New cars are incredibly attractive especially sitting in one for the first time and yet there are good reasons to purchase one that is a couple of years old. I was advised against acquiring new cars by my own grandma many years ago. Her help and advice was to find a car that had not clocked up a great number of miles and was around two years old. Her thinking behind this was that any difficulties that the car may have had will be taken care of and I would be sure that I was getting a car in good working condition.
Although this made sense to me and I have been living by that principle ever since, there are actually other reasons why buying a car a few years old is a good choice. I will now expand further on the reason why buying a car that is not overly old can result in saving you lots of money.
Right after buying a new car, it is usually worth a few thousand less right after you leave the car showroom and is something you may not have considered. It could be that you think you have bought a car that is good value for money if you paid $25,000 for instance but in reality you haven’t. As soon as you drive that car off the lot it may now only be worth $20,000. This means that in a matter of a couple of minutes and a few miles you just lost $5,000.
If you feel I am exaggerating, go and get a new car. If you do, simply travel in it directly to the house. When it comes to how much your car can be worth the next day, just go back to precisely where you bought the car and see how much they would be prepared to give you. In the space of a 24-hour period, you may find that the car you paid $25,000 for has a recommended trade price in the range of $15,000 to $20,000.
This has been the marketplace norm for many years. There are cases now where for as much as 30 days a dealer will give you the full original value back if you are trading in your car. You still will be $5000 down after those 30 days have elapsed. This deficit might be greater if simply selling the car is something you are looking at.
That instant lowering of value is something you will not have to cope with if you decide to buy a car that is say 2 years old. If perhaps there has been issues with the car these should have long been solved as my grandmother originally stated. The value for money associated with a lower mileage older car is a lot more than purchasing a new car from a automotive dealer when you take all of this into consideration.
This is just something to bear in mind the next time you are considering getting a new car. It is possible to find great value if you’re able to resist the enticement of a brand new car.