"HELP" from members in California

[Bill Hain]

Hi Everyone,
My daughter (picture attached) who is a graduate of Boston University's Acting School (very talented) has been trying to break into the acting business in New York City for the last couple of years -- with only limited sucess. (not easy to do!)
She just announced that she is going to move to LA in April -- to see if she will have a better shot at her career out there.
She plans on flying out and purchasing a car out there --- Here's the problem -- she wants a good quality -- reliable--low mileage -- safe used car but she only has 5 K to spend.
She called me and asked if I knew anybody out there who could help --- my first answer was "NO" -- but then I thought about you guy's in Club Cobra --- you're into cars, and you might know about a great deal.
If anyone can be of any help with either car or career -- it would be apreciated --- Thanks -- Bill

[Slick61]

from my own personal experience, buying a used car in L.A. is a dicey proposition at best. There are SO many curbstoners, resellers, scammers, & disreputable sellers. Your best shot is at a dealership or some place like CarMax, though you'll pay a premium for that. Most of the used car market out here is junk... a lot of it brought in from out-of-state & won't pass smog- which is another concern. I think you'd be better off buying something back there & driving it out. I can't tell you how many cars I've looked at that were advertised as "excellent condition"... only to find poor quality body work, bad paint, ill-fitting interior panels, & so on. By law, the seller is supposed to provide a valid smog certificate... though that rarely happens. Most are just trying to turn a quick buck.

Yes, you CAN get lucky... sometimes, but you've REALLY got to be careful out here. Perhaps I'm being overly dramatic, but having lived all over the country, I've found Southern California to be the worst place when it comes to honest sellers of used cars in that price range.

[Ron61]

Bill,

For the most part I agree with Slick. I have lived from the L.A. area, Fresno, to up here in the far Northern part of the state and used cars are a gamble on most of the lots I have visited at best. If you can find a person near you that is selling one privately, you might have better luck. There are reputable used car dealers here, but you will pay more for them. You might go to the Hemmings Motor News site and search for cars in California and find something. We used to have a lot of the used car lots up here and they have shut most of them down for everything from out right fraud to selling stolen cars.

Ron