Pros and Cons of Buying Used Cars

Buying a car is an investment that every person needs to do. Due to the large investment needed for it, people start looking for used cars as an option to save money. That opens a whole new market, with a lot of options to choose from.
Of course, used cars can have some advantages and disadvantage against new cars, so it’s better to know these facts before making a decision :

Pros :

• Insurance Rates: Used cars are older and usually have lower insurance rates than new cars, even if the brand and model are the same but in a newer version. Depending the car, model and insurance provider, you can save around 20% per year.


• Depreciation: New cars normally lose most of their value in      the first years of usage. Normally, A car loses around half of its value over the first three years, and another 20%/25% over the next three years. These percentages may vary depending on the car and the model. But, usually that is the reason why Used Cars are not as expensive as the new ones, and Used cars do not lose value as quick as the new ones : because the starting value is already low enough.


• Reliability: A very important aspect of used cars is their reliability. Most people are reluctant to buy used cars due to the possibility of lack of reliability. The truth is that recent reports show  that the reliability of used car had a huge improvement over the last three decades, and reports of once common problems, such as a  muffler or the whole exhaust system not working, rust parts (hidden beyond the paint job), are now a fraction of what used to be. Now, used cars (properly maintained) can last over 100.000 miles and could reach as much as 200.000 miles without having a major problem.

Cons :

• Repairs & Warranties : One big disadvantage of used cars is their warranty. Normally, an used car’s warranty is coming to an end, or already ended. This means that if some problem with the car appears, the cost of the repair will come directly from the owner’s pocket. Normally, there are some costs to assume, just for safety. Anyone will recommend to replace some basic parts just for safety (brakes, tires, battery), which are not too expensive and normally are not covered by the warranty anyway. It’s better to have some specialist to bring along to check it, sometimes cars are abused for previous owners and it’s better to have an insight of the general status of the vehicle.


• Safety Standards : Used cars normally are not up-to-date with the latest standards on safety used in newer cars. ESC (electronic stability control), air bags featuring head-protecting curtain and some other advanced safety features cannot be found in older vehicles. Fortunately, some more basic and useful features such as traction control, anti-lock brakes or side air bags can be found in not-so-old  cars.