Our daughter & her husband are at Ramstein and have decided to start shopping for a second car. My guess is their budget will be under $3k US.
I’ll probably steer them away from VW, as I’m guessing their budget will put them in MkIV territory. I’m not familiar with what non-German brands/models are available though?
Also, are Facebook Marketplace and/or Craigslist effective shopping tools over there?
I assume they are on a military base? If so there is almost always what we called a "PCS" lot. People getting stationed elsewhere will put up cars for sale that they don't or can't take with them. Being in Germany there should be plenty of cars for sale that can't be brought back to the States. I would start there.
In reply to Aaron_King :
Yes, they’ll be shopping those too. I wasn’t sure if that’s the best place for them to find a good car/deal or if off base might offer at least more selection.
In reply to Pete Gossett :
They used to be good for a deal, when the man says you have to leave and can't take it with you its gotta go.
There's not a direct German equivalent to Craigslist - there is a "mini" Ebay site that is the closest thing. It isn't an auction site but more like a craigs functionality in terms of putting buyer and seller together.
https://www.ebay-kleinanzeigen.de/
In reply to Aaron_King :
My other concern is them buying a car that’s been imported from the US only to discover there’s zero parts support because that platform was never sold in Europe.
There is also mobile.de.
$3k is about 2500 Euros. At least the last time I looked, that didn’t buy much if anything in Germany that didn’t need immediate work. For some reason used cars in Germany tend to be pretty expensive.
BoxheadTim said:There is also mobile.de.
$3k is about 2500 Euros. At least the last time I looked, that didn’t buy much if anything in Germany that didn’t need immediate work. For some reason used cars in Germany tend to be pretty expensive.
They have much more thorough and strict MOT requirements don't they? people probably don't undervalue their investment into good used vehicles then.
mobile.de is my favorite german classifieds site. In their price range I'd be shopping for a BMW 330D wagon with a stick (330xd if they wanted AWD)
here's those results: https://m.mobile.de/auto/search.html?ms=3500%3B15%3B%3B&c=EstateCar&cn=DE&dam=0&md=15&mk=3500&s=Car&vc=Car&tr=MANUAL_GEAR&fe!=EXPORT
or with an automatic: https://m.mobile.de/auto/search.html?ms=3500%3B15%3B%3B&c=EstateCar&cn=DE&dam=0&md=15&mk=3500&od=up&p=500%3A3000&s=Car&sb=std&vc=Car&fe!=EXPORT
If they stick with the german "big three" (BMW, Mercedes, and VAG) then they should have TONS of options.
German used car "culture"/industry is not the same as in the USA. In the US we leave the responsibility of the car's repair and overall safety compliance (or lack thereof) up to the owner of the car. In Germany not at all. So finding a "fixer" or similar "bargain" is not as common and requires a much more difficult inspection to get the "tags" and insurance back on it. So you can find and buy all kinds of 0-10 year old cars. 10+ and older starts to get harder. Another example is that most Americans smile and nod when they see somebody driving around in a clapped out older car and think "how cool that they are keeping that car running". Most Germans would reach for the phone to notify the authorities about the dangerous vehicle they just saw.
PS I love Germans and Germany.
In reply to Hungary Bill :
Looks like cars got cheaper again since I last looked there. A lot of the cheaper cars tend to get bought up for export to countries further east, which tends to put a floor under prices.
spacecadet said:BoxheadTim said:There is also mobile.de.
$3k is about 2500 Euros. At least the last time I looked, that didn’t buy much if anything in Germany that didn’t need immediate work. For some reason used cars in Germany tend to be pretty expensive.
They have much more thorough and strict MOT requirements don't they? people probably don't undervalue their investment into good used vehicles then.
They do. Probably the most strict of the big EU countries. It’s also not as common to change vehicles frequently as, say, in the UK or the US.
Thanks everyone!
Fortunately they’re ok with, and would actually prefer, a manual. Though they’re definitely not the diy type, hence my concern about German brands & their parts/repair prices.
Once they have a budget & are ready to start shopping I’ll likely be back with more questions.
Pete Gossett said:In reply to Aaron_King :
My other concern is them buying a car that’s been imported from the US only to discover there’s zero parts support because that platform was never sold in Europe.
I knew a girl who was dating a guy in the military who was going to be stationed in Germany and she kept talking about how she was going to buy a Suburban and take it over there.
I kept telling her why that was a bad idea on so many levels, but she wouldn't listen.
BoxheadTim said:There is also mobile.de.
$3k is about 2500 Euros. At least the last time I looked, that didn’t buy much if anything in Germany that didn’t need immediate work. For some reason used cars in Germany tend to be pretty expensive.
The German vehicle inspection is... thorough. Almost as bad as the Japanese one except without the "ending is better than mending" culture.
For a while, the E36 M3 (the car, not the unswear) was a popular rally car in Finland because they could pick them up for $10k in Germany on a failing inspection, stick a rollcage, good shocks, and smaller brakes to fit under 15" wheels, and go play in the woods. (Bear in mind that the euro E36 had an engine very similar to what we got in the E46 M3... that's more power than any 2WD can use on gravel, so they could leave the drivetrain pretty much stock. This is actually a money saving move)
Ramatein is berkeleying huge. They should find anything at the lemon lot.
Knurled. said:Pete Gossett said:In reply to Aaron_King :
My other concern is them buying a car that’s been imported from the US only to discover there’s zero parts support because that platform was never sold in Europe.
I knew a girl who was dating a guy in the military who was going to be stationed in Germany and she kept talking about how she was going to buy a Suburban and take it over there.
I kept telling her why that was a bad idea on so many levels, but she wouldn't listen.
Only a bad idea in regards to parking.
ebay-k, mobile.de and the local bookoo are their best bets. pricing at them lemon lot is stupid and should be last resort. if they havent gotten to the comm shop to get their phones, have them do that first and have the first app they download be google translate and have the download the german language inside the app. facebook/twitter can come later. their sponsor should know where the comm shop is.
if they can, have them get inspected at american motors in landstuhl, tell the to talk to jannif. great guy, inspections arent stupid at american motors like they are on the kapun base. its worth the 50 euro or whatever he charges to do it vs the free nightmare at kapun. he's fair, reasonable, and good to work with. he can also fix their issues for what they'll fail for for a decent price.
also, have them travel immediately, too many people waste time settling in first. lidl, wasgau, edeka and aldi are the typical grocery stores so they wont have to fight all the dependapotamuses at the commissary. 'berger autoteile' in einsiedlerhof is a decent place to get replacement parts. obi is home depot and saturn in k-town is best buy and i think they'll figure out the rest from there.
oh and if theyre beer fans, Belgian bistro in weilerbach is the place to go. german beer is over rated, hefeweisen, dunkel and pils are the only things they do well imo
PS: shoppette has a decent selection of euro beer
In reply to TurboFocus :
Thanks! They’ve been there almost a year & are just now looking for a 2nd vehicle, but I’ll pass all your tips along to them!
Brown, diesel, manual and wagon should be pretty easy to find over there.
TurboFocus said:dependapotamuses
I spent far more time than I should admit, trying to mentally break this word down so that I could translate it to English.
In reply to Knurled. :
I suppose I could make this easy for the rest of grm
dependapotamus: dependent + hippopotamus
A dependapotamus is a fat, rude and aggressive wife. Not the norm but certainly over represented, common hangouts are the bx and the spouse Facebook pages.
see below:
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