Dealership vs. Buy/Pay here vs. Private seller?

[LevelSevenCivic]

Ok, I'm working on getting rid of my 02 Civic Lx(auto) and trying to get into a used car that I can pay off quickly and doink around in as I'm starting my carreer life(post college) and getting my own place and all that good stuff.

The purpose of this post is to gather experiences of car buying at dealerships, buy here pay here lots and private sellers. Which do you find to be better for price/reliability? Which do you find gives a better value? Share any experiences you may have had.

The cars I'm personally looking at, as I know someone is going to ask, are:
97-99 Eclipse GS/GS-T - I used to own an automatic 97 RS and I really miss that thing. I wont even think about a GSX just because NOBODY sells them
99-2000 Civic Hatch

Basically any decent and relatively recent car I can get for under 8g. Lower = better.

[Dose3782]

I've had the best luck in selling vehicles myself as I can get better profits/price from private sales. The only downside to this is it may take longer to sell the vehicle.
I like to buy vehicles the same way. It does take longer but you can find better deals and better cars. If you are not to up on finding mechanical issues on a vehicle, most private sellers will allow you to take the car to any local shop to have it looked over.

Best of all a couple of grand in cash is hard for a person who wants to sell thier vehicle to say no too a lower balled price.

Good luck to ya.

[d16y8alltheway]

if u have the cash i would say private sellers,if not and looking for a used car buy here/pay here that's my 2 cents

[iLLeFFeKt CiViC]

all my cars have been purchased from private sellers. i hate dealerships, especially the mitsu ones.
as far as the gsx goes, if you are patient and look around you'll find one. it took me more than a year and countless trips to see/test drive other vr4's before i got this one.

[Obsessed_Tuner]

I say if you want to bend over and take it. ( wich you prob dont ) stay as far away from a dealer as possible , try to go with a private owner if you need finiance go threw your bank for a auto loan try that first