Tag: Used Cars

Does anything beat that new car smell? Yes, we’d say, the smell of money in your wallet beats that new car smell. See, when you’re saving money by buying used, you’re coming out with a lot more cash in your wallet. Today we’re running down the best reasons to buy a used car when you need a new ride. Make the right call when you hit the dealership!

Top Reasons to Buy a Used Car

Car Values

It’s no secret that new cars cost a lot more than they have any business costing. That’s why a new car depreciates by 50% in the first three years after it rolls off of the lot. This really stinks when you buy a new car and go to trade it in a few years later. The thousands of dollars it’s lost in value is essentially gone, and you’re about to sink the excess value into another new car.

Stretch your Money

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. If you go to a used car dealership and look for a 3-year-old vehicle, you can get a nice, modern car for half the price of a new car. Beyond that, once a car is three years old, it’s stopped depreciating at such a dramatic rate.

That means, after you’ve driven your used car around for a few years, it’s unlikely that you’ll have a hard time selling it for a similar amount that you spent on it. This goes double if you’re buying used cars with lots of options, like infotainment systems, safety features and the like.

Insurance

Driving a new car is expensive for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons, on top of the sheer cost of a new car, is the insurance. Insurance on a new car can be as much as double the price for the same vehicle that’s three years old.

Here’s the thing: you won’t feel the difference driving a three-year-old car around the road unless you’re a professional driver. Your insurance company, however, marks that difference in cold, hard cash. Cash that you could save for fun stuff like going on vacation or just for putting in your savings account.

Choices

Most dealerships have much wider varieties of cars that are used. After all, the newest cars have to appeal to a very specific kind of driver. If you’re looking for the right car for you, your best bet is going to be looking at a used car. Make your budget go farther for you by buying used for your next car.

Does anything beat that new car smell? Yes, we’d say, the smell of money in your wallet beats that new car smell. See, when you’re saving money by buying used, you’re coming out with a lot more cash in your wallet. Today we’re running down the best reasons to buy a used car when you need a new ride. Make the right call when you hit the dealership!

Top Reasons to Buy a Used Car

Car Values

It’s no secret that new cars cost a lot more than they have any business costing. That’s why a new car depreciates by 50% in the first three years after it rolls off of the lot. This really stinks when you buy a new car and go to trade it in a few years later. The thousands of dollars it’s lost in value is essentially gone, and you’re about to sink the excess value into another new car.

Stretch your Money

It doesn’t have to be that way, though. If you go to a used car dealership and look for a 3-year-old vehicle, you can get a nice, modern car for half the price of a new car. Beyond that, once a car is three years old, it’s stopped depreciating at such a dramatic rate.

That means, after you’ve driven your used car around for a few years, it’s unlikely that you’ll have a hard time selling it for a similar amount that you spent on it. This goes double if you’re buying used cars with lots of options, like infotainment systems, safety features and the like.

Insurance

Driving a new car is expensive for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons, on top of the sheer cost of a new car, is the insurance. Insurance on a new car can be as much as double the price for the same vehicle that’s three years old.

Here’s the thing: you won’t feel the difference driving a three-year-old car around the road unless you’re a professional driver. Your insurance company, however, marks that difference in cold, hard cash. Cash that you could save for fun stuff like going on vacation or just for putting in your savings account.

Choices

Most dealerships have much wider varieties of cars that are used. After all, the newest cars have to appeal to a very specific kind of driver. If you’re looking for the right car for you, your best bet is going to be looking at a used car. Make your budget go farther for you by buying used for your next car.

When it comes to mini vans, the first thing you want is a good value. If you’ve got a big family with a lot of kids and want to cart them all around comfortably and affordably, you’re looking for a value minivan. As everyone knows, one of the best ways to keep the costs down is by buying pre-owned.

If you’re on the lookout for a good used minivan, it might be difficult to find the right one. After all, there are a ton of options out there. Which year, make and model is the right choice for your family and your budget? Today we’re looking at a few of the best used mini vans on the market.

Best Value Used Mini Vans

Why Buy Used?

If you’re looking into buying a minivan in order to get the whole family around town more easily then you’re probably looking to save money. While buying new cars can be great for making sure they have no existing defects, buying used has some serious upsides. Namely, used cars are much more affordable! When you’ve got a ton of kids to feed and clothe, this is a pretty major consideration to keep in mind!

Chrysler Town and Country

With tons of standard safety features and a very reasonable price when used, the Town and Country is a solid vehicle for families. While the last production year was 2016, the vehicle remains an excellent value as a pre-owned minivan.

The Town and Country does have a few issues that are worth noting. The powertrain isn’t the most reliable, making t a little more expensive than some others in this category for maintenance. The safety ratings aren’t quite as high as some of the competition, as well, which makes the vehicle a little less reliable.

A drawback worth noting for the budget-conscious is the lower-than-average fuel economy. If you’re looking to save money, it’s not ideal to have to keep gassing up your vehicle. That said, the Town and Country does have a few things going for it. Plentiful standard features like lane assist and emergency braking make up for the lower safety ratings.

It also sports a rather powerful engine for its size, making it a fun drive. The average price for a used Town and Country is around $20,000, making it a solid choice.

Toyota Sienna

The Toyota Sienna is a great pick for people looking for value in a minivan. Between the various years that this line has been on the market it has released some stellar vehicles for families. Notably, the Sienna offers a comfortable, sooth ride with plenty of interior room for the whole family.

The Sienna has a plethora of great features for the price. The Sienna is huge and comfortable, so everyone from the driver and front seat passenger to kid in the third row will be plenty comfortable. There’s all-wheel drive available, which is great for getting out of sticky situations like mud or snow. There’s also a large area for storage which is impressive for a minivan,

The only drawbacks are in the engine. When pushed a bit too hard, the vehicle sounds a bit rough. Additionally, at some trim levels the Sienna offers a somewhat rough ride at higher speeds. However, these are minor quibbles. When purchased used the Sienna is usually around $23,000, making it a great value for the family.

Honda Odyssey

The 2016 Honda Odyssey is an exceptional minivan for the price. As for value, this is one of the best on the market. Sporting one of the best safety ratings of minivans in its class, the Honda Odyssey is a great pick for your family.

The cabin is spacious, durable and well-built. Everyone knows how destructive kid tend to be, but the Odyssey was made to be kid-proof. If your little ones tend to be terrors, you won’t have to worry about them in this vehicle!

The Odyssey gets reasonable gas mileage for a minivan and is relatively easy to maintain. Being a Honda, it’s not surprising that this vehicle was built to last. Even when buying used you can count on a Honda to be reliable! When it comes to getting your family safely from place to place, that reliability is impossible to put a price on.

If you had to, though, a used Honda Odyssey tends to run about $25,000. If you’re looking for a reliable and easy-to-maintain minivan that will safely get your family around town, the Odyssey is the one for you.

Buying used can help you really keep the costs down on a vehicle. However, how can you be certain that the vehicle you’re purchasing isn’t a lemon? How can you know what the vehicle has been through? Certified pre-owned vehicles are often considered the safer pick when it comes to buying used, as they typically pass inspections and history checks by the auto dealership.

That said, you can never be one-hundred percent certain when it comes to used cars. While CPO cars tend to be a safer pick than straight-up used car from someone you don’t know, they’re not going to be as safe as a brand-new car. If you really want to spend more and get a car that will last longer, a brand-new one is the one you want.

However, if you want to be safer than a straight-up used car but save money compared to a new car, CPO cars are the happy middle ground. But does that mean certified pre-owned means you get a better car than buying used?

Certified Pre-Owned

How Cars Get Certified

Auto dealers differ from place to place but, generally speaking, CPO cars have to pass a number of inspections. Depending on the dealer these could be more or less strict, but they typically involve checking a number of systems. Brakes, steering, belts and the like are all usually checked out and certified.

Another aspect of CPOs that can make them a safer pick than regular used cars is that they have a clear history and background. Maintenance records, accident reports and the like help to paint a picture of what, exactly, has happened to the vehicle in the past. That way you can rest assured knowing exactly what issues the car has had in the past.

The Benefits

Generally speaking, CPOs are going to be cleaner vehicles that were well taken-care of and have few, if any, issues. Dealers normally only take in rather new vehicles with very low miles as certified pre-owned. That means that, essentially, CPO cars are marketed as “good as new.”

Dealers tend to offer a number of benefits to those who buy CPO vehicles, too. If you need repairs on the vehicle or something goes wrong with it, it’s usually covered by an extended warranty from the dealership. The warranty alone can often be well-worth the extra money you spend on CPO, depending on the vehicle and what you’re looking for.

The other upside to CPOs is that dealers often offer things like rental cars in the event the vehicle is in the shop, free satellite radio, and even reduced lease rates. Generally, these upsides are all there to keep the CPO deal an attractive option for dealers.

The Downsides

CPO vehicles aren’t without their downsides. For one, any used vehicle runs the risk of having some unforeseen issues. Most notably, though, CPO vehicles tend to be rather expensive. While not as pricey as brand-new vehicles, they tend to be markedly more expensive than regular used cars.

Generally speaking, many car experts find that CPO vehicles are often a bad value compared to buying regular used cars. If you know what you’re looking for in a used car and know what warning signs to look for, regular used can be a better value than CPOs. This can vary based on the dealership and where you’re buying the used vehicle, but it generally bears out to be true.

If you save up a bit of money and set it aside to cover repairs then you can use that to cover the things the extended warranty that a CPO would normally cover. That way you not only save money by not buying the expensive extended warranty, you can use the money you save to put towards any repairs that might come up. If no repairs need to be done, you simply pocket the savings!

Conclusions

So, do you get a better car when you buy certified pre-owned? Yes and no. You’re likely going to get a car with less miles, a clearer history and an extended warranty. While these are all great upsides, they’re also things you spend a pretty penny for. As such, while the CPO vehicle is likely a great car, it’s probably a bad value.

If you want to save money and buy a used vehicle, consider a getting a regular used vehicle. If you get it inspected by a mechanic you trust and set aside money to cover repairs you’ll likely get more value for your money.

Buying cars used is a good strategy. After all, buying brand new cars is both expensive and environmentally unsound. Why buy a brand new vehicle when there are perfectly good used cars out there? That said, there are some stinkers out there being sold used. Here are some of the warning signs to look out for when buying used.

Warning Signs to Look Out for When Buying Used

The Obvious Stuff

The big, obvious signs of abuse should be red flags. If a car is dinged, scuffed, smelly and generally nasty it’s a good indicator that they probably didn’t take great care of it. That goes for both the body and engine of the car. If the person selling the car hasn’t been taking care of the mechanical aspect of the car, you could be looking at a lemon.

In short: if they can’t be bothered to wash the car and keep the interior clean, what makes you think they’d be taking care of the engine?

No Records

If the seller doesn’t have a detailed record of repairs and service the car’s engine has received then it’s time to take a big step back. Without accurate records it’s very difficult to tell whether the car was properly maintained. If you’ve got no way to verify when the engine has been properly maintained, you can’t say the vehicle is reliable.

On the reverse of this issue, a seller with a detailed repair record should earn some trust from you. If you know what’s happened to the car and how it’s been maintained then you can make better calls about whether you should buy it.

Consider the Type of Vehicle

When you’re buying a used vehicle you should consider what kind of car it is. If it’s something like an SUV or minivan it’s a bit more likely it was well maintained. Conversely, a sports car or some other performance vehicle may be a bit riskier of a purchase.

After all, if someone is enough of a thrill-seeker to buy a performance car, they’re also likely to treat the car a bit more harshly. That’s not true in all cases, of course. Some people actually take better care of their vehicles when the car is faster and more powerful. However, this is a general rule of thumb, and it pays to be cautious.

No Smoking

Don’t buy a car from a smoker, former smoker or vaper. If someone is reckless enough to smoke cigarettes then you need to think about how reckless they would be with their car. The kind of person who would heedlessly put their health on the line certainly doesn’t have any issue with putting their car’s maintenance on the line.

That’s not even getting into that awful smell that gets into everything and never goes away. Tobacco smoke stains everything it touches and leaves a powerful smell behind. If you’ve ever owned a car someone used to smoke in you know what we’re talking about. It’s nearly impossible to get that terrible smell out of your things.

Accident Damage

A normal fender bender or dents and dings from bang-ups is to be expected. If you’ve ever owned a car for a few years you know that it’s a matter of when, not if, you get in an accident. These scraps alone aren’t worth passing on a car. Major accident damage, however, is a different story.

A major accident could do some weird stuff to a car. For instance, if the car’s wiring has been pinched or some electrical work was pulled out of place then you could have weird issues with the headlights or radio. If the frame was bent, or if an axel is misaligned, it could result in uneven wear and tear on the vehicle.

The Seller

If the seller is a relatively easy-going, laid back type of person it might be hard to get a read on them. However, if they give you the vibe of someone who could care less about the car or its maintenance, that’s the biggest red flag you can come across. A good seller is someone who clearly takes care of their things and cares about the condition their car is in.

People to avoid buying from are those who are clearly trying to hustle you. If the person dodges questions and won’t give straight answers about the car’s history then you know it’s probably not a vehicle you want to spend your money on. Don’t get ripped off out there!