Buying a used car is always a bit of a risk, but some used cars are riskier than others. Sometimes you get your hands on something barely-used and manufacturer-certified, other times you end up with something truly, unrecoverably terrible. The key comes in knowing how to weight the dice in your favor, and an easy way to do that is to be picky about where you buy your cars from. That's why, earlier this week, I asked you all for the states you'd never buy a used car from.
You turned in a wealth of answers, primarily having to do with weather. The winter storms of the Northeast, the hurricanes and floods of the Southern coast, and whatever the hell even happens out in the Midwest between tornadoes. With all your options, we ended up covering most of the United States — if you're looking to buy a new car, read your way through the list and then buy something from one of the precious few states not mentioned.
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New York. Bought a 03 chevy s10 pickup from a 'body shop' in Reading PA that had bought the truck at auction. Truck originally came from New York and I was the third owner. The body shop (or someone) had spent a lot of time covering the rusty stuff underneath with black duct tape and I didn't notice it until it was too late – I had the truck for more than 30 days before trying to get it inspected (my fault). You would think that after manufacturing vehicles for almost 100 years, these guys would know how to create better lasting vehicles.
Submitted by: thomas
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Florida, due to the ease of washing titles, and any state that gets a lot of snow in the winter, because salt. Any state in the south, save Florida, is ok more or less.
Submitted by: Liffie420
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I live in FL, and I can tell you that there ARE some low-mileage retiree creampuffs/weekend toy cars here that can be a good deal, but you need to be SUPER diligent to watch for flood, sun and salt air damage. But my no-sale state is going to be Alaska, because you just know anything from up there has had a hard life, seen a lot of gravelly roads, and it's likely going to cost more than the car is worth to get it home.
Submitted by: BuddyS
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Any state on a Great Lake. The Lakes are car killers. First off, famously, anytime cold air blows across the lakes, you get snow. Lots of snow. Second off, not as well known, but under the lakes are giant salt deposits. There is a LOT of salt mining in the area. The not-so nice stuff that comes from these mines is sold cheaply to the DOTs that border the lakes. The result is that dealing with even a foot of snow overnight is never a big problem.
My daily driver is 22 years old. It's been in Florida (inland) and the Deep South for 21 of those 22 years. I was under it this weekend, and there isn't any rust. I could put the car on a lift, clean it off and touch up the paint and likely convince someone it had been fully restored. Meanwhile, a car from Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland or Erie might have likely have holes in the floorboards well before 22 years of service.
This is why I recommend considering Southwest Air when car shopping if you live in that region. Say you are in Chicago. SW Airlines has a direct flight to Birmingham. Fly down on Friday night and rent a car and a hotel. Spend Saturday test driving cars and pick out a good one. It's about 600 miles back to Chicago, which is should be an easy drive if you picked on a good car. That car can be 15 years old and not have a spot of rust.
Submitted by: hoser68
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I prefer to avoid the Midwest, where I live. We don't have safety inspections but do use tons of road salt, so cars just rot until their wheels quite literally fall off. If I buy a car from the Midwest, my requirement is that it either has to be brand new or so cheap that I am willing to ignore the rust.
I avoid the east for any car I would spend more than "screw it" money on. The cars out there are rusty like the cars at home, but now with the added complication of being ~900 miles from home.
All of my cleanest cars have come from California, Alabama, Texas, Florida (not near the coasts), or Japan.
Submitted by: Mercedes Streeter
Japan is something of a wild pick here, given how rusty some of their exported cars can be. I trust Mercedes' judgment, though. She knows what she's doing.
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Ohio is the place where PA cars go to die. Both PA and Ohio use rock salt so our cars are not great.
That said, PA does have both safety and emissions inspections (PA is CARB compliant) so we have that going for us I guess. Ohio doesn't do that.
Submitted by: Garlos Chosn (gib latest tab)
Garlos, we have a latest page! It's right on the top of the site!
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Having grown up there, Rhode Island due to the terrible pothole riddled roads and salt used in winter. Even if it looks like it was well kept there's some hidden damage, inside and out. Incredibly, my cousin Don has managed to find a few early 60's VW Beetles in very original condition over the years there, but that is not the norm.
Submitted by: Dan60
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As a Californian, I'm scared of anywhere that regularly deals with snow. I'd say I'm so spoiled that I won't buy any car that isn't from the Southwest (California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico).
Submitted by: iSantaCruzin
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ILLINOIS, INDIANA, Lower Michigan. Pretty much anywhere that has long winters and uses salt.
Submitted by: Bmied
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Disrepair.
Submitted by: Modusoperandi
So true bestie.
