New or used cars?

[rugbywife]

Some people have strong feelings on this. We need at least one new car, ideally 2, within the next 12-18 months.

Are you a new car person or a used car person?

I like new. I like the warranty and knowing the history of the car.

If you are a used car person, convince me I am wrong. New car people, remind me why I am right.

[gibbinator]

I like new cars, assuming that we get a good discount and we plan to keep them for several years. Same reasons as you: warranty and history. I used to commute 45km to work and did a lot of night driving through snowy winter weather, so being able to rely on my vehicle was especially important.

We would by used if there was need of an expensive vehicle, like a truck, that we couldn't responsibly afford new.

We only ever owned one used car which was great on paper and a reliable model (sunfire) but the engine totally blew within a month of owning it and it broke down and stranded us half a dozen times in the 3 years we had it.

[kdubs923]

I just bought a used car about two hours ago!

This is the second time buying slightly used. In both cases it was just coming off a lease, only two years old, low miles, one owner. The previous owner took the biggest hit on depreciation, I get a relatively new car, it's still under warranty and it was a great deal!

My last car, the transmission died. Seems it would have happened whether I bought it new or used because others have reported issues with that particular transmission. Hoping for better luck with this car, but I have a warranty for 10 years/100k miles so if it happens again, I'm covered!

[zarapipe]

I'm too cheap to buy new. Did it once and never again.

In 3 weeks I'm getting a dodge caravan sxt with 20k miles for about 9k less than new msrp. Can't go wrong. Still has bumper to bumper till 36k and power train till 100k miles. Granted, it was a rental but idc.

[meltoine]

Used. We bought both our cars when they were 3 years old and each had about 30k miles. The thought of the immediate depreciation on a new car hurts my heart.

[sillygoosegirl]

I'm all about driving older cars, but less keen on buying used. We had the opportunity to buy a used Honda Accord from DH's parents when we were fresh out of college, and 10 years later (now 15 years old), it's still a great car that seems determined to run forever. However, I know that buying cars from strangers can be riskier because you don't know the history of the car and can get something that had systemic problems... on the other hand, that's a big part of why used cars are so much cheaper: to make up for that risk. Our other car was purchased new, but there were also special circumstances around that (they were practically being given away... pretty sure it's gone up in value rather than down in the 2 years we've had it).

I think I would always prefer to buy a used car from someone I know and trust who was the original owner, but my second choice if it was affordable, would be to buy a new car and keep it until it was super old. Of course, these preferences will be weighed against other factors, like the fact that we want our next car to be a Tesla and probably are never going to actually want to spend that much money on a car.

[jeaniebueller]

Used typically.

[rbp]

I've had both. I honestly don't have strong feelings one way or the other. I bought my Prius new because the technology improves every year and the financing offer was great. My first car was a two-year-old Camry that served me very well for 12 years.

[mlvmd]

I've done both. It depends on the inventory and price difference. We just bought a new Sienna because the used prices were not much, if any, cheaper and we got 0% financing and a bunch of other things.

[carolinagirl831]

We have both. We got a awesome deal on our Lexus Rx, bought with 12k miles.
We also have a new Altima and with pretty much 0% financing on new cars it made more sense

[nextbigthing]

I really like certified preowned, great prices, low mileage and full warranty. I got my last car for $10k less than new with less than 20,000 miles

[felicity]

We currently have one car that was new and one that was used. Of course the new car is nicer, but used saved us tons. We figured it was cheaper to buy used even if we had to make some repairs at some point. Our used car had a great Carfax report that showed service history so we felt comfortable with how it had been maintained.

[jinxy]

MH and I each bought our cars new. It was our first car purchases as working adults so we wanted new. I think my next purchase will be certified used. I'm not into cars enough to want a brand new one next time around.

[teatimefor2]

We have a certificated used off a lease. So we get the warranty and it had very low mileage - 15k and we saved a ton.

[cjeanette]

I found certified used had better warranties. I still went with new because we were financing and it worked out to be cheaper to go new. We were only wanting used within a couple of years though.

[GotWine]

Oct 25, 2014 19:01:35 GMT -5 @astrid said:

We have gone certified used. You still get a warranty and known history, but don't lose oodles of money just driving it off the lot.

This is our reasoning as well.

[cobber06]

I prefer to buy new, with the caveat of keeping it for several (10+) years. We bought my car 3 years ago- it was a new body style, so there weren't any used available. I also liked the option to be picky about color and trim level.

H will be purchasing a pickup with in the next couple of years, so we will seriously consider buying used, but we are both leaning towards new. I think the main thing that sways us towards new for the pickup is his redneck high school friend who would purchase a new truck every two years and would completely abuse it (driving at high speeds through fields, etc.). I wouldn't be too excited to end up with his used truck.

[Deleted]

I've only had used and hand-me-down cars. My parents never bought new, so used or salvage with a clean title was my normal. I had one salvage car that was a bit of a lemon but we were able to get ~7 years out of it. DH, with one exception (certified used luxury car), has always had new. Right now he has a 2015 WRX and I have his mom's HMD 2003 4Runner and we're both happy. When the 4Runner bites the dust, which we don't anticipate to be anytime soon as it only has 119k miles and Toyotas go forever, I will get my very first new car.

[Deleted]

Used. I've owned new and it is nice but we are trying to not have any non-mortgage debt (paid off a huge sum of student loans, credit cards, investment loans 3 years ago and never want to go back to that).

I think you have to go into buying a used car with an idea of how long you want the car to last. We just bought a seven year old Ford wagon/estate last month with 40,000 miles on it. We've budgeted generously for repairs and to continue saving for whatever our next car is. We're hoping to get 4-5 years out of this one.

Prior to this we owned a little junker we bought for about $1000. We said we wanted to get a year out of it. We got 16 months out of it before it needed a repair close to the cost we bought it for.

[bowies]

It depends. Typically I haven't seen a big price differential between new and used here, assuming the used vehicle is a couple of years old and under warranty. We will probably never buy a car outright so the increased interest rate for a used car makes it not worth it most of the time (for us). My car is a popular brand/model that owners typically drive forever so used prices on a newish one are higher - I bought new at the end of a model year so I could get some kind of deal.

However, we found a great price on H's car off a lease and the interest rate was as low as a used car can go, making it a better buy than new. The dealership had a ton of inventory and just needed to clear the lot as fast as they could. We bought just after the start of a model year so there were a ton of off-lease cars in the marketplace.

[redheadk]

We've done both. It really depends on what you are looking for. We bought my car new bc we were looking for something specific and only had 2 model years to consider. The prices for the used weren't different enough to make it worth buying used (and we broke even on financing and taxes anyway). For DH, we bought used bc a) the car he wanted had increased $20k in base price since the model year he actually wanted and b) we found what he wanted pretty easily which was a surprise since he drives something that isn't readily found.

[Deleted]

We have found that buying new has actually worked out better for us financially. But I think it depends on several factors. When we purchased our CRV we bought new because we knew we would drive it for 10 plus years. The interest rate was significantly lower for new cars versus used cars also. So all things considered we saved money buying new. We paid it off in 2 or 3 years and have had it 5 years now with no intention of trading it in anytime soon. 

With the van we were able to take advantage of a 0% offer on the loan. We will also drive this car for 10 plus years. Also, it is very hard to find a used minivan with low miles around here. Minivans seem to be something that people buy and drive into the ground. It isn't like a sedan where people are apt to purchase new ones every couple of years. We had originally planned to buy used but after several months of looking realized this wasn't a viable option. Then the 0% deal came around and well, we obviously couldn't pass that up. 

I think you have to look at the type of car, how long you will drive it, the interest rates etc to decide what is best for you. We drive our cars for a long time so buying new makes sense for us. We also buy cars that hold their value well. When we bought the van we got rid of H's 05 Corolla. We paid less than 15k for that car, maybe 13k or so and were able to sell it for about $8k 8 years later.