Advice on buying a used car?

First off, I'm 18, looking for my first vehicle. I don't have much help in this process so I'm looking for whatever advice I can get. I've had my eye on a used 2012 Honda Civic for awhile. 45,334 miles. It was originally 12,795 but they recently lowered the price to 11,997 because "it's been in inventory for awhile and has fallen through the cracks"… I set a date for today with a salesman to look at the car. I went in test drove it and tried haggling the guy a little. (Thanks to google for teaching me how haha) I let him know I've been looking at other vehicles and weighing my options. In conclusion I made an offer of 10,500 for an out the door price. They counter offered 10,997 before finances. Asked if they could at least do 10,500 before finances and it was a no. Let him know I would think about it, talk to my dad and I d be back Monday. (In two days) my hopes is that when I don't show up Monday they ll contact me and hopefully make another offer. Is there something I should ve done different or should do?

No. If they had already reduced the price, and you negotiated more, then they're likely done. Assuming 10% for tax, title, and license, they'd have to sell you the car for $9500 to get you $10,500 out the door. This will not happen. Think about it, they let you leave over a few hundred dollars. If they had the wiggle room, they would have done the deal. Chances are they've made their final offer.

For what it's worth, you didn't learn how to negotiate just by reading a few articles online. Salesmen read the same articles. The average person will own between 6-10 cars in a lifetime. The average salesman would have sold 12 cars last month alone. Believe me when I say the internet can't "teach" you how to haggle effectively.

Why do you want to spend that much money?

i recently got a 2012 Mazda3 with only 17500 miles on it for about the same $s.

at your age, you should be avoiding having payments like they're the plague.

Sounds like you did the right things. However, just make sure that $10,000 is actually a good fair price for this car. Check KBB.com. Don't end up buying a $8000 car for $10,500. Of course, it would be a good idea to have the car checked out by an outside mechanic and get a Carfax report.

Doesn't sound like a bad retail price but its too expensive for an 18 year old.
What makes you think you will be approved for financing. 99% of 18 year olds would not be.

First go to KBB and Edmunds and spec out the car and make sure it's worth that much. Second, if you are serious, purchase a carfax. It can be the best money you ever spend. If the car has a major issue, it will show up. Also, being bought and sold multiple times may indicate a problem car.

I'm no expert haggler, when I bought my truck, I found one at an asking price I could afford, and when it was done I ended up getting it for that asking price out the door, meaning I negotiated the cost of taxes and fees off the price. I was happy with that.

The Civic is very popular and often very costly. You could possibly buy a car from Ford, Chevy, or even Toyota for the same price with less miles.

They probably sold the car to someone else over the weekend. Do Not expect a call back. You won't get one. No car salesman is going to call you back and say "You're right, I'm going to lower the price and make less money, please come back and buy my car". No salesman is going to ever make that call.

The reality is if you are financing the purchase the $500 difference in price is insignificant. It won't change your payments by more than $10 a month. If you want the car take their offer. If you don't want the car, move on and don't look back.