My sister in law bought her Mini-Van from Hertz it’s never had a problem other than basic maintenance.
I bought my 1992 Honda Accord in 1994 with a few thousand miles on it from the dealer. It was a trade in and we got for about 60% of what it cost new.
It’s been paid off since 1998 and aside from a tranny in 99 ( I drove like a maniac for a while)and the timing belt every 70K I haven’t put anything into it aside from normal maintenance. I just clicked over 155K miles on it and it shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.
I’ll never buy a new car.
Let me be a Devil’s advocate here…
How much of a price decrease do you get buying a 2-3 year old car? When I last looked, the price decrease seemed only about 20%-30%. Say it is 25%. Mileage? say 12-15K a year so say about 35,000 miles.
How long does a car last? 120,000 miles?
It seemed to me that buying used didn’t save as much as I think it should and a higher % of the cars lifespan was gone than price savings. In addition, I would think there is a higher risk in a used car over a new car (I may be worng but don’t think so). Finally, the best/newest years/mileage of the cars life you don’t get to see.
I’m not saying you guys are wrong…but I’m not convinced you all are right…
Oops…Also the older car needs more repair/things getting worn out.
IME, I was shocked at how much ‘gently used’ cars were. It seemed very high to me. 25% savings for a 3 year car just seems to low a savings for me. I think it should be more…but I was shocked. Ended up fixing up my old car good and driving it some more…saving money all the while.
I am very interested in this thread because my old car is near the end of its time and I will have to face this decision soon. 
Depends on the car and how well it’s maintained. My dad’s '79 Rabbit had nearly 750,000 miles on the clock and still going strong when he sold it.
New cars lose about 25% of their value the first year and in my experience a 3 year old car with 50k miles can be had for half the price of a new car.
If you are concerned about the warranty there are companies that sell independent warranties. I do not know tons about them so if you are interested you’d have to do alot of research to find reliable ones. I’ve heard www.1sourceautowarranty.com is good though.
It depends on the maker and model. A honda or toyota can go 150-200k miles w/o many problems, but a dodge pickup or Jeep may fall apart at 100,000 miles.
Don’t know where you live, but in the U.S., Consumer Reports has a car-buying book that contains a list of cars you should NEVER buy used. I highly recommend finding a copy.
Hondas, Mazdas, Toyotas, BMWs, Chevrolets, and Nissans last 300,000 miles.
Buy used, but don’t buy the first car you drive, or the second, or the third. Drive all the models you’re interested in, with manual transmissions if you can, then find ten cars that you’d like in your area on AutoTrader and drive them. Offer a local good mechanic $100 to check out the two you like best, and buy the one that feels right.
If you’re spending $20,000, you should expect a luxurious, reliable car that makes you feel seriously good. Driving should be a lot of fun - if it isn’t, you’re test-driving the wrong cars. There’s nothing wrong with looking at cars in the next size range down - they’re often better to drive.
Oh yeah, if you want a Mini Cooper, get the “S”. It’s worth every penny and the cost penalty is not going to be large since they’ll always be worth more.
Do not, under any circumstances, buy a 1994 or later VW Golf or Jetta. Bosch still hasn’t got the coil packs right and they’ve had ten years. You don’t want to be crying in your misfiring, skip-firing, or non-firing new car while the dealer tells you that it’ll be three weeks before they get any more packs.
Count me in as another skeptic. I think it really depends on the car; Hondas and Toyotas don’t depreciate nearly as quickly as something like a Dodge Neon, which drops by like 50% in the first five minutes. I was recently considering getting a financeable used (as in 2-3 years old, 50K miles or so) Toyota Camry, and was shocked at how expensive they still were. 2002 models with 70,000 miles were only two or three grand less than if I just bought one new - If I’m only going to save two grand by buying used, I’d rather have those first 70K miles!
I’ll go ahead and throw in my positive new car experience, just for a bit of contrast. '98 Civic, brand spankin new, intending to drive the thing for a decade until it fell the hell apart. I used it for 6 years over 130,000 miles, until it got stolen. It cost me a net $10,000 from a full cost of $15,500. If I tried to buy a used Civic for $10K I would probably have needed to buy one at least 3 years old with 50+ thousand miles, since Honda’s hold their value very well.
So, near the end of my ownership, I would have had a 9 year old car pushing 190K miles that may have been abused or poorly maintained at some point. That’s the kind of Honda I replaced because it was getting too unreliable. Instead, I had a 6 year old car that was in great shape because I know every single thing that ever happened to that car, and maintained it correctly.
Now, that 9yo Civic does still have some value, and you almost always get some cost savings by going used, but you give up something for that savings.
I’d echo waht’s been said…especially regarding used HONDAS and TOYOTAS. You will wind up paying about $2000 less than a new one (for a used, 3 year old car). It just isn’t worth it! nstead, we got a new SATURN Ion-with 0% financing, it was cheaper than a used Toyota.
So used isn’t always better. And no matter what you’ve been told-HONDAS do break! High mileage Hondas need the timing belt replaced (or when it breaks you destroy the engine). Timing belts run $600-800, and they typically recommend that you replace the water pump at the same time, because replacing it alone is $300. So, yes, after 150,000 miles, repair bills rapidly mount up-and parts for older japanese cars are very expensive.
I wish AMC was still in business-you could fix theor cars with string and bubblegum…and their straight six engines would run forever.
I actually ran a few numbers, obviously it depends highly on the assumptions you make, but the concept is valid. Let’s say you use a car until it is 9 years old, buy used cars at 3 years old for a 33% discount and trade them in at the end of 9 years for 20% of the original value.
New:
Buy car in 2000 for $15,000
Buy car in 2009 for $12,000 ($3,000 trade in)
use until 2018 then need new car
Used:
Buy car in 2000 for $10,000
Buy car in 2006 for $7,000
Buy car in 2012 for $7,000
use until 2018 then need new car
The new buyer has spent $27,000 on cars for 18 years of use. The used buyer has spent $24,000 on cars for that same period. The new buyer spent $3,000 more overall but has had the ability to have a newer car for 6 years worth of driving that the used buyer doesn’t ever get.
The big factor here is the discount for buying used. I’m thinking if you’re only getting 25-30%, maybe it’s not the great deal it seems to be.
One tale of a used car. A friend told me about a fleet sale in Sunnyvale. The city was selling off it’s fleet of cars. Most were Fords, Taurus’ and Escorts. This was in 99, and the cars were all 95s. Most were selling for $750 - $1000, they also had a few with damage for $250. I’m a pretty proficient mechanic so I bought a Escort that have been in a front end accident for $250.00. I went and got a Hayes Manual for about $35. I replaced the motor mounts, one light assembly and had it painted at Maaco’s I think the total including the paint job and a couple of six packs for my buddy who helped me change the mounts was $600.00. I’ve put 60,000 on it in that time and gave it to my stepson last month with 94k on the odometer. He’s driven it to Reno at least twice since then.
Don’t get my wrong, the Escort was my commute car, I also bought a new Bimmer a couple of years ago, just because I wanted one 
I’m a dissenter. I’ve bought far more new than used. My logic is to maintain them by the book and run them for at least 8 years. By that time it’s over 100K miles. First 6 years- high payments but you also get at least 2 years of payment free driving. Buying used may make sense if you have the free cash not to need a loan. But if you have to get a loan, the older the car the fewer years of financing you can get. So the payment of a 6 year loan on a new car may not be that much more than the payment of a 3 year loan on a used car.
I’m not sure why people are sneering at 25% savings. If you’re looking at a $25K+ car, that’s a whole lot of spending money.
Well, a quick look at the Subaru Outback indicates you can save between $2K and $6K on a one year old model, depending on the trim line you go for. That’s for dealer price; MSRP is considerably more. But that doesn’t really seem to be the whole story. If you buy new, there’re always tacked on charges (delivery, dealer prep, and what have you) that are often hard to do away with. If you live in a state with high property taxes, then you’re going to be paying through the nose for the first few years of owning a new car until it depreciates. Same thing with comprehensive auto insurance. Just on those fronts, owning an older car might save you several hundred dollars a year.