[Dragonheart22]

From my personal experience of buying my first car, a pre-worshipped car, I came across the following:
1. There is considerable financial advantage (initial depreciation, insurance costs, parking saved money in reasonable return assets) to buying a second-hand car (especially the make of a less valued brand in India, e.g. TATA, VW, FORD, FIAT,etc.)
2. However, depending on the timing of your purchase in the vehicle' life you might end up incurring some the long duration periodic maintenance replacements (suspension members, timing drive, clutch)
3. If you plan to keep the vehicle for longer mileage (70k / 7years), might want to time your purchase to avoid the above mentioned expensive replacements
4. I have learned to keep a personal mark of 50k/4 years as the cutoff for purchase, but then it is not easy to find good vehicles with that low mileage in this market.

[Altocumulus]

I am on my 14th car in the last 15 years, 9 preowned and 5 new.

I love preowned cars and then getting it done up to as close to a pristine condition as possible. The idea is to be patient, do research on the car you want to buy, understand and acknowledge the known issues and check them thoroughly. Also try and target company owned cars, they almost always are maintained well at company service centers because of the tax benefits. Saying that the best judge of a car being maintained is not just service records. Add to that the interiors. The interiors give a lot of information on how much the car is run and maintained. The wear and tear on the steering, the gear, the seats, etc.

The new cars were either because I took a company lease or they were newer models and their price in the used car market didn't have much of a difference with the new. Also new cars gives me the option to spread the loan over 7 years if not on lease.

Used car loans attract very high interests and I found it more beneficial to take a personal loan to buy it with the added bonus of the car being free and clear of any hypothecation. Among the 3 I currently own, 2 are pre-owned.

[RaghavEvoX]

It's because of my previous experience of high maintenance costs. I bought an used Ford Ikon in 2011(5 years old that time) for 1.6 Lakhs and spent around 3 Lakhs on it over a period of next 6 years. In 2017, when I had a budget of around 13 Lakhs to buy a car, I was initially looking for an used Skoda Octavia, But then the fear of high maintenance costs pushed me to buy a new Hyundai Verna P AT for which I have spent only Rs.5000 over maintenance in the last 2.5 years.

[chaotic]

I would definitely buy a used car as it will get me better tech for the same money. My first car was a 4 year old Alto VX 1.1, got a very good deal as it was from the first batch of CKD units and it never really took off in the market (people preferred the 800cc model). For it's size/weight, it had a very good engine and the car was really loaded! Even a new alto at the time (not even other marutis today) had knitted fabric roof liners, soft carpets... and this little thing had it all. Drove it for 7 years without problems

However, I voted 'others' for not buying used today, primarily, it's to do with my job and it's company lease policy which doesn't allow used cars

[vroom_vroom]

I am more than convinced about buying a pre-worshipped car if it comes from a known source. I owned 3 cars in the last 15 years starting with a new Hyundai Santro Xing (2004) which I sold in 2017 to buy a new Hyundai i10 Sports (O) AT. This was mainly bought for the convenience of my wife.

However, coming back to the topic, I also own a pre-worshipped Volkswagen Jetta TDI Highline (2010). Believe me, I closed that deal in a day just because I knew the history behind the car as it was previously owned by my boss and I knew how well it was maintained. Moreover, it had done less than 30k and is still running well with close to 1L km on its odometer.

I love Jetta and wanted to own one since the time I saw it for the first time in the flesh. However, the price for a new one was way beyond my budget. I couldn't have owned it if I had not sealed the deal.

But, I am also sure, I wouldn't have put my hard-earned money in this car if it was not from a known and trusted source for sure.

Sure, I will be more than happy to own a pre-owned luxury car if it comes from a reliable source (not any jus another used car dealer).

[desertfox]

I have bought scrappy old Jeeps and rebuilt them but Saloon Cars or SUV, there's always an element of fear about failing to check it thoroughly. Not everyone is an expert. Too many areas of risk. Specially diesel vehicles.

[GrandTourer]

The main reason for me to not go the pre-owned route was reliability and the absence of features, tech, ironed out issues/niggles with the earlier generation.

I bought a new GT TSI in Feb of 2018, having decided that this was the car for me and not having shortlisted any other car after the initial consideration of Abarth.

In case of the GT TSI, I had heard enough horror stories about the DSG going kaput and the huge bills associated with it. At the time of purchase VW didn't have the 5+2 EW scheme going. So it just didn't make a lot of sense to go for a pre-owned car at that point of time.

This is a very specific case, and had it been any other car (without the DSG), I would have strongly considered the pre-owned market.

[sdg4wheels]

I voted for the risks involved because that is what my brain tells me to. But to be honest I prefer pre-worshipped cars provided that they have been worshipped in real. This becomes the biggest issue to understand if the car has been worshipped or it was just doing it's duty without even getting it's necessary love and affection.

[SnakemanJohny]

Yes, in most cases, the vehicles have not been pre-worshipped but abused, and it is difficult to evaluate the exact conditions by one short test drive or two.
Like someone else, I would buy an old Willys or petrol JEEP in any condition as long as spares are available -- confident that it can be rebuilt without much fuss.

But a modern car/SUV with its complex mechanisms and electronics is something else. Even an innocent looking small spare may end up being super-costly, or unavailable. So even if there are some vehicles out there that I would prefer buying second hand, I let them pass. I never feel comfortable driving one unless I know exact condition of each part, and how much wear & tear it has suffered. That is possible only in a new vehicle, or a second-hand one which has been taken apart and put back in my presence !

Peace of mind is preferable, to me !

[SS-Traveller]

I prefer pre-worshipped cars, and I believe I'm competent enough to check them thoroughly enough not to buy a lemon.

Yet, in the last ~16 years, I've bought 3 of the 5 cars we've owned, brand new from a showroom. The main reason was that there were no used cars with the specifications I wanted.

Accent Viva CRDi, bought new in December 2004. I wanted a diesel, but not a smoky slouch. Common rail diesel engine tech was just coming into the market, and the only affordable common rail diesel engines were from Hyundai (Accent, Elantra and Tucson). I bought the one I could afford.

Swift ZXi (2006), bought in November 2006, used.

Scorpio MHawk 2.2L VLX 4wd, bought in October 2009, new - new car on the market with a list of features that no other car had at that time. I'd have still had it, if the damned NGT rules did not force me to sell.

Thar CRDe 4x4 (2012), bought in August 2017, used.

Ciaz Alpha Petrol Smart Hybrid, bought in February 2019, new - new car model in the market, no used car available.

So that sums up the only reason why I don't buy a used car at times.

[prateekswarup]

Voted for Used Car:

Two lovely experiences:

1. Pre owned Grand Vitara 2.0 2007 MT, 30000 kms post ownership and counting
2. Recently purchased a Outlander 2010, 5000 kms & counting.

Loved the overall bang for buck that a pre-owned offers.

Confidence of taking plunge comes from also having a good knowledge of mechanicals of cars, trusty mechanic and patience to search for a good one!

Detailed comparisons of both coming up soon.

[zhopudey]

Voted for probably the least preferred reason on tbhp - don't have the knowledge or expertise about used cars.

[fiestarry]

Whilst buying basic cars through the used route may be alright, it is highly risky unless one knows the seller personally.
The used car dealers are in a league of their own. Cheating seems to be the only way they conduct business.
Recently, I nearly fell for a ' too good to miss' deal on a C200. My investigation revealed that it was one of the thousands of luxury cars that were flooded during the Chennai deluge.
Used car dealers rank only marginally above politicians in ethics.

[varunanb]

Originally Posted by fiestarry

Recently, I nearly fell for a ' too good to miss' deal on a C200. My investigation revealed that it was one of the thousands of luxury cars that were flooded during the Chennai deluge.
Used car dealers rank only marginally above politicians in ethics.

Chennai floods are now more than 4 years old. If the vehicle is restored and is running since then why should we be worried about the floods anymore?

I agree on the dealers part. These used car sellers often cannot be trusted. Better educate yourself and have a trusted garage check each and every car you are interested . I prefer to use one of our bhpian owned garage in ECR, Ignite, for all such inspections.

Have 2 cars bought used after proper evaluation and understanding it's condition. Now have a very peaceful ownership and no surprises.

[nagr22]

I voted for the risk of being cheated because my first car was a used one and I got my fingers badly burnt in that deal. I didn't know much about cars back then so I took a good friend along who always used to talk about cars so I thought he knew about them (bad mistake). He took me to dealer (whom I came to know later was my friend's friend) and showed the cars in his lot. I ended up liking a 5 year old, 30k run car whose paint looked brand new (should have been a red flag but I was naive) and the dealer said it was accident free and even confidently told me to take it to a Toyota service centre and get it inspected. My friend inspected and gave a clean chit and suggested me to finalize the deal. I was not sure so took it to a nearby Toyota service centre and the mechanic there did a thorough test drive and gave a clean chit for mechanicals but suggested to do a paid inspection to get a full report. My biggest regret till date is not going for that paid inspection. Instead we asked for service history and apart from the routine maintenance, we saw that the driver side door was replaced a year ago. Odo was clean and the door was replaced out of pocket and not by insurance. The dealer told me that the owner replaced the door due to a minor brush with a two wheeler. I believed and the deal was done. The car ran great, returned fantastic mileage and GNCAP even rated it 4* so I was very happy with it.

After more than a year, I started seeing intermittent stalling at idle and airbag warning lights flashing. I had two instances where I took the car to the service centre due to this issue but couldn't replicate the issue in front of them. There were no codes, battery was new and a service had been done recently. When it happened again, I took it to nearby garage and while he was looking at the idling problem, he casually asked whether I repainted the car after an accident. When I told him it has never had an accident he laughed and showed me the various welds in the cars structure, showed me the dust dimples on the car's paint proving that the entire car has been repainted, one headlight looks newer than the other etc etc. He even told me that by looking at the number of weld points, it is most likely a very major head on accident involving air bag deployment and the airbag light is probably due to an shoddy aftermarket airbag or most likely the airbag has been removed and told me about a 1 ohm resistor that could have been connected somewhere onto the airbag connector which fools the ECU into believing that there is an airbag! He told me he can confirm by opening the dash but I didn't let him do it. When I told him that the insurance NCB was 50%, he told me that there are dealers who do this kind of work for a low cost and convince the owners not to claim insurance to avoid low resale and instead sell to unsuspecting buyers.
I immediately called my friend and he brushed off saying the mechanic is lying and his dealer friend is not of that type and that there was no indication of accident or repaint in this car.
The next few months were horrible and I decided to sell it to have some peace and approached the same dealer from where I brought and his offer was peanuts! He gave reasons like its now a 2nd owner car so he can't give more than 50% of what I paid him blah blah so I confronted him about the accident and weldings. He denied that there was an accident and the welds were minor repairs!
I tried selling it to truebil and they did not want to buy this car after evaluation as it did not meet their quality standards! The mechanic told me about the repainting, airbag light and the frontal collision as the reason.
After this incident we decided to not drive this car and buy a new one instead. We shortlisted the Yaris and while negotiating, we mentioned about our car, its defects and the sales agent agreed to evaluate it and see what he can do. He too gave a low ball quote, as his mechanic had found out everything during inspection. Finally we settled on a price which was slightly more than 50% of what I paid for it. So my lessons from this ordeal are:
1. Always get a used car inspected by a competent mechanic before finalising. If in doubt, get it inspected by more than one mechanic. It will save a lot of headache later.
2. Try to research and learn about how to inspect used cars before buying. Team-bhp used car guides are a good starting point.
3. NCB of 50% does not mean the car is not accident free. It only means there was no insurance claim and the owner could have repaired it out of pocket.
4. If you don't have time and patience, buy a new car. The peace of mind offered is incomparable. Until we have ethical dealers and a database like carfax, stay away from used car deals in India.

As for me, I might still buy a used car in the future as I have now gained tremendous amount of knowledge about cars, how to inspect them etc. I consider the 1.5 lakhs which I lost in that car deal as a fees for a course in 'How to inspect a used car before buying'. My wife teases me to quit my current job and set up a car evaluation service