What kind of used car can I get for $2000?

Tough call. If at all possible I’d try to find something you can pay cash for.
I say this because I also have not so great credit and the interest rate on my vehicle loan is ridiculous. I think about 20 dollars of my 200 dollar payment goes toward the principle. The rest is interest. I’ve been paying on it for 2 years and I still owe almost the whole loan amount.

I understand your need for a reliable car, is there any possibility of you getting a loan from a family member?

@Katniss Thanks for answering. They’re pretty strapped for cash themselves, so I’m not going to ask them for a loan. I have a car to drive for as long as I need, but it’s older. They’re willing to help me get my own loan, but I’m not even sure I should go that far. Maybe I should just keep saving money, and buy a car later? But it took forever to get $2000 together.

$2000 isn’t really enough for a reliable car unless you want to work on it yourself. No matter what you get it’s going to have high mileage at that price and pretty much anything is going to start to need semi-regular work above 100–150k miles. The cost of the work is unpredictable and can be harder than a monthly payment since you can’t plan for it.

Not trying to put up walls, just hoping to share what took me half a dozen cars to realize. I tried for years to keep fairly reliable cars (mostly Hondas) going as cheaply as possible. Finally buying something low mileage made me wonder why I did it for so long. I love working on cars, but when you’re working on your only option to get to work the next day, it loses its appeal.

$2000 is a good down payment though if you need something fast. You could probably finance something new with proof of income and a cosigner without getting killed on interest. Just be flexible and shop around. Keep it cheap and remember it’s just transportation, not status. For reference, every $5k you finance for 5 years (typical new car loan term) is about $100/mo to pay back. Used cars generally can’t be financed as long, which sometimes offsets the advantage of a cheaper car overall. Warranties can be wonderful things.

If you have a bank, they’ll walk you through loan options with them as well. Sometimes you can offset bad credit with a larger down payment, or by only spending a certain percentage of the value of used cars. I went to my bank first, then played that interest rate off the dealership and they beat it.

A reliable car just makes life so much easier. If that truly is your only way around, the only way you can be reliable as an employee is with a car that starts every morning. There was a time I swore I’d never buy a new car, never finance one, and never have anything I didn’t work on myself, eventually it just proved too important and convenient.

I’ll list some 1990s vehicles probably able to get for 2,000.

96 Honda Civic is very popular
95 Nissan 200sx
97 Acura Integra
Toyota Camry

Honda, Toyota, and Nissan will be your best bet. If you find a car in your price range that you like, have a mechanic check it out.

My first car was a 1989 Toyota Camry that I bought for $1200 back in 2007. Pretty decent car. It would’ve lasted longer if I didn’t total it and lock up the engine.

@Haleth. Are you still in the UK? If so, it might be helpful for the Jellies reading this question to know this. It may impact their response.

My son the auto mechanic has a Ford Focus right now that he is selling for $3,000. It has over a hundred thousand miles on it, but he has done a lot of work on it and it is in good running order. My granddaughter bought one of those new beetles for $2,500 off the side of the road, and it is a piece. She has put thousands into it just to keep it running. My advice would be to buy from an auto mechanic. They get cars in all the time, fix them up mechanically and sell them. Buying off the side of the road is risky. And any reputable used car dealer wouldn’t bother with a car in that price range.

Depends where you’re at. I sold an old truck here in Missouri for $600 last fall and it ran great, a V-8. Just gotta look around.

@Pied_Pfeffer I live in the Washington, DC area, and always have. Perhaps you’re mixing me up with another jelly?

@Skaggfacemutt I had no idea that auto mechanics sold cars! Do they have listings with these, or should I just call up dealers and ask?

I would definitely pay cash, loans are a noose round your neck for too long, but definitely get a reliable mechanic to look over it for you. Just to

@Haleth. Indeed I have. Please forgive me.

I bought a 2001 Saturn SL2 for $2000 about six months ago.it is pretty clean with power everything and it has the same weight capacity as the Saturn station wagon. i use it to haul all of my pipefitting tools to job sites. i get 30 mpg with it fully loaded down..

@Haleth It’s not an official thing, just that in their lne of work they often have people bring in cars that need more work than they want to pay for, so they either give it to the mechanic or sell it to them for a song. It is a personal thing, not the shop, so you would just have to call a shop, ask to speak to a mechanic, and ask the mechanic if he has or knows someone who has a good used car for sale. I know that if someone from my town called my son with a request like that, he always has a bead on a car.