Why it doesn't make sense to me to purchase a brand new car these days.

Unless you have money to burn.

First of all, most people have to take a car loan, on which the interest (depending on the country you live in) can be pretty high. Here in Aruba it's 17%! So for a $25000 car, you'll end up paying about $35000 over a period of 5 years...

Now at the end of those 5 years the car will usually have lots of defects, carrying it to repairs once or numerous times a year etc... That and the value of the car drops faster than an rocky mountain avalanche. After a year (depending on the quality of your country's roads) the value of the vehicle can drop up to 10% or more. It doesn't make sense to me.


The best thing would be to purchase a second hand car, whether a new, surface damaged car CasMiami, or one from at least the 80's and earlier, when cars where made to last longer.

You buy the car at a reduced price, and customize it to a value that will exceed the one it had when you purchase it. And with that I don't mean $4000 for chrome rims. Install a turbo, change the interior, seats, a/c or heating, new seats, Install a good stereo system with built-in, cd-changer, mp3 player or ipod support. Navigation system for larger countries, A nice small screen for the passengers (and not the driver!). Buy nice (non exaggerating) rims under $1000. Good functioning spoiler, body kit. etc... Then you might be able to come out profiting if you set it up right.

Or take a very old, broken car and get it fixed up.

And under no circumstances purchase a pre-owned car with flood damage, especially if it's recent.

What do you guys think???

Well, to each his own, but I prefer buying a new car, because currently there are cars being built that are highly reliable and driving one off the showroom floor, so to speak, is one way to avoid headaches and exorbitant repair bills.

Simply stated, Peace of mind.

I go back and forth on this.

If it's a recent model, the financing for a used car is usually at a higher interest rate.
And you never really know what you are gettting. There is just no way to know what kind of maintenance was performed on a used car. There are some reports available.

We bought a used Ford MiniVan once..Looked great, ran great, for a while.
But then it started dying quickly. It was a bad buy.

We also had a used Ford T-Bird. It was previously a rental. It lasted us 8 years, I sold it to a student really cheap, and he drove it for 2 years, unitl he wrecked it.

I have a 95, Nissan Maxima. Bought used. I still have it. 11 years later, and it runs like new. My mother in law drives it..300,000 miles later.

Right now, my wife and I have cars that we bought new. We like both, and have taken them to some pretty wild places in the mountains, and deserts.
Both have treated us well.. Some minor problems, but warranties took care of those.

Originally posted by GradyPhilpott
Well, to each his own, but I prefer buying a new car, because currently there are cars being built that are highly reliable and driving one off the showroom floor, so to speak, is one way to avoid headaches and exorbitant repair bills.

Simply stated, Peace of mind.

Ahhh.. True. That's why it's extremely important to do research on car ratings before making your decision on the purchase. But I think that the CasMiami thing is still good, because the cars are usually less than a year old, and have usually suffered only some outside damage.

I'm 100% with Grady on this. I can trust a new car and it's not going to nickel and dime me to death.

However, we take VERY good care of our vehicles, drive them forever and pay cash for the next one. It's not that we have money to burn, we just save for everything ahead of time. When you've got 10 years to save for a car, it's not so hard.

I've never bought a new car. I always find one a couple of years old with somewhere under 30k miles, then drive it til the wheels fall off. Currently I've got a '97 Merc that I've had since '99. It's got 140k on it and I'm looking to have it for a good 3 more years.

My one piece of advice- If you do buy new, keep it as long as you possibly can. You'll almost always get hosed trading in a car you still owe on, and selling one yourself can be a royal pain.

If you want a solid used car check into older model Jaguars. The primary maintenance for my dad used to be rust and gas lines. Solid freaking car.



If you buy them from places where they don't decay all the much(Arizona, etc) you can get near mint condition old style jags for good prices. My dad had one like the picture above.