“Can you help me buy a used car for less than $5k?”

We used to hear this question from car buyers all the time. They knew that as dealers, we purchased cars from wholesale auctions for customers as a service (called auto brokerage) and that we used to sell refurbished vehicles that meet our high standards. 

Unfortunately, finding a car for $5,000 these days is harder than ever before. We put together the following advice for car buyers on how to buy a reliable used car at this price point.

Why is it so hard to buy a car right now?

Each winter, we hear the same comment from customers, friends and neighbors — they do not need snow tires since they have a Subaru with All-Wheel Drive (AWD). As they prepare to drive to the mountain for skiing or to travel over a snowy mountain pass, we worry that they are not well equipped to handle the winter snow and ice.  

In the interest of safety, we want to clarify this misconception for our customers and other drivers. Here are the main benefits of All-Wheel Drive and winter tires so that everyone can make the best decision for themselves.

You have probably heard that a car has a “clean” title or to avoid cars with a “salvage” title, but what do different types of car titles really mean? 

The type of title greatly impacts the value of a car and describes its intended use.

Let’s look at each option one by one:

Online car pricing guides frequently undervalue Subarus in Portland’s Subaru market due to a lack of data.

There are a few reasons why the Subarus that we sell at Esprit Motors may be priced differently than the online pricing guides’ prices.  

After all the work of finding a car that fits your needs in your price range, setting up an appointment to see the car, and looking over the interior and exterior for any damage or issues, the next step is to take the car for a test drive.  

How often do you check your oil?  How often should you change your oil? If you’re a Subaru owner, how you answer these questions will impact the life of your car in significant ways.  

Last week we purchased a Subaru for a customer. She needed to buy a car immediately and since we did not have enough time to buy her one through a dealer-only auction, Ian immediately went to work scouring Craigslist.

Buying a Subaru in Portland is a tricky task. They are very popular here and when they do pop up at dealer-only wholesale auctions, they tend to sell for around 30% over the Blue Book wholesale value!  We had a hunch that was because most sellers know that Subarus are in demand here in Portland and therefore opt to sell their Subaru privately rather than trade it in. However, experiencing the private party sale of a Subaru in Portland was eye-opening.