I'm thinking on buying a 2012 Maxima from someone I know for 7,500. First of all Is this a good deal... for this year and mileage? My only problem is that the car has 113,000 miles and don't know if it'll need any major work done. My buddy said that he did maintenance often and only used synthetic oil aswell as premium gas... So has anyone out there experienced any problems with your cars around this mileage? And btw it's the model S. Thanks.

 

I did a quick online search, and the 7500 seems to be within the fair masking price for this car. The mileage is a bit high, but since you know the owner, and that it was well cared for does add some value too.

 

As stated, the price isn't that far off from a basic Edmunds.com bluebook lookup for private party. They list it at $7000 with no additional options added as you weren't specific if it had any bells like HID's or anything.


Note too that the tradin is only $5300, so you're doing your friend a favor if you give him full ask. Now, if it's got a lot of new stuff, new brakes, New Tires, with that many miles spark plugs should have been replaced, ($5-600 retail with labor) and trans fluid should have been replaced twice by now...if all or most of that is done, then he's doing you a favor. But if all that stuff needs to be done, Tires, brakes, trans fluid, spark plugs, don't forget struts and shocks going bad with that kind of mileage...if all that is pending then I'd walk away unless he goes down below $5k.

 

Personally would you guys buy it? Or is there better thing out there for this price margin?

 

I'm at that age where I won't buy anything I can't get certified pre-owned or with extended (zero deductible) warrantee that will last at least the life of the loan, or even further. My 2007 Max had over $13,000 in repairs under extended warrantee, and not to mention out of pocket expenses, tires/brakes, plugs, belt, fluid changes (CVT and motor). My experience was a bad one, not all maxima's are that bad. But I also bought it with only 20k on the odometer, not 113k. To be honest, this situation could go either way. The worst part is it's going to ruin your friendship if the car takes a ****. For THAT reason alone, I'd say no, don't risk a good friendship.

 

That's a very subjective question. Unless I were really strapped for cash, I won't consider anything with over 20000 miles. I want to have at least some warranty left when I drive it off the lot.

But for the price range your looking at, seems like a good enough deal.

 

You still haven't talked about what features on the car, or what work the owner has recently done that might benefit you going forward. New tires, brakes, plugs...all that stuff I mentioned. If none of that has been done, you will be on the hook. So consider that as part of the price for the car as you evaluate the decision. So if it turns out you spend $7k, but have $3-4,000 in repair work, you now must have a $10,000 budget. With a $10,000 budget, you could find a car with half the miles, and it may already have new tires on it.

 

The RMV here in Mass has a family and also a friends gift transfer form for vehicle transfers to avoid paying sales tax. The fee is free for family and only $25 for friends.
See if your state has something similar and keep that in mind. Could save yourself some cash there.