Well, I'm late to the conversation but I'm also over sixty and have owned more than a dozen cars, in a dozen states, so maybe I can help.
Contact your DMV and ask them what your state requirements are.
Look up the used price in Edmund's or Kelly Blue Book and offer the dealer the retail price for a used car. Incidentally, I leave dealerships that tell stories, so I wouldn't be buying this car, from this person, under any circumstances.
Buy the car through a broker. Consumer's Reports, Even AAA, will broker a car. They can negotiate better than the average bear. Call the salesman up and say that you are using a broker. He may say he will match the price. That happened once to me. Cost me $50.00 to find out the actual selling price - more than $1K less than what I had already negotiated.
My relative was a comptroller for a number of dealerships and he said there is nothing wrong with buying a demo (up to 5K miles) that had only dealer-accompanied rides (better yet is one used by the dealer, or wife, etc.) because the dealership has eaten the first year depreciation. In fact we bought a 455 Pontiac Bonneville with 5K miles and it had no troubles, in seven years, till I sold it.
I did operations research. Remember the "bathtub" chart of failure. The thing either fails early in its life, or lasts, until it reaches the end of its life. So even though it's got a warranty you may not want to experience the first year of trouble.
Don't buy the first year model.
Look up what Consumer's Reports says about it's history. Volvo has a great rep until you find that it not only has the highest rate of repair, but also the highest cost of repair - maybe that is recently changed with GM involvement.
Remember where you are. Mercedes touts (so does CR) their reliability, but that's only because, if you own or lease one, you are rich enough to pay the maintenance. We lived in Europe for seven years and a Mercedes broken down on the highway was as common over there as Chevy and Fords over here. I'm now retired and in the Sierra Nevada. It's four-wheel drive Jeeps, now.
This is just me, but I think Honda and Toyota are a generation ahead of most American cars.
Just to see if the Alzheimer's has hit (showing I have too much time on my hands) I wrote down what I have owned (probably not relevant, but what the hell...)
BMW Isetta, XK-140 Jaguar, Jeep Wagoneer, E-Type Jaguar, Volkswagens: Karmann-Ghia, Dasher, Eurovan, Jetta, Ford wagon (dog) Fiat Spider, Pontiacs: 455 Bonneville, 6000, TranSport, TransAm, Honda Prelude, Jeeps: Grand Cherokees, Geo Tracker.
