Ontario - Ottawa where to buy a second hand car?

[Jurafsky]

Hello guys,
finally my family got the PR this week. We have been living in Ottawa for the last two years without a car, after a whole life living with a car. Transportation is not the best option in Ottawa and recently things have been getting worse due to Covid. My partner suffers from asthma and using Uber to go to work has been the worse option, because he caught the covid. In short, we already don't go outside very often (work and walmart basically) and we won't like to have another round of covid next fall. At the same time we don't have permanent jobs and we are not ready mentally to have a brand new car. Still, we need one.

We are searching for a second hand car that can last at least 1 year without problems (the best should be at least up to 3 years). We went to a car dealer and they tried to sell us an optimal carfax certified car but - when the lady was printing other documents - we noticed that there was a hidden document of the last owner attesting that he had a brutal accident and there was over 5k of expenses to make the car secure again (plus other 6k to buy the car...). We went to another car dealer and he offered a car with 190000 kms for 3k but he was the same person that should have to repair the car, test its security and sell it... Basically we were not able to understand really the conditions of the car.

Unfortunately we don't have friends here and we don't know where to search and who's affordable and reliable.

Suggestions?
Thank you and have a nice day

 

[steaky]

No car sharing service in Ottawa? Next time when take uber, wear your mask properly and offer the driver to use one for your own protection.

 

[scylla]

No car sharing service in Ottawa?

Car sharing isn't a good option under COVID-19 for someone with health issues.

 

[steaky]

Car sharing isn't a good option under COVID-19 for someone with health issues.

Buy second hand is a better idea? If I am in tight budget, I probably wear properly in public transport.

 

[scylla]

Buy second hand is a better idea? If I am in tight budget, I probably wear properly in public transport.

Per OPs post, they aren't comfortable with Uber. If they aren't comfortable with Uber then they won't be comfortable with car sharing. With car sharing, cars aren't being cleaned after every use. They are only being cleaned when someone who has used the car self-reports a COVID-19 diagnosis after using the car.

 

[steaky]

Per OPs post, they aren't comfortable with Uber. If they aren't comfortable with Uber then they won't be comfortable with car sharing. With car sharing, cars aren't being cleaned after every use. They are only being cleaned when someone who has used the car self-reports a COVID-19 diagnosis after using the car.

Can't they clean the car sharing vehicle before using it? After cleansing, wear gloves and other PPE? They rather use public transport? Is it better?

 

[scylla]

Hello guys,
finally my family got the PR this week. We have been living in Ottawa for the last two years without a car, after a whole life living with a car. Transportation is not the best option in Ottawa and recently things have been getting worse due to Covid. My partner suffers from asthma and using Uber to go to work has been the worse option, because he caught the covid. In short, we already don't go outside very often (work and walmart basically) and we won't like to have another round of covid next fall. At the same time we don't have permanent jobs and we are not ready mentally to have a brand new car. Still, we need one.

We are searching for a second hand car that can last at least 1 year without problems (the best should be at least up to 3 years). We went to a car dealer and they tried to sell us an optimal carfax certified car but - when the lady was printing other documents - we noticed that there was a hidden document of the last owner attesting that he had a brutal accident and there was over 5k of expenses to make the car secure again (plus other 6k to buy the car...). We went to another car dealer and he offered a car with 190000 kms for 3k but he was the same person that should have to repair the car, test its security and sell it... Basically we were not able to understand really the conditions of the car.

Unfortunately we don't have friends here and we don't know where to search and who's affordable and reliable.

Suggestions?
Thank you and have a nice day

I'm not in Ottawa and can't recommend anything local.

If you haven't done already, read through this which will give you some approaches on how to protect yourself against bad purchses.

https://www.carfax.ca/resource-centre/articles/used-car-buying-guide

Once you've done that, maybe consider autotrader? I believe they have some protection in place and also give you an idea on what should be the anticipated value:

https://www.autotrader.ca/

 

[Jurafsky]

Buy second hand is a better idea? If I am in tight budget, I probably wear properly in public transport.

Normally we would use it along with gloves, masks and disinfectant - as we did before catching Covid (and it had not been enough unfortunately).
Moreover, Car sharing (and Uber too) in the long term is expensive and we are not sure 100% that we will have the availability every time, plus, you need time to clean it very well - something that you can do occasionally but not carefully twice a day every day.
I mean, we have been living here using public transpo, bikes (the present option), Turo, and Uber... If we are not using any of these options it's because we have validated them and we can't right now for health issues. What we are really looking for is a vehicle that we can keep on using during these uncertain times where our health is on risk (that's also why we are not searching for new cars).

 

[Jurafsky]

I'm not in Ottawa and can't recommend anything local.

If you haven't done already, read through this which will give you some approaches on how to protect yourself against bad purchses.

https://www.carfax.ca/resource-centre/articles/used-car-buying-guide

Once you've done that, maybe consider autotrader? I believe they have some protection in place and also give you an idea on what should be the anticipated value:

https://www.autotrader.ca/

thank you for your suggestions!

 

[canuck78]

Think you are being a bit unrealistic. A car with only 1 good year left or even 3 potential years left is probably a 7+ year old car. There will be risks of big issues going on with the car.

 

[Jurafsky]

Think you are being a bit unrealistic. A car with only 1 good year left or even 3 potential years left is probably a 7+ year old car. There will be risks of big issues going on with the car.

Yes you're right. I will explain better because I didn't go through details.
With that statement I meant that a car with at least 1 good year should be the worst scenario. I hope to find something that at least may be of use for the next 3-5 years - the time we decided what to do and where to stay in a stable way.
The more money I invest on it, the more I expect that the car will last. The thing here is that even with a modest budget (10k), I found car dealers that tried to offer me something that I really doubt that could have lasted at least 1 year. Of course, spending 3k for a car means literally to change it or repair big issues after a bunch of months. I am trying to figure out where / how to invest my money for something not exceptional but at least useful for the next 3 years, in the worst case 1-2 years, because we have no more choice at present.

 

[canuck78]

Yes you're right. I will explain better because I didn't go through details.
With that statement I meant that a car with at least 1 good year should be the worst scenario. I hope to find something that at least may be of use for the next 3-5 years - the time we decided what to do and where to stay in a stable way.
The more money I invest on it, the more I expect that the car will last. The thing here is that even with a modest budget (10k), I found car dealers that tried to offer me something that I really doubt that could have lasted at least 1 year. Of course, spending 3k for a car means literally to change it or repair big issues after a bunch of months. I am trying to figure out where / how to invest my money for something not exceptional but at least useful for the next 3 years, in the worst case 1-2 years, because we have no more choice at present.

Whqt kind of cars are yo7 looking at. A compact sedan somthing like a Hyundai Elantra?

 

[Jurafsky]

Whqt kind of cars are yo7 looking at. A compact sedan somthing like a Hyundai Elantra?

no preferences (manuals too)

 

[Mitchtsy]

Hi folks, Jurafsky's partner here.
Just wanted to point out a few things that would most likely make it clear for everybody.

The reason we're looking for a vehicle to keep is mainly related to health issues (as stated above). We don't want to find us without a car next winter.
We're not looking for any particular vehicle, as it's not a hunt for a dream car. As long as it's guaranteed to be working, we're cool.
Thing is, a dealer tried to sell us a lemon, a repair guy was trying to convince us into buying a vehicle with no documents, where he "would handle it all", and when you have to figure out who's to be trusted you can only rely on previous experiences.
We are trying to avoid being scammed because we're new.

We also considered getting a certified pre-owned, but in this moment the best thing is to gain knowledge on how does this work.
We would avoid kijiji or craigslist since there's no way of knowing what of the car, and the less we can worry about what we buy, the better.
Coming from Europe, where cars are to be checked once a year and if they don't get passing marks you can't drive it around, we have the feeling that every vehicle can be potentially destroyed.
A carfax report isn't enough since if the previous owner fixed the issue without involving his/her insurance the damage won't be listed.
Knowing that our budget is 12k tops for our first vehicle, what would you rather recommend?
Is a certified pre-owned the way to go or is there some little known fact that we should be aware of, a game changer for what it may be?

Thank you all for the answers!

 

[canuck78]

12k with or without tax?