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Old 5th December 2016, 16:22   #1
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The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

So, we all know the obvious advantages to buying used cars (primarily, price). They are all highlighted in the main thread.

But what about the not-so-obvious advantages that no one really talks about? As someone who's a big fan of pre-worshipped cars and has bought 5 already, let me line up some of them. Please add to this list with the ones you think of.

not-so-obvious advantage #1
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-1.jpg
You can REDLINE from day 1! No need to baby the car, no need to run it in (related article). Heck, you can burn some rubber right from when you're driving out of the previous owner's parking lot. A used car is already bedded in.


not-so-obvious advantage #2
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Remember how you winced when your shiny new car got its first scratch? You won't with a pre-worshipped ride. Drive a car in Bombay for 3 months and it'll have beauty marks all over. Guaranteed. Because you are buying a car with a fair share of existing battle scars, a new ding won't bother you. Odds are, you won't even notice them.


not-so-obvious advantage #3
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-3.jpg
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Beat the tax hikes! New Budget giving you the blues (related thread)? Don't worry about the ever increasing excise duties, infrastructure cess etc. announced by our FM every year. Used cars are largely unaffected by them. If anything, moves like compulsory TCS actually soften demand (i.e. better prices).


not-so-obvious advantage #4
Buy a SAFER car for the same $$$! Want safety for your family at 3.5 lakhs? Dream on in the new car market. In the pre-owned space however, you can buy a sturdy VW Polo with dual airbags or a 6-airbag Hyundai i20. A Rs. 9 lakh Swift Dzire won't do much of a job protecting you in a crash; your odds of getting away unharmed greatly increase in a pre-owned 9 lakh Jetta which has an impeccable safety record. Whatever the budget, I can find you a safer car in the used market. You can safely ignore the NCAP failures & untested tin cans.


not-so-obvious advantage #5
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-5.jpg
Stay up-to-date for a longer time! Irrespective of the price band, a pre-owned car at the same price will be bigger, faster, safer, have additional kit & technology, more cabin space, higher levels of refinement, superior handling, beefier brakes & more. Why? Simply because a used car is generally from a segment or two higher than a new car at the same price point. Translated, your car won't get outdated anytime soon. Compare a 2016 Rapid to a 2013 Skoda Octavia, or a 2016 Toyota Etios to a 2012 Toyota Corolla and you'll get what I'm talking about. 5 years down, the Rapid & Etios will feel outdated; the Octavia & Corolla won't. Another example: I could be happily driving my Civic today - it's still quick, safe & spacious by current standards. Not the case with a 2010 Dzire which would've cost me the same $$$. The dude who bought my C220 is driving a sedan that's faster, safer, dynamically richer & more solid than anything in the mass market.


not-so-obvious advantage #6
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-6.jpg
Double bonanza! You save at the time of buying...as well as selling. Used cars are not only cheaper to buy, they are also far cheaper to own as you've bought an already-depreciated asset. As an example, I bought my ~4,000 km City Vtec for 7 lakhs + change (saving 2.8 lakhs off the cost of new). I sold her when she was 7.xx years old for 3.5 lakhs, losing about 3.5 lakhs in depreciation. If I'd have bought a new City, my depreciation loss would be at least 6 lakhs, if not more. That's not even counting the opportunity cost of the 2.7 lakhs I saved when buying her used. Or take my 530d as an example - In 1.5 years of using her, I've lost about 3.xx lakhs in depreciation. If I'd bought an obscenely overpriced new 530d, I'd have lost a minimum of 20 lakhs in depreciation. This point is especially applicable to cars priced over 15 lakhs as they are all depreciation disasters. The fat girls sink & how!


not-so-obvious advantage #7
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-7.jpg
Upgrade faster! Because you are buying a heavily depreciated asset, you can sell it earlier without the fear of losing too much $$$. Used cars shed their value slower than new ones because depreciation is the steepest in the first 3 years of a car's life. If you like changing your rides often, used is better for you as you'll lose lesser moolah at the time of resale. Also consider lateral upgrades .


not-so-obvious advantage #8
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-8.jpg
Extended warranties that meet or beat standard new car warranties! Extended warranties are a used car owner's wet dream. Honda now offers warranties up to 7 years (link), BMW does for 6 years & many others do for 5 years. Considering that most new cars have standard warranties of between 2 - 3 years, this is like having your cake and eating it too. The last 3 pre-owned cars I bought were still new enough to be in the factory warranty, and I got extended coverage on all of them. My risk was effectively zero. Of course, if you buy a new car, you get that many more years of coverage, but there's no denying that the l-o-n-g extended packages make the pre-worshipped deal extremely safe.


not-so-obvious advantage #9
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-9.jpg
Modify on day 1! Not only can you redline the car from the time of delivery, you can also drive it straight to your tuner. This isn't the case with a new car where few owners will do anything to mess up the standard warranty. Of course, it isn't the case if you get an extended warranty on your used car either. But considering the average age of a used car in India is 4 years (related analysis), this point is applicable to most pre-owned examples.


not-so-obvious advantage #10
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It's not just cheaper, stupid. It's better value! When you buy new, you are paying 100% of the price for a car that has 100% of its life left. Sounds like an even deal to me. On the other hand, when I bought my Civic, I paid 57% for a Honda that had 95% of its life left. Now who's the wiser? Similarly, I bought my 1.5 year old 530d for almost half of its MRP at the time. Since it had 19,000 km on the clock, we can safely assume that at least 90% of its life is left for me to use. In other words, ~50% of the price got me 90% of the utility. It's not just about used cars being cheaper - they offer FAR SUPERIOR VALUE. You know how we're always complaining about cars in India being so much more expensive than say, the USA? Look for depreciation disasters and you'll be buying cars at prices comparable to American ones (e.g. my Civic). Prices in the used car market are a lot more dynamic than in the new segment. In the former, the market decides the price. In the latter, it's the manufacturer.


not-so-obvious advantage #11
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-11.jpg
Used cars are better today...than they've ever been! Reason? New cars are getting better every year! The competence levels, quality & durability of new cars are ever increasing, and this has a direct effect on the used car market. As an example, a 3 year old Hyundai Verna in 2009 was nothing to write home about. It looked ugly, handled poorly, had awfully bouncy ride quality and had boring interiors. On the flip side, a 3 year old Fluidic Verna today is a far more impressive sedan. This is applicable across the board because - you guessed it - new cars today are ever improving. A 3 year old car in 2016 feels decidedly tighter & superior than whatever 3 year old cars we saw in 2006.


not-so-obvious advantage #12
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Super easy to gauge whether the car is a lemon or not! When you buy a new car, you have no way of knowing how it'll perform in the longer term (although there's absolutely no denying that new is safer). With used cars, that's easy to gauge. You see, lemons show their true colours very early in life. My C180 was a lemon and it was obvious within 25,000 km; likewise with our wretched Tata Indigo. Just take a look at the service history of the car and what kind of replacements it's had. I've followed the best practices listed in this article & relished each pre-owned car purchase. Sure, it requires effort, but if a weekend of work (background checks, PPI) saves me a couple of lakhs, I'm game anytime. Ironically, the only lemons I've owned have been new cars, not used .


not-so-obvious advantage #13
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Used car loans don't have to be that expensive! Gone are the days of used car loans costing a whopping 18%. Take a loan against your FD at +1 or 2% (related thread) for cheap financing. No FD? No problem. If you have maintained a good credit score (i.e. CIBIL) and / or have a longstanding relationship with your bank, you can easily get used car loans in the 12-12.5% range. Some websites show me ICICI giving personal loans at rates as low as 11.49%. And remember, after the demonetisation drive, the liquidity in the banking system has gone up by 11 lakh crores!! With so much money in the system, interest rates are bound to fall further.


not-so-obvious advantage #14
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It doesn't have to take that long! A decade back, finding a used car meant making multiple calls to your friendly brokers & endlessly screening newspapers. Admittedly, the process was cumbersome & boring. Now, with a plethora of classifieds websites, it's easy as pie. What's more, you can set up convenient Google Alerts too (e.g. used Ford Endeavour in Mumbai). The last two pre-worshipped cars I bought, it took me between 30 - 60 days to zero in on the right piece. That's a lot less than the waiting period on some popular new cars!!


not-so-obvious advantage #15
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-15.jpg
Enthusiast cars go cheap! You'll realise it's a good thing that enthusiasts don't see eye to eye with the layman. The Laura vRS moves much slower than a Laura TDI, and it's a similar story with the Octavia TSI vs TDI. Manual high-speed German? Few people want a 6-speed C220 MT. Fiesta 1.6? Ditto. Accord V6? Sells for the same price as an Accord I4. Linea T-Jet? Most buyers won't even walk close to one, leave aside test-driving it. Wait for the S-Cross to start hitting the used market and you'll see the 1.6L commanding a small premium (at best) over the 1.3L. Don't show your enthusiasm and you can get a good deal on these. Additionally, if you want true gems that are no longer in production (e.g. MM550 NGCS or 6-cylinder 3-Series), the pre-owned market is your only source. Am sure that one day, new car showrooms will only have electric / hydrogen / whatever cars and if you want to buy a high-revving petrol or quick diesel, the used market will be your sole option.


not-so-obvious advantage #16
The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-image00001.jpg
The sheer variety! Whatever the budget you have for a pre-owned car, the choice of models will be at least thrice that of new cars (at the same price point). As an example, someone with 6 lakhs in his pocket can only consider hatchbacks & a handful of compact sedans among new cars. In the used car market however, over & above hatchbacks & entry-level sedans, I could find him powerful C2 segment sedans (e.g. City, Verna), SUVs (e.g. EcoSport, Duster), MPVs (e.g. Ertiga), 4x4s (e.g. Thar, Gypsy) and so on. When I was recently shopping for a 530d, there were probably about 20 new cars that fell in the same budget. On the other hand, the pre-worshipped market gave me a choice of 200 models (including V8 petrols & V10 diesels!!).

Last edited by GTO : 9th December 2016 at 10:18.
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Old 5th December 2016, 16:34   #2
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

And thanks to 3M stores etc, you can get your car detailed and cleaned and you'll get that new car feel as well.

Also, can you maybe write an article on what are the negatives to buying used? Pardon me if it's already posted.

Last edited by The Brutailer : 5th December 2016 at 16:38.
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Old 5th December 2016, 16:35   #3
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Nice thread GTO. Can totally relate to every one of the points you made. I have bought 4 cars in the last 9 years and the first three were preowned. The 4th one was new and I am already convinced that if and when my next upgrade happens, it will be a preowned car again. Currently have my eyes set on a preowned diesel dsg Jetta . No way am I going to get that new.

One other not so obvious advantage I have felt. Most people out there are laymen when it comes to cars. So most folks don't even realize that the car is a preowned one unless you tell them. Especially, if you get a well maintained example and throw in a round of detailing yourself. Very few people realized that my sx4 was preowned and I used to hear chatter and whispers from the extended family about how I could afford a big c segment car.

Last edited by Rajeevraj : 5th December 2016 at 16:39.
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Old 5th December 2016, 16:47   #4
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Fantastic read! Thanks GTO A sucker for used market myself.

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTO View Post
Irrespective of the price band, a pre-owned car at the same price will be bigger, faster, safer, have additional kit & technology, more cabin space, higher levels of refinement, superior handling, beefier brakes & more. Why? Simply because a used car is generally from a segment or two higher than a new car at the same price point.
So much true! I bought my 3.8 years CBR 250R for less than 50% for the current on-road price; the amount which would buy me a new FZ or Gixxer. And boy, CBR has so much more tech and road presence than those bikes!
Also, it is fun to just look into classifieds to look at premium/sporty bikes/cars are insanely low prices. I keep doing that on a regular basis just for pleasure.
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Old 5th December 2016, 16:48   #5
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Point #9 is what works for me.

Bought a used Pajero so that i could start modifications from day 1.

Additionally, the amount of money saved on a used car, you put in 10% and change almost every essential bit from hoses, to oils to mounts and you are sure that your car is in top shape even though the previous owner has provided you with a clean service history.

Also, i wouldn't care if i had failing shock absorbers while buying the car. I'd use that as a bargaining point and straight away put in better than stock upgraded shockers for rough use.

Thread (Mitsubishi Pajero SFX - Project Overland Conversion)

Last edited by GTO : 6th December 2016 at 11:52. Reason: Adding pic + thread link of your truck :). Thanks
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Old 5th December 2016, 16:50   #6
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Thanks for the article GTO.

This could not have come at a better time. I am on the verge of buying a 2011 Civic and if the dealer is able to come down a bit on the price, I'll go for it.

However a question for all which has been boggling me for a while. Considering the recent demonetization, does it make sense to go for a used car now or should one wait for a couple of months? (Considering that the used car market is mostly cash driven unlike the new car market).

Best,
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Old 5th December 2016, 17:02   #7
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Not-so-obvious advantage is BUYING ACCESSORIES with money saved by not opting for a new car. This is especially applicable to economy cars which are usually bare bones (tinny music system, no alloys etc)

Example:

Cost of new Maruti Alto AMT: Rs. 5 Lacs on road Bangalore
What I bought instead: Maruti A-Star AT: Rs. 3.3 Lacs

Immediate cost savings: Rs. 1.7 Lacs.

Now I didn't want to put this little fortune in bank FD and live happy ever-after. So I decided to "re-invest" this amount back into the car.

Step 1: The first step is to get rid of all mechanical faults, and get the car as close to a new car as possible.

New Battery: Rs. 5,000
35000 & 40000 km servicing (with interior treatment & minor body work): Rs. 12,000
Insurance: Rs. 8,000
New Tyres: Rs. 12,000
Car Perfume: Rs. 300 (for that new car smell )
3M Carpets: Rs. 5,000
Paint treatment & protection: Rs. 8,000

Total expenses: Rs. 50,300
Amount saved: Rs. 1.7 lacs minus Rs. 50,000 = Rs. 1.2 Lacs

This is what I got - a car that was as good as new:

The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-img20160905wa0018.jpg

Step 2: Accessorizing the car at friendly neighborhood stores, and getting the lead over equivalent new cars with extra big car features.

Mirror mounted reversing camera with video playback: Rs. 5,000
Interior LED ambent lighting: Rs. 2,000
Rocking music system: Rs. 25,000

Total expenses: Rs. 32,000

The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars-p_20161112_113133_1_p.jpg

Amount saved (surplus): Rs. 1.2 lacs minus Rs. 32,000 = Rs. 88,000

I still have Rs. 88,000 to play with, and I intend to "invest" this back into the car over a period of time. My accessorizing options are endless -

1) Alloys
2) Reliance Jio GPS tracker with Wifi
3) TPMS

and so on.

Basically, when you re-invest the savings back into a pre-owned car, you get "more car per car"
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Old 5th December 2016, 17:17   #8
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

One more advantage would be - OPTIONS

For example: If I have a budget of 8 Lakhs (non-extendable) and I am on the lookout for a sedan. My options for a new car would be - etios, dzire, zest, amaze, xcent, aspire. For 2nd hand markets, 8 lakh may fetch you an accord, octavia and what not.

Besides, the option for negotiations are numerous. Count on your creativity to come up for a reason to break the asking price further. One of my friends bought a used Laura and was saying that he managed to bring down the selling price by 20000 over and above the previously negotiated price on the day of final deal, by saying that my family is opposing to buy this car because of the "offensive name".
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Old 5th December 2016, 17:20   #9
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

This is something which my dad totally believes in. He is an automobile engineer, works as an insurance surveyor in the auto industry and has never bought a new car. Currently drives a Punto MJD, his 9th car (owns one at any given point of time ;-)

But here is my perspective, or rather a question.

I am a salaried guy, I don't have a big corpus. In case i buy a used car which on record is very well maintained, and the car suddenly develops a problem which costs me a bomb (say 1 lakh rs), I will be in a big trouble. I am currently looking to replace my 4 yr old, 60000+ kms run Ritz VDI purely because it has Zero safety. Thats what i could afford at that time, this time i want a safe car with excellent highway manners, and an engine which is a cruiser.

My current situation is this:
- I get an interest free car loan from my company upto 10 lakh rs, which i have to repay in 7 yrs.

- My budget is 8-9 lacs, want a diesel, should be safe, should be a sedan or a car with a decent luggage space, and MOST importantly, should be RELIABLE. I frankly dont have the time, or the patience to take her to the service center or the garage every few weeks.

- Like i mentioned above, It will be an uncomfortable position financially if it suddenly costs me a lot of money to repair some critical failed part. Thankfully, due to my dad being in the auto industry and knowing almost all the service center folks in his city, I am confident that getting the car repaired, or getting the spare on time, etc will be a bit easier, but say i buy a Rapid and some injector or something fails, it will cost me a huge dent.

Any opinions, suggestions on what should be my approach? That interest free car loan does tempt me to buy a new Aspire, or stretch and get an S Cross or the Ecosport.

Also, I live in Mumbai, it is tempting to get an Auto Diesel. I have driven the AMT and i really did not like it. Plus in B2B traffic, I kinda felt i did not have that perfect control on the way the car chugged with regards to my throttle input.

So, any opinions, comments?
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Old 5th December 2016, 17:47   #10
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Flexibility:

I am not sure If this is already covered or not but one advantage would be flexibility.

I can say this from my own recent experience.

I relocated to Ahmadabad from Pune in mid 2015, and since my house was around 25 kms from my office and have family/relatives in different parts of Gujarat, decided to go for a Diesel TATA Zest.

Things changed this year. Considering various factors, I took a decision to look for options outside my company, and eventually settled for a good opportunity in Mumbai.

Now, If I sale my 1 year / 14,000 km Zest now, IMHO It will only be a donation / social service for buyer considering the depreciation, therefore I have decided to keep the car and move it to Mumbai since I don't have any complaints with the car.

But If I had opted for a used car there, I could have explored for other option like a used car from Mumbai (Good place to get a used car I believe) or exploring my new company's lease policy and buy a new car. I would have preferred a petrol automatic for Mumbai.
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Old 5th December 2016, 18:08   #11
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
Step 1: The first step is to get rid of all mechanical faults, and get the car as close to a new car as possible.
...
>>> Battery, Insurance, Tyres, Scheduled service + lube / filter change
I would say that these must be factored into the cost of your used car - whatever is the immediate cost of getting it roadworthy. And if necessary, the purchase price you pay needs to be negotiated down to factor in these costs (or you can agree to pay a slightly increased cost if the last scheduled service was done a week or two back, tyres and battery are under a year old etc).

The rest of the stuff you mention, perfume, 3D mats, new music system, alloys and whatever else - are the value add that you can splurge on if you don't want to bank the profits from buying a used car.

Now comes the question - once you buy a ride like this - how long do you plan to keep the thing before you sell it?

If the answer to that is "five years or more" - feel free to splurge on alloys, expensive music system (though that can later be transplanted to your next new car) and such.

If not - buy a vehicle that has all the features you *absolutely* need already provided OEM - such as a stereo with bluetooth at the very least, essential for taking calls when driving. Or at the most, spend the bare minimum required to get those specific features.

Remember, your "bling" purchases will add very little value to the sale price of the car when you dispose of it. It will remain almost the same for a car at its age level and # of owners regardless of whether you replace tinny sounding paper speakers with Polk components and a Sony Xplod with a Harman Kardon.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dieselritzer View Post
but say i buy a Rapid and some injector or something fails, it will cost me a huge dent.

So, any opinions, comments?
So don't buy a Rapid. Buy a car that has a record for being reliable over long periods of use. Buy it lightly used under 40..50 thousand km so you have a long way to go before significant repairs become necessary. Buy a car whose parts are available in the open market rather than only at dealers, so you can get it serviced at a trusted neighbourhood garage if the dealer tries to fleece you. Means - buy a Maruti for ease of repair, or a Honda City of the previous generation or so for rock solid reliability. Ask your father for advice - he will be able to recommend you a mechanically solid and reliable car which won't cost you a bomb to repair.

Last edited by hserus : 5th December 2016 at 18:16.
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Old 5th December 2016, 18:57   #12
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Sorry for ruining the thread.
While all these points are valid we need to look at some of the disadvantages/ precautions

1) Have a 10 lakh budget?
Don't go and buy that E90 3 series for 10 lakhs. Keep some reserve cash at disposable: Parts are going to be way more expensive. Say buy a car for 8 lakhs and keep the other 2 safely so as to avoid any heart attacks in the future.

2) Mainteance:
If you're used to servicing your Dzire for 5 grand, be prepared to shell out 15-20 grand for your Jetta's service

3) Fuel economy:
I don't need to say this but you should be ready to see single digit figures a bit frequently

4) Insurance and Accident repairs
If you have an accident in your luxury German sedan, be prepared to say goodbye to your darling! The chances of the bill being higher than the IDV value is quite high. I've heard of a certain gentleman's C Class getting scraped on the drivers side. Quite serious I guess. Bill? 12 lakhs!!( The IDV of the car was way higher- used it as an example)
But then again it depends on the segment etc.

5) Selling:
It maybe very difficult to dispose your car when you want to sell it. 3rd hand cars are not very desirable. More so if it is a petrol. I know a person who has a BMW E90 325i. 1st owner.It was on sale for 7 lakhs for several months. Very desirable. I don't know if its sold now.

6) Reliablity:
The chances of part failures and replacements are higher in a used car than a new car.

Reliability, maintenance costs, demand and many other factors vary from car to car.
It pays to weigh both the pros and cons before throwing your money for your desired machine.
Happy Shopping

Edit:

7) Interest rates for loans:
If you're taking a loan, you have to pay higher interest rates. Also cars older than 5 years, say a Civic, is out of contention.

Last edited by Turbohead : 5th December 2016 at 19:05.
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Old 5th December 2016, 19:08   #13
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

Agree. If you go buy a more expensive ride, the parts, repairs etc will be much more expensive. But when you buy something that's within the B and C segments, these risk factors are going to be comparatively lower than when you buy a luxury car.

So - if instead of an older Merc you splash out on a lightly used 2..3 year old Corolla, you get a solid and mechanically reliable car with a good support network and decent fuel economy as well. Maybe not as economical as an Alto or Santro / i10, but well, if kitna deti hai and cost are that much of a factor, there are plenty of those on the market too, that you can buy under 2 lakhs and fit up for an additional 20..30k, invest or save the rest of your 5 lakh budget for a rainy day.
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Old 5th December 2016, 19:22   #14
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

While I am a big advocate of used cars, I had to buy a new car this year as none of the used cars came close to my requirements.

Here's my take on my personal experience.
I had a budget of 8-10L for a used car.
My wish list for my next car were
- Top notch safety features
- Reliability
- Decent Ground clearance as most of my travels are with 4-5 people onboard and on state highways with questionable road quality
- Parking constraint (my parking space cannot accommodate Camry or Accord)
- A segment or two higher than what I could have got from the new car market
I was ok with a petrol car as long as it gave me double digit mileage on the highways.

I was in the market for more than 3 months, saw a lot of corolla altis, innova's and the likes of it. Good examples were priced higher then market price and most of them had over 50K on the ODO
I had ruled out VW, Skoda and Honda. VW and Skoda for lack of reliability and service concerns . Honda for lack of options other than Civic and Accord which suffer from poor ground clearance.

After a lot of search, finally gave up and settled in for a new ecosport diesel titanium plus for around 11.75L OTR.
What I got from a new car over equivalent used car
- Top notch safety features with 6 airbags
- Factory warranty for 3 years extendable by an additional year
- Peace of mind
- Savings in terms of fuel as I have done almost 10K Kms in 5 months
- Reasonably priced spares and maintenance compared to the expensive ones as I would have bought a car at least one to two segment higher

So all in all I don't miss a used car as I wasn't going to modify or red line my cars. I am a sedate driver and keep my speeds to under 100KMPH on the highways.
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Old 5th December 2016, 20:30   #15
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Re: The 'not-so-obvious' advantages to buying pre-owned cars

I am also a big fan of used car deals. I have changed cars as frequently as inner-wears and yet haven't lost much. In fact I have gained in a particular Honda City deal.

Scorpio AT 2WD -
Bought = 2012 Dec model 16k kms car bought for 10 L in 2014 June (new one 15 L)
Sold = in 2015 July at 26k kms for 9.75 L
Loss = Rs 25k

Honda City VX CVT
Bought = 2015 Jan model 7k kms car bought for 10 L in 2015 July (new one is 14.8 L)
Sold = 2016 Feb at 11k kms for 11 L; gained a Lakh
Profit = Rs 1 L

Celerio VXI AMT
Bought = 2014 Aug Model 6k Kms car bought for 4.4 L in 2016 jan (new one is 6 L)
sold = not yet

Skoda Rapid TDI
Bought = 2013 Jan Model 7k Kms car bought for 8.5 L in 2013 July (new one was 11 L)
sold = not yet

Chevy Beat TDCI LT
Bought = 2012 Dec Model 6k Kms car bought for 5.3 L in 2013 June (new one was 6.6 L)
sold = 2016 Feb at 37k kms for 3.5 L
Loss = Rs 1.8 L


Some tips on buying used cars.

1. Since I change cars very frequently, I make it a point not to spend on accessories.
2. When I sell a car, I make it a point to change the ownership to the buyer myself and then sell the car.
3. I usually buy a used car which is an year to 18 months old and done under 10k kms. Point is that car will give you a almost new car experience and it wont breakdown and no major repairs.
4. I always buy popular and safe brands so that resale is easy.
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