I found what I needed online. They had a Hyundai Entourage Limited 2008 for under $3k. The mileage is very high but I wanted that car. When I went there to look at it I was greeted by Mike. He is an affable person and never once had the vibe you get from car salesmen. I would have left if I'd felt that as I'd done with several other used car places in the previous week.
They were very busy so I waited while they dealt with customers and brought the minivan around. It looked as I expected and matched their online pictures. It is well used. I checked the brakes but only stuck my finger on the rotor. It was slick, like it was turned or new. The interior was worn but clean and did not have a bad smell nor had they hosed it down with 'new car stink' to cover up issues.
Mike said he'd honor the online price even thought he had just raised the price, that it was on him to remove the listing and if that didn't happen he'd honor what I found. Oh they'd done the brakes, he had receipts if I wanted to see them. They also replaced valve cover gaskets and did an oil change.
I took it for a test drive with Mike. Oh no, it did not do well and stuttered on the way back. Mike said he'd get that looked at. He came back and said it most likely was damp from the detailing and removing the oil but he did find a module bad and a code had been set. Mike wanted to fix that and make sure it ran well and it would take a week to get the part. So a week later I picked it up. The new part was 150 and ran the engine cooling fan. He did not charge me any more to do that.
This is a slop car. It's to carry me and my mutts around so we can go to the dog park or other places to walk. It runs and has plenty of power. I'd just bought a used Avalon at Beck Toyota and love it but kind wish I'd known about this place sooner as he had a Toyota I'd have liked for a bit less.
Last bit, I just visited my brother this Friday and drove the van for about 50 miles and it did well. I had no issues with it. read more