

Ask HN: New car or used? - sethjohn

The engine just blew up on my old Beamer. ($4K seemed like such a good deal at the time!, its was a beautiful car with 160K) After another $4K in repairs and a blown headgasket...not such a good deal after all...<p>What's the most economical replacement car? 
A) Brand new Japanese car which I'll take great care of for the next 20 years.
B) The same car for a few thousand less with a few thousand miles on it.
C) Similar car for dirt cheap with a whole lot of miles on it?<p>I'm not concerned about style or comfort, just trying to figure out what's the best deal economically.
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SwellJoe
Used, obviously.

But you should buy from an individual rather than a dealer. You pay a very
large markup from a dealer on used cars, and most have a vested interest in
keeping the price of used cars as high as possible (because they want to sell
you a new car even more than a used car). The dealer also knows better than
you when they have a good used car...it's been through their shop, so they
know. If it's a "good deal" at a car dealer, then you're almost certainly
getting a car that's going to have problems in the future.

Also note that standalone used car dealers are often merely dumping grounds
for the cars that new car dealers don't consider worth putting on their lot.
So, even though a dealer that only deals in used cars wants to sell you a used
car and has no interest in you buying a new car, he also generally only has
steady access to the cars that new car dealers take on trade-in but don't want
to sell on the lot. (There are also bankruptcy and repossession auctions,
auctions of distressed vehicles from out of state that are auctioned as scrap
and then re-titled as clean through various loopholes in the law, and a _few_
trade-ins from people buying a used car from that dealer and upgrading. But
used car dealers are almost universally selling the absolute worst cars
available, and at significant markup.)

Buying from an honest individual, knowing the blue book price, and having a
trusted mechanic go over the car before making a decision, is the best way to
insure you get a good deal on a good car. Watch for signs that you're dealing
with a hobbyist used car salesman. There are many folks that operate small-
scale buy-sell operations from their home, having one or two cars for sale at
any given time, mostly purchased through the same shady channels as used car
dealers.

There are probably exceptions to the always buy used rule. Finding a used
sports car that is actually going to last is difficult. Most folks don't know
how to care for a performance car, and will drive the hell out of it for a
year or two, and then pass it on when it starts getting troublesome. BMWs fall
into this category a lot of times. When I bought a 350Z a few years back, I
bought new, because the few used ones I could find were already (just a year
after they hit the market) pretty abused and had problems.

But I'm not even certain that was a wise choice...if I'd waited another year,
I might have found more options to buy used. Regardless, the vast majority of
cars don't fall into this category, and the more boring the car, the better
deal you can get on it used. My folks bought a two or three year old Camry
with 30k miles for very little, like maybe eight grand, a few years back.

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mikebo
Good points. Regarding buying used from a dealer or private party, I think it
also depends on if you are financing the purchase or paying cash.

BMW and Audi are both offering great deals .9% financing on certified preowned
cars. Sure they cost a bit more, but you can make it up for it in financing
costs and also get a warranty in many cases.

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CyberFonic
I have had several used and new cars. Based on my experiences to date, I would
buy a "modest" new car which has been in production for a while and has a good
reputation. In my experience Japanese cars are reliable, but I'm wary of the
cheapest models. Then keep the car for at least 10 years.

Shop around and be on the lookout for sales people "needing to make numbers".
On new cars I generally get between 5% to 10% off just by being very
aggressive in negotiating. Just apply the same high pressure tactics on them
as they would onto you.

When I have narrowed the field to the cars I'm interested in, I chat up people
in car parks, at work, etc. By asking leading questions like "Would you buy
another ....?" or "If you bought another .... what how would it be different
from your current on?" or even "What car do you wish you had bought?". Most
people are happy to talk about their experiences. You will more likely hear
about the negatives and those are the things to look at very carefully in
reaching your decision.

From my experiences even the best cars are more likely to have problems in a
new model range. No matter how good the processes, the incidence of problems
is higher before things get shaken down.

If you don't care for looks, end of model run-outs are excellent as long as
the car is not obviously built out of the last parts in the bin.

With the way the economy is, you just have to be able to make a great deal by
not getting emotionally carried away.

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vaksel
Depends on the car. If its assembled in Japan, there is nothing wrong with C.
You can get a car with 150K miles and it'll run just fine for the next 50K
miles. However, if it was assembled in USA/Canada, I'd be wary with it, and
wouldn't get a car with more than 50K miles.

The assembly point is very important. As an example, with Hondas pretty much
all non-Japan assembled vehicles have transmission problems.

Getting a new car makes no sense, unless you plan to lease.

Go look on Craigslist, there are a whole bunch of good deals on there.

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noodle
a 1 to 3 year old car is typically your best deal, as the first few years are
where the greatest depreciation in value happens.

too much older and you start to risk quality.

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Femur
Have you considered the option of not getting another car?

