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2003 Expedition for 15,998...good deal?


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We have to get rid of our small SUV because I just realized that the middle seat in the back has a lap belt, no shoulder belt. My four year old needs to be in a booster with a shoulder belt so we are hurriedly trying to get a "new" used car. We don't want to go with a mini van because they seem similar in price and mileage to the bigger SUV and we would prefer one that has a third row in case we ever decide to have another baby.

 

It's just one of these rushed situations and I am having trouble deciding for sure on the one we looked at this morning. It seems great, I just can't decide.

 

Just thought I'd throw this out here for some advice.....

 

**can you imagine I got a stupid speeding ticket today and I am so angry about it....haven't had a ticket in over 15 years. I think the stress from that is affecting my thinking on this car. We don't buy cars very often and it will be a while so I want to make the right choice for a car we can live with a long time.

 

TIA

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Well there is only a 30 day warranty with Carmax so not much of one.

 

My current car is a 2002 and it's got 51,000 miles. This one has 61,000 miles.

 

I've searched a bit online and it looks like they are all around that mileage. Nothing real low that I could manage to afford. They appraised my car and will buy it back so I can apply that plus money I have. I can't afford a car payment so I'd like to stay under that amount of money. We were so lucky to find my previous car because it was practically new with only 8,000 miles and it made me feel like I bought a new car (which I've never done) so I guess I'm having a hard time decided to have to put out so much money for something basically the same age as mine.

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just wanted to add....

 

I'm sure if we took time to look around we might find a better deal, but private sales and dealer's are hard to deal with. It just seems so much easier to go this route. We just don't have the experience or time to bother with that. At least this way their is no haggling on price and no one trying to up sell me a newer vehicle.

 

Aargh! I just hate this...I really would have been more than happy to drive my car into the ground if it wasn't for this stupid thing with the seatbelts I didn't notice until recently.

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I just typed in the information you gave us into http://www.kbb.com. I didn't know the specifics of this particular Explorer, so I guessed - using the base model type stuff. Even in Excellent condition (very few cars are truly in excellent condition), as a private party buying it, the BB value is $9700. So, unless it is REALLY decked out, it seems like the price is high.

 

Good luck with your search!

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I just typed in the information you gave us into http://www.kbb.com. I didn't know the specifics of this particular Explorer, so I guessed - using the base model type stuff. Even in Excellent condition (very few cars are truly in excellent condition), as a private party buying it, the BB value is $9700. So, unless it is REALLY decked out, it seems like the price is high.

 

Good luck with your search!

 

Well it's an Expedition, not an Explorer so it would cost more.

 

I checked the blue book and under the part where it says suggested retail value it did come up about $14,500. Of course not for private party sales, that was much lower, so I assume if we saw one for sale by owner we could spend less, but it's harder to know if you can trust them.

 

It has all the basics but it does have a sun roof.

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Oops!! I did look up Expedition not Explorer. I didn't realize you were looking at the dealer. Wow - that makes a big difference heh?

 

Here's what came up as the base package:

 

Vehicle Highlights 2003 Ford Expedition Sport Utility 4D

 

Mileage: 61,000

Engine: V8 4.6 Liter

Transmission: Automatic

Drivetrain: 4WD

 

Selected Equipment Change Equipment

Standard

XLT Cruise Control Power Seat

Air Conditioning AM/FM Stereo Third Seat

Power Steering Cassette Roof Rack

Power Windows Single Compact Disc Privacy Glass

Power Door Locks Dual Front Air Bags Alloy Wheels

Tilt Wheel ABS (4-Wheel)

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I compare prices there as well as Bluebook when we are looking for cars. It helps me fine tune the price.

 

 

Thanks. I checked and it looked like they are all in the same range so maybe it's not too outrageous. I guess the hard part is needing a third row, which years ago would have seemed frivolous to me until I had three kids and realized how much we live out of our car. We don't take many vacations, we road trip.

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Oops!! I did look up Expedition not Explorer. I didn't realize you were looking at the dealer. Wow - that makes a big difference heh?

 

Here's what came up as the base package:

 

Vehicle Highlights 2003 Ford Expedition Sport Utility 4D

 

Mileage: 61,000

Engine: V8 4.6 Liter

Transmission: Automatic

Drivetrain: 4WD

 

Selected Equipment Change Equipment

Standard

XLT Cruise Control Power Seat

Air Conditioning AM/FM Stereo Third Seat

Power Steering Cassette Roof Rack

Power Windows Single Compact Disc Privacy Glass

Power Door Locks Dual Front Air Bags Alloy Wheels

Tilt Wheel ABS (4-Wheel)

 

Ok, just making sure.

 

I just think buying from a dealer makes it so much higher than a private sale. It wasn't really all that fancy but it did have the back up sensors which was cool and then the sunroof. Do you think they are good enough cars to buy one five years old?

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Here in Los Angeles you can't give away an Expedition. Not with gas prices the way they are.

 

Almost $16K in this market strikes me as way too high a price. Anyone wanting to BUY an huge SUV now is certainly in a great bargaining position. I know friends who've been offered between $2-3000 for nice late-model SUVs as trade-ins. There is just almost no demand right now, so drive a very hard bargain.

 

Bill

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Here in Los Angeles you can't give away an Expedition. Not with gas prices the way they are.

 

Almost $16K in this market strikes me as way too high a price. Anyone wanting to BUY an huge SUV now is certainly in a great bargaining position. I know friends who've been offered between $2-3000 for nice late-model SUVs as trade-ins. There is just almost no demand right now, so drive a very hard bargain.

 

Bill

 

That is what I was thinking. We thought about dumping ou Explorer for a civic, but the explored isn't worth much.

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Here in Los Angeles you can't give away an Expedition. Not with gas prices the way they are.

 

Almost $16K in this market strikes me as way too high a price. Anyone wanting to BUY an huge SUV now is certainly in a great bargaining position. I know friends who've been offered between $2-3000 for nice late-model SUVs as trade-ins. There is just almost no demand right now, so drive a very hard bargain.

 

Bill

 

That's totally what I thought, but the problem with Carmax is there is no bargaining. I liked that I didn't have to deal with a regular kind of car dealership but in this case it might be stupid to not try somewhere else. I may need to go somewhere else where you can strike deals and I am surprised they weren't going for less money. They didn't have very many to look at because they said they aren't selling.

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There was an interesting article in the LA Times a short while back about the "role-reversal" taking place here in LA as "upper-middle class" families are dumping their SUVs (or giving them to their "maids").

 

And how, while the affluent are now driving the type of small cars that were once driven mainly by "the poor", the poor are now driving the big SUVs once driven by "the rich".

 

Life is funny sometimes.

 

Bill

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There was an interesting article in the LA Times a short while back about the "role-reversal" taking place here in LA as "upper-middle class" families are dumping their SUVs (or giving them to their "maids").

 

And how, while the affluent are now driving the type of small cars that were once driven mainly by "the poor", the poor are now driving the big SUVs once driven by "the rich".

 

Life is funny sometimes.

 

Bill

 

That is so interesting!

 

I always wonder what big families did back when SUV and Minivans weren't so popular.

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That is so interesting!

 

I always wonder what big families did back when SUV and Minivans weren't so popular.

 

In my day it was either station wagons, or they'd throw all the young-uns in the back of daddy's open pick-up. Can't do that anymore.

 

Bill (who as an infant rode around in a cardboard "peanut butter" box salvaged from the market)

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I always wonder what big families did back when SUV and Minivans weren't so popular.

 

My inlaws had 7 children. They used those big station wagons that didn't have car seats and enough seat belts and the kids sat facing the back in the third row. My MIL said that babies laid on the seat or on the floor.

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Don't know if this will help you decide but we purchased our 2007 Expedition in Feb of this year. It had 9000 miles and still had over 2 years of warranty left on it. We gave 22,000 for it. It has the third row seat and it is really nice and roomy. I really love it, except for the gas prices we are having right now of course. We haven't really went any where to check out the highway miles yet but local we are getting 17.5 miles to the gallon.:)

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Have you looked at getting a car seat with a higher weight rating? They are available up to 80 lbs, and might work with the old lap belt.

 

Here is a listing of some models:

http://www.car-safety.org/basics.html

 

Gosh I would jump for joy if I could find one. I looked around and they all seemed to convert to a booster after 40 lbs. Do you know of one?

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Gosh I would jump for joy if I could find one. I looked around and they all seemed to convert to a booster after 40 lbs. Do you know of one?

 

I've posted on this before, but take a look at the Radian 80.

 

Bill (who has no stock in Sunshine Kids :001_smile: )

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I've posted on this before, but take a look at the Radian 80.

 

Bill (who has no stock in Sunshine Kids :001_smile: )

 

OH for goodness sake! I couldn't be more happy to see there is a carseat out there that will give me some time.

 

Thanks so much, I thought I had no choice, but my guy is very little so that seat should work until we save some more money and can really bargain without car payments.

 

This board is great!

 

Off to work...catch you later.

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Don't know if this will help you decide but we purchased our 2007 Expedition in Feb of this year. It had 9000 miles and still had over 2 years of warranty left on it. We gave 22,000 for it. It has the third row seat and it is really nice and roomy. I really love it, except for the gas prices we are having right now of course. We haven't really went any where to check out the highway miles yet but local we are getting 17.5 miles to the gallon.:)

 

That's exactly what I was wondering about. I thought I could bargain a better deal. We will wait patiently and look around more. I would prefer for that amount of money to have a newer vehicle.

 

Gas isn't an issue since I already drive an SUV so it would only go up a bit more. From what I could tell Minivans aren't much better for gas either.

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That's exactly what I was wondering about. I thought I could bargain a better deal. We will wait patiently and look around more. I would prefer for that amount of money to have a newer vehicle.

 

Gas isn't an issue since I already drive an SUV so it would only go up a bit more. From what I could tell Minivans aren't much better for gas either.

 

Carmax gave you a Carfax report on this vehicle, right? If not, make sure you get one before you decide anything. And check that they put in the correct VIN when they get the report.

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Britax makes car seats with a 5-point harness, up to 80 lbs. They are expensive, but obviously not compared to the price of a new car. :)

 

This is absolutely what I would do.

 

:iagree: That was going to be my suggestion, but they beat me to it. :001_smile:

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