I am looking into buying my very first car and.

KWINN11

MEMBER
1990 MERCURY SABLE STATION WAGON
70,000 MILES

I am looking into buying my very first car and am pretty nervous about the whole thing. I don't have a parent or another experienced buyer to help me make the decision, so I thought I would look online for some advice. I happened to walk by a 1990 Mercury Station Wagon for sale and called the seller for additional information. It's going for $1500 and has the following issues:
- needs new valve gasket covers
-the passenger car window does not go down
-leaky oil
-the odometer broke after the mileage hit 70,000
These are all issues I obviously would like fixed. The seller actually owns his own shop, so my question is; should all of these things be fixed before $1500 is a reasonable price? Or should I talk him down from the original price and then have the issues fixed elsewhere myself? Or is 1500 a reasonable price even with all of these issues?
Any help would be much appreciated!

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,738 POSTS

Keep walking. If those were easy or inexpensive repairs, he would have done them.

I specialize in car problems, and as such, I always appear to point out the negatives in any car. I personally would stay away from any Ford. My very strong preference is for older Chrysler products. I have my reasons, and other people have their reasons for liking other brands, which are legitimate too. I also like the simpler and easier and cheaper-to-repair older stuff. I'm about to head out of town with my third oldest vehicle, an '88 Grand Caravan, because it's the one I know will get me home again. If you aren't picky about style or looking hot, consider a Dodge Shadow, or Plymouth Sundance. Those are really tough little cars and they're easy to fix. Please stay away from any Ford front-wheel-drive car.