Buy a Suburban / Yukon XL or better not in my special situation

[naish1]

hi folks,

after reading in the forum the last 4 weeks I decided to register today and post my question:

Maybe I start with my background: As you can obviously see from the text I am from Germany and I will live in the US the next 2 years. I have a company car (midsize SUV for unlimited private use as well) but we are thinking about buying a second car for my wife and kids since a while. Main purpose of the second car will be commute to work for me leaving the newer (safer?) car for my wife and having a bigger car on the weekends to go on some nice weekend trips for camping. We had a VW Eurovan in Germany which we used a lot for camping so my hope would be to realize something similar with a Suburban/Yukon XL as well. My questions now would be which option to bring forward:

1. Suburban/Yukon (2000-2006) with around 200.000 miles for around 4000 USD
2. Suburban/Yukon (2007-2009) with around 150.000-200.000 miles for around 7000 USD
   
3. stay with one car and take the saved money to book hotels (or tent)

Option 1 would require the lowest initial investment but the risk of high repair costs. Additionally I would guess that selling this car in 2 years will be more difficult (maybe only 1500 USD?)

Option 2 needs higher investment right now (which would be ok) and the repair costs are probably not significant lower than option 1. Selling after 2 years might be a little easier (maybe around 3000 USD) but the difference between buying and selling price is higher as option 1

Option 3 seems to be the most logic one but probably not the most fun?!? Additionally we would not have a 2nd car for everyday use which will make our lives a little more complicated

What would your guidance be? Can also be anything else than I suggested above.

Any "insider tip" how to find a reliable car from a good seller? I assume the level of honesty of used car dealers is on the same level as in Germany so maybe it is better not to rely too much on what they say/promise?!?

I saw that even cars with 200k miles are sometimes offered with an additional warranty (1200-1500 USD for 30k miles). Are these warrannties worth the money?

In general 200k miles are ok? Sorry for that stupid question but until now I have experience with german car brands (VW/AUDI/BMW) only.

Sorry for all these questions but maybe you can imagine that moving to a foreign country and buying a car there is not the easiest task to do...

Thanks for your help!

 

[adventurenali92]

Welcome. This is always a good place to ask questions! First off it'll depend on what state you will be buying on to determine price. For both generation suvs. I can't speak for other states but here in California the GM suvs that go for those prices have extremely high amounts of miles. 2 years ago I spent 15k for my 2006 denali xl with 74k on the odometer. Even the slt Yukons were around the same price. But just about everything here in California is more expensive so that's how I have to measure things. Secondly, buying with that many miles isn't terrible and every used car is going to come with some nevessary maintenance. That's just part of the process. From what I've experienced in the 2 years now that ive owned my gm, it has been very reliable with nothing major going out save for my transmission. But I live in the mountains in a ski town and mountain driving is just really ******* transmissions. So I'm not saying your guaranteed to have a transmission issue right away. If you look into used and find one that's been very well kept youre more than likely not going to have to worry too much about alot of maintenance. There are some threads here that have extremely good info on both generation suvs, what options and motors offered and common issues dealt with. If you're interested in reading those I can copy and paste the thread links for you to click into. They are titled thinking about buying a tahoe/yukon with each year range in the title.

 

[08HoeCD]

Welcome!

If I were in your situation, I would not buy the extra vehicle. Too much cost and/or risk for only two years of use before you sell it and return to Germany. Use that money to rent vehicles and pay for hotels.

Enjoy.

 

[Fosscore]

Both guys make very good points. Here are some threads Bigbeardenali1992 was talking about. @naish1

Thinking of Buying a 00-06 NBS Tahoe/Suburban? Look Here
http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thre...g-a-00-06-nbs-tahoe-suburban-look-here.61834/


Thinking of Buying a 07-14 NNBS Tahoe/Suburban? Look Here
http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thre...-a-07-14-nnbs-tahoe-suburban-look-here.61720/

and another one.

Some things to consider if buying a high-mileage GMT800
http://www.tahoeyukonforum.com/thre...nsider-if-buying-a-high-mileage-gmt800.88486/

#3 seems best option overall as you already have a car for work and personal use unlimited. Utilize the extra money and enjoy that to tent/hotel/fly

The unknown of a high mileage vehicle for only 2 years is tempting, but could prove to cost you more $$ than the short term desire to have a 2nd vehicle. Tough choice indeed. Maybe once you get in country, you can gather a better feel as to what you can afford and if you really need that 2nd vehicle. Good luck with your decisions. Lots of good info and helpful guys on here nonetheless.

 

[Phildirt]

Buy the older Burb. Roll with it. Sell it later.

 

[mals]

I am from Germany and I will live in the US the next 2 years.... Sorry for all these questions but maybe you can imagine that moving to a foreign country and buying a car there is not the easiest task to do.

I think the need for a second car for your wife and children while you are at work with will highly depend on where you will be living in the US, and what the public transit system is like in that area. My wife and I live in a small city, and most of our friends are single vehicle households, but we live just on the edge of the city, beyond the reach of sidewalks and all bus lines. Without a second vehicle my wife, who works from home, would be stranded while I was at work.

 

[naish1]

Thanks for all the great answers!

We have meanwhile found a nice place but as mentioned above there is no public transportation system at all. So currently my wife drops me of work in the morning and picks me up in the evening so she has a car for the day with the kids.

I guess I will read some more here before I will make any final decision.

 

[Martinjmpr]

How about another option: Use the company SUV for family trips and buy an inexpensive economy car to drive to work or around town in? You can get a decent Honda Accord or Camry for probably $3k or less, drive it 2 years and as long as you don't damage it, you can probably sell it for just about what you paid.

The biggest issue I could foresee in your plan for an older 'Burb or Yukon would be that you could end up having a problem when you are on a family vacation hundreds of miles from home - that wouldn't be fun. The (presumably newer) company SUV would be less likely to have any issues and in any case would likely be covered by a warranty.

 

[naish1]

In the beginning of this week we did it and bought the attached 2001 Yukon Denali XL with 150k miles on it.
The previous owner nicely took care of the car (not like the majority of the Suburbans we looked on before).
I know this was not a really reasonable choice but we are really happy about the Denali and hope we will not have to many issues in the next 2 years with it.

 

[PG01]

Good luck with it and welcome to the good ol' USA!!!!