The Blogg

More than pretty much any other crime, I can see why people would be tempted to commit insurance fraud. First, you can convince yourself that there is no real victim here, just a faceless corporation. You might even think of it as striking a blow for mankind against The Man, ignoring the fact that premiums will rise as necessary to ensure that the company makes a profit. Second, it makes a big difference; several thousand dollars when you need it is nothing to sneeze at. Third, it is easy to see your situation as unjust. If I had been involved in a collision I would have received $3000 – $4000 for my vehicle in spite of any engine troubles that may have been lurking beneath the surface. Instead, I got $150 plus the cost of towing from a salvage yard, and had to pay $100 of that to the mechanic who determined what was wrong with it.

I asked for car-buying advice in my last post and thank you for some good comments. Several people suggested buying a new car, so I looked into it a bit further. There are a number of new vehicle models with prices “from” around $10,000, such as the Chevrolet Aveo, Kia Rio, Hyundai Accent, Nissan Versa, and Toyota Yaris. However, when they call these bare-bones models, they aren’t kidding. I do not require a lot of luxury features, but an automatic transmission, cruise control, and air conditioning are not optional for me. Because you cannot generally pick single options but must select “trim levels”, none of these models can actually be purchased with these features for under $14,000. At that price, I think I will take my chances with a used vehicle in the $5000 – $7000 range.

I last bought a car in 2005, and at the time got a vehicle that was 4 years old and had 80,000 miles and typical features for $5000. With the economy in a slump and the automobile market even worse, it seems to me that I should easily be able to find a similar deal now. Unfortunately, this is not the case. There are very few 2004-2006 models for sale around here, which I suppose makes sense. The only people who are going to be selling a 4 year old car in good condition are the kind who will be dealing in luxury models, not economy compacts. So, I’ve been expanding my search to vehicles with a few more years, a few more tens of thousands of miles, $1000 higher prices.

A few days ago I spent the afternoon calling about all of the advertisements from our local newspaper and web inventories that were close to these parameters. I surprising number had already been sold, and many others had manual transmissions or no cruise control. This left a 2005 Suzuki Verona S (82,000 miles, $5800), a 2004 Dodge Stratus (59,000 miles, $6995), a 2003 Chrysler PT Cruiser GT (119,000 miles, $5495), a 2003 Ford Focus LX (98,000 miles, $4995), and a 2004 Hyundai Sonata (90,000 miles, $4950). The Sonata looks like the best deal, but is larger than I would like. The Suzuki also appears good but does not get positive reviews for reliability. While more expensive than I would like, the Stratus is intriguing. Of course, all of these vehicles may have been sold by now. Rachel took tomorrow off work so we can drive around from lot to lot and hopefully find something acceptable.