I want to finance a good reliable but fun car for a teenage boy. I was evaluating a Mazda 3 Hatchback CPO 2020 with 33k Miles for 23k. or a 2022 Hyundai Elantra SEL 16.8k Miles $19k? Does any sound like a fair deal? Haven’t approach them yet is just internet price and it says is true price. Both are in dealerships and CPO.
None of these sound like good deals.
Finance a brand new car in that budget. Look for promotional APRs on cars in that price range such as Corolla, Forte, Impreza, Soul, etc etc.
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Get something old but safe. Insurance will kill you once you add him on the insurance policy. 
Exactly that is why I am trying to avoid New but also don’t want him driving a 20-year-old car lol.
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Yeah the insurance part is crazy, I’m divorced and for whatever reason it was significantly cheaper for my son to go on the ex’s insurance. I bet the insurance on a new car or late model car would be as much as the payment. I went the 20 year old car route, he’s driving a 2003 Lexus ES300. Nothing wrong with old if you find the right car, lots of older Lexus out there that have been taken car of. I don’t see the point in getting a teenager a newer/nice car, they’ll probably just crash it anyway or ding it up. He’s got a nice car with leather/sunroof and upgraded the radio to touch screen with CarPlay etc, he’s happy and I paid cash for it.
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What is the original msrp of the Mazda 3? You’re probably paying a huge percentage of the original price. You could buy a new one for not much more with obviously more warranty, new features/tech/safety stuff. In general used cars are highly inflated right now relative to new.
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Adding to other’s comments, I bought my teen a Chevy Bolt because I wanted newer safety features. But the insurance costs $513 PER MONTH just for his car ($3079/6 months). For comparison, our other 3 cars combined cost $376 per month to insure.
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What exactly are the insurance savings over a brand new Corolla, Forte, Soul, etc to justify the huge depreciation risk you’re taking here?
How long will he need a car? If he’s heading off the college, most tier 1 schools will not let freshmen drive (or sophomore), and even then if they live on campus, they won’t need a car while they’re in college.
I have two girls that are 2 years apart. The older one is almost 14. I plan on leasing something like a Nissan Leaf S with 150 mile range for them while they’re in high school. I’m sure they would both like a Ferrari, but you get you get and you don’t get upset. Even if a lease doesn’t work out, and we end up buying a used Corolla, we’ll sell it as soon as the younger one goes off the college. They both have iPhone SEs, and complain all the time that their friends have iPhone 13s. But you get what you get and you don’t get upset. My first car was a Datsun B210 that I bought for $200 using money from shoveling dirt over the summer; and I was just happy to have a car.
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have you compared a used car and a new car with your insurance agent as far as rates go? I know that everyone has different circumstances, and these comparisons against someone else are virtually worthless, but I think you should ask.
I have been through this and found that the difference between new and used was not very much at all surprisingly. The liability issue was the main component of the rate and collision on used vs. new was not that big of a deal.
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With those prices I would suggest a new Corolla or Camry but once you add him on the insurance it will sky rocket but if he has a 3.0 or 3.5 gpa he should get a student discount. I know in Florida my nephew is under his parents insurance as a 23 year old with a high gpa and without gpa they would be paying $1200 every 6 months for a 2019 SE Camry but with the 3.5 gpa there paying $800 still high but better then $1200.