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Notes -
It's not quite as bad in the midwest, though there's a lot of cruft, crappy manufacturers and (not always bad, but high-risk) salvage titles for more reputable builders.
But yeah, prices have absolutely skyrocketed. Most of these would have been advertised at about half of their current prices, and most dealers would be far more willing to negotiate, even as recently at 2015; if you go back to pre-cash4clunkers the difference is even more staggering.
Coastals might be able to hit that at 9k (though prices are before fees!), but if you don't want a used police car (don't do it) or lease car, you're probably more screwed.
I saw the 2014 Nissan Versa with 85k miles for about $7k and I click in and it says on there "1 or more accidents reported."
Anytime you see something that seems like a deal, there's gonna be some catch or other.
I'm seeing that the prices on those cars have come down over the past couple months, so I do wonder if there's signs of easing of prices in the near future.
I just distinctly remember when I was buying my Civic that I overheard the buyer in the next booth over talking with the salesperson about a $500+/mo payment on a 72 month note, for a used truck, and just wondered if it was me or everybody else that was losing their mind.
Also heavily annoyed that I've already had to dump $2000 worth of repairs into the Civic to keep it roadworthy, but I'm at least confident I can get another 100k miles out the engine w/maintenance if I were forced to.
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