped off; but no muffler; no radio;
>> check engine light was on; windshield was cracked, miles
>> advertised were 124k and carfax said it was in fact over
>> 271k miles a year ago. I am considering making a very low
>> offer (after telling the dealership about the flawed
>> title tampered odometer) just for the shell.
>
> What do you consider a "low offer" for such a car?
> Junkyard is probably paying between 100-200 dolars
> for a car which can be driven to the yard... Slightly
> less if it has to be towed. If you see a car on some
> dealer's parking lot than it means the owner hopes to get
> much more for his trashy car than he
> could get from the junkyard.

Well sure. Fortunately Craig's List and Ebay often have
shells for sale, so I know the asking price for a good shell
is around $500 to $1000.

>> Further advice?
>
> Look at your local junk yard. Sometimes they have
> cars these old in quite good condition and you might score
> good find this way...
> Of course it is junk yard, so the car will not
> look good, guaranteed.

Indeed there is one local junkyard that buys running cars
and sells them. I started checking it regularly a few weeks
ago. Many of the cars there do not look too bad and could be
fixed up nicely.

I saw such a humdinger a few hours ago. 90 Civic. Lifted the
hood, and the first thing I always check is the coolant
reservoir. Well huh, the cap is already unfastened. It's
overfilled and bubbles are coming out the tube right before
my very eyes. First blown head gasket yada I have seen. I
ended the inspection there saying I would not risk it.