Saving money is never off our agenda. Whether we’re saving up for a house, our business is ticking over, or we’re looking to head off on our holidays in a few months, it’s always important to get the most out of our investments.
When you’re buying a car, there are so many attributes that are important. We want reliability and efficiency plus the perfect size, style and colour. One of the most important factors though, is our budget! Getting the most for your money is the most prevalent when we buy our cars, but is buying new really better than going for a used car?
Here’s why a little look into economics might suggest otherwise.
Breaking the Seal
Without a doubt the most significant disadvantage of buying new is that you lose money the most quickly. You actually lose around 20% of the value as soon as you drive it away, and it then becomes a used car! After only one year, some models can lose another 20%, meaning you could lose staggering amounts of money after just 12 months of having your new car. Sometimes the realisation of the extent of the loss of money comes when it’s time to sell the car on again.
Off the Bat
It might seem like an obvious point to make, but when buying a used car it can cost as much as 80% less than a new model, if you know where to look. It’s this initial cost that is one of the biggest hitters for the used car team.
Checking inside the car is important in modern cars.
Old cars actually mean that you can save up to buy a better model later on, and you can still buy used again to avoid losing any money at all. When it’s time to sell, you won’t have lost half as much as if you’d have bought new.
Another big initial sting you’ll feel is the high insurance rates. Older cars are usually always cheaper to insure, and you’ll have a much harder time protecting the new ones too; bringing us onto our next topic.
Painted Target
Buying brand new is great, it gives you the attention you want from the opposite sex, but also can attract some attention that you don’t particularly want.
Brand new cars, especially higher end, are the biggest target to thieves. Unfortunately, they also seem to be giant targets for every man and his dog with a trolley in the supermarket car park!
A great advantage of buying used is that cheaper cars mean cheaper parts, easier spray jobs and less preciousness about the odd tiny scratch here and there. You wouldn’t perhaps be so blasé if someone scratched the paintwork of your brand new baby though, and would shell out a pretty penny to get it smoothed over straight away!
Not Always Fault-free
Going tried and true, old and reliable isn’t always as clunky and faulty as people think. There are some great quality used cars on the road that have served people well over the years.
A used car can be better than more brand new shiny ones.
But a big fallacy of new cars is that they are always much more reliable. Despite being under warranty, and generally needing fewer repairs, they don’t always get off to a good start. Sometimes, especially with new models, there are faults that haven’t been detected before the car had been released from the factory. Electronic faults are the most common and sometimes new models even have to be recalled!
Conclusion
Some things are well worth the investment, but only if they return dividends in years to come. One of the biggest causes of losing money through purchases in the world today is in fact through buying new cars. Still offering great reliability, cheaper insurance, less loss and more return on your investment, used cars really are the kings of the road.
An article in conjunction with Portsmouth car dealerships, the “Unbeatable car” Company.
