My oldest son is turning 16 and we are looking for an older vehicle that will keep the insurance at a relative minimum but also be reliable to drive locally. Dealership used car costs are ridiculous. Does anyone have recommendations for reputable used car options, particularly in DFW? How about websites like Autotrader, AutoNation, etc?

Back in 2017 I got a Subaru Legacy Premium for a company car. We bought it at 85,000ish miles and gave it to my oldest. He drove it for 2.5years and passed it to my younger son. He drove it 2 years and then I gave it to my sister for my nephew. Only thing we did to it was brakes and tires. It was hit on the side and "totaled" but is still running strong at 150K with a salvage title. Boxter engine was very reliable, economical, and easiest oil changes of any vehicle ever with a top-mount filter. AWD and pre-collision breaking (I wouldn't put a teen in a car without it) make it very safe. Here's the same model listed very reasonably

Subaru

Autotrader is basically a mass listing of the specific model and year range you select for dealerships and used car places in the areas you select. They may have private sale listings but either the default setting doesn't give that or I have never/rarely had those come up. Keep in mind that the vehicles on Marketplace often have title issues and/or prior accident issues.

Dealers, including your new car dealers selling used cars, are also selling vehicles they bought at the auction with some (corrected) body and accident issues (no title probs). Sort of pisses me off to see the numbers but the point here is to look very hard at what you're buying.

Do you have an idea of what you're looking for? I'm guessing its either a fuel efficient smaller car, a truck, or something sporty -- car or SUV. At least, that's what I'd guess for a teenage boy.

Fuel efficiency will matter if he takes it to college, so yes on that. Ideally it would be a vehicle a teenage guy would be proud to drive, but obviously the most important things are safety and budget. I'd like it to be small enough that he can control it but large enough that he can see his surroundings and have some defense in an accident. All of that points to an SUV, but of course he'd call that a mom car, lol.

2017 Toyota Tacoma or 4Runner

You might consider looking into lease returns. They are generally pretty well maintained as they are contractually required to keep up with scheduled services. It's not the dirt cheap bargain bin route, but there are deals to be made on what will be more recent vehicles. If you're looking for safety features you're not going back more than about 10 years anyway.

Just my 2 cents.

Thanks, and I have thought of that. Any leads on where best to do that?

Check out Cransh Auto Sales in Arlington. They have pretty good word of mouth online and they put the boxes of all the preventative maintenance parts they replaced in the trunk so you can see the work they have done when you buy it.

We used Carvana for both kids - it was a great experience

DallasArchAg05 said:

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Thanks, and I have thought of that. Any leads on where best to do that?

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Depends on how confident/aggressive you want to be. You can call any of the larger leasing companies (e.g. D&M, Autoflex. Etc) or a lease outlet like Dallas Lease Returns. They are all interested in selling before the burden of auction if you find the right person to talk to.

Single cab, short bed pickup.