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Old 29th October 2020, 21:16   #61
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Great thread GTO. Have no experience buying a used car in India but I recently bought a BMW 530e MSport from UK in to Ireland at almost 57% of list price/MSRP. It was 10 months old when I put down a deposit and had 6k miles on odo. Car was over 95% new with new car smell inside and just had couple of tiny stone chips and nothing else.

Same car would have costed over 60k Euros new and 47k Euros used from a main BMW dealer here in Ireland. I got it for 36k Euros including 5 year BSI and Irish import duty. Attaching a pic.
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Old 29th October 2020, 22:59   #62
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

This is my first post and feels great to contribute to the community. Please excuse any mistakes.

This is really great thread and I can immediately relate to this as all my 3 car purchases are pre-worshiped cars.

I look around for a car about 3 years old and less than 30K on the odometer. All my below mentioned car purchases were in Pune.
  1. 2003 - Maruti 800 got 3 years old with 27K on the odometer. Used it for 6 years without any problems and got the zing in my driving. It was time when I was young, and my city had less traffic then

  2. 2009 - Honda city ZX GXI. Got it under 3 years old and with 34K on the odometer. Got it at 50% of the new car price. An absolute pleasure to drive and served without any major issues. Used it for 11 more years and finally sold it this year.

  3. 2020 - Hyundai Creta Diesel SX+ AT. Got it 2.5 years old and 16999 on the odometer. Got it for 28% less than a new car.

I must be lucky as I got directly all cars from gentleman owners and were collected directly from the owner's home. So no attempt to hide anything about the car. In fact, I got Honda City home even before the cheque was deposited in the bank.

You need to keep following things in mind while hunting for good cars

- Patience - You really need to keep watching for a good car and wait. For my Honda City, it took me 6 months. I even booked Maruti Suzuki Dzire while I was searching. Canceled as soon as I finalized the car.

- Get from direct owners as much as possible. Nowadays you see many direct owners on sites like OLX.

- Buy in cash as much as possible. Helps save on that interest and tilt balance in favor of pre-worshiped cars

- Take a good test drive. Mostly you immediately know if this car is for you or not in a test drive.


With this, I am the one who always promotes buying pre-worshiped cars in my friend circle. Still feel that people don't consider pre-worshiped cars due to social stigma.
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Old 31st October 2020, 19:35   #63
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Recently picked up a Honda Amaze, and kept a keen eye out on portals.
There was one example, with Honda warranty, done less than 10K for nearly ₹3L cheaper than a new car.
Honestly was quite tempted but it ended up being sold before I could go and see it.
To be honest, there was that bit of confusion too - between the V & S trims - the S trim worked out to ₹1.5L more than the used examples with all the safety features, and other key features. But there was the peace of mind of owning the car from the start for not too much more.

Similarly, was exploring some options in the luxury segment, and boy - the deals are there to be had.
Compared to new, a 1 year old 6GT 20D can be had for nearly ₹30L off the sticker price - and a lot of this is due to the price hikes the segment has seen recently.
I'm quite sure the chap bought the car for around ₹65L after discounts, but thanks to BS6 & general price increase - a new model is now several lakhs more expensive than when he bought it, and should be a cool ₹15 lakhs over the used one after factoring in BMWs typically large discounts.
Net net : the 1 year old 620D GT probably can be had for what you would pay for a top end 3 series.
The person selling it too doesn't take as bad a resale hit, and neither do we as the buyers compared to a new model.
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Old 31st October 2020, 20:05   #64
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by ninjatalli View Post
expect to sweat it out the maximum during the bargaining specifically for almost-new cars. Compared to this, buying a 5 year old car (for example) would be a breeze on the money discussions.

What you gain in peace of mind on the expected condition of the car (still in warranty, minimal wear and tear, etc.), you'll have to lose some of it during the price negotiations.

The key mantra is patience and time. Stick to your guns. Be ready to walk away if the deal isn't matching up on the price you had finalized/decided from your side.
My experience is just the oposite especially in case of a less than one year old gem. The current price cuts/discounts may work in your favor + you get to work out the emi difference. Take, for an example, a 10 lakh rupee new car. With 2L down payment, you would pay around 16k per month for 5 years. With same amount of DP+EMI for a used car loan at 13 % (vs 8%on a new car) you would only get 6.9lakhs for 5 years. What this means is, if i get a 5k kms 2020 model 10 lakh rupee car for 8.9 lakhs, my down payment and EMI would be same as a new car's. My negotiation will start from 8.9 lakh minus (discounts on offer at present +depreciation) if theres a zero discount at present, I would offer a 10% lower price ie 8.9Lakhs minus 1 lakh =7.9 lakh for a current model year 5k kms car. It usually works when you negotiate with owner and instead of nitpicking on their prized possessions, its more successful and better to convince them on mathematics. Sir How can I Buy this 10Lakh car for 8.5 lakhs when i am getting a brand new car for same DP+EMI I wont go few kays over that. This is for entry or B/B+ segments cars. The depreciation would be double or more for any car thats from higher segment.
Quote:
Originally Posted by turbo View Post

The lightly used cars have not depreciated enough for them to make a killer deal.

And if you have to get them on finance, the extra rate of finance on used cars will kill whatever savings you will have.

And then there's the challenge of collecting the cash, if you're buying outright.
On the contrary, the depreciation here is the most in very first year. Check the example cited above and thats just for the same model year, less than 12 months old car. Unfortunately most of us wont by a 10 lakh car for 8 lakhs when our budget is 10 lakhs. We often go for a 15 lakh car when our budget is 10 lakhs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SmartCat View Post
In Bangalore, it does not make sense to buy 1 to 3 year old cars because the quoted price is still very high. I have never seen 30% to 40% lower price for 1 to 3 year old cars, either at an used car dealer or in classifieds.

Not sure if actual deals happen close to the quoted price though.
Actual deals almost never happen at asking price thats why most cars keep listed for more than 10 hours.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wildsdi5530 View Post
Ground reality in Bangalore is that a 1 year old car is sold at almost new car price. The seller would have got it at a good discount, the owner would have written off the Taxes, and will have a hefty profit when selling.
I daresay, Bangalore is a case study in itself and we may have a sub-thread for bangalore used car diacussion because most of the factors and realities of Bangalore do not seem to apply to rest of the country.
This also makes me highlight one important aspect on this topic. In smaller cities or states with lower number of cars, depreciation in higher segment cars is much higher. Try selling a 1 crore rupee flat in mumbai and in a tier II city and you would understand. A 10 lakh rupee used car is sold more often in metros than in smaller cities. Much more of a buyer market there until we get a one nation one road tax policy.

Quote:
Originally Posted by hserus View Post
The sweet spot is 4 years and 20k odd km run. The value drops to about half the original price for a barely run in car. Always buy the top end variant when buying used.
I would say the newer the better. The graph quoted by @GTO tells the story.
My personal experiences
Car depreciation is much lower in entry level segments.
Juicy deals start adriving at C segment and above. How about a 6 month old city zx with 5k odo at 12 lakhs a 2 yo verna sx o at 8 lakhs? A 500 km 5 month old 17 Lakh SBK for (again) 12Lakh.

Last edited by Entsurgeon : 31st October 2020 at 20:34.
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Old 2nd November 2020, 09:48   #65
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Here's my two paise after buying an 8 year old Skoda Superb back in 2018 and now planning for a brand new car in next two months:

Pros:
(+) If you are willing to go back 7-10 years, you'll get high-end vehicles at mouth watering prices. RWD, V8, everything seems within reach

(+) 1-3 years old would make most sense as the vehicle is practically new and may also have an intact warranty. So if the manufacturer/owner has screwed up a bit, you can get it rectified for free

(+) Lesser headache about registration

Cons:
(-) Along the lines of Murphy's law: What has to break, will break. Also, there is a Skoda version: What has to break, will break before time. What is not supposed to break, will break as well. It is a massive gamble if you are an idiot like me and go for an 8-10 year high mileage old european not in the best nick. Seeing the reliability of Skoda vs BMW, I think that 2008 top-spec 320d would have been a better option but who can say?

(-) A 30L car may be dirt cheap 7 years down the line but the service and parts won't be

(-) No peace of mind as a car without warranty is a gamble in itself here in India.

(-) Poor(er) resale value as you're the 2nd (or 3rd?) owner of the vehicle. People are more likely to bank on ownerships than conditions or service history

(-) The exclusive feeling of taking the delivery of a brand new car. It is an incredible feeling plus you get treated slightly better at the service center

(-) The new car smell
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Old 2nd November 2020, 11:22   #66
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Can someone from their experience provide information about the warranty coverage on sale of used cars. Sometimes I hear from people that manufacturer warranty is not transferrable to 2nd owner for some brands(similar to electronics item these days) OR there is some process/charges to do the same.

Not much info is available on this on internet from Indian auto perspective.
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Old 2nd November 2020, 11:40   #67
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by bhppower View Post
- Patience - You really need to keep watching for a good car and wait. For my Honda City, it took me 6 months. I even booked Maruti Suzuki Dzire while I was searching. Canceled as soon as I finalized the car.

- Get from direct owners as much as possible. Nowadays you see many direct owners on sites like OLX.
These two points are really important. Especially in a city like Bangalore where dealers seem to have a grip on the used car market.

How process works is usually like…
original owner posts on olx > gets bombarded by dealers who convince them that many used buyers don't do RC transfer and they would be liable in case of any accident > people don't want this hassle and sell it off to the dealer.

This process also happens quite fast so if you want to get hold of a used car from a genuine owner, you need to keep searching daily for a few weeks/months in the hope of finding a person who has just listed their car and hasn't sold it off to a dealer yet. It is tiring but rewarding.
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Old 2nd November 2020, 11:55   #68
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Great post on Used car buying tips.

Would like to share my experience in buying a used car:


Bought used Honda City Automatic (November 2010 model) in 2014

Benefits I reaped:

At almost 50% less than the listed price (top model On-road price was 12lakh+). Odo at the time of buying was 25k
Current Odo: 80k and working beautifully

No hassles to date

No extended warranty was available then, but have been lucky to date. As said by GTO it is highly recommended to buy a warranty.

Just got an overhaul done this year and seems good for another 3 years.

A premium on a lesser-used car is totally worth


Few observations:

Always check the car under daylight (never past dusk)
Avoid playing music while taking a test drive (most agents might turn up the volume)
Check panel gaps
And metal joints in the boot.
Always check service history
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Old 2nd November 2020, 12:18   #69
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

While there is no doubt that most often it makes a lot of financial sense to buy used cars, in our country there are many variables that can make the used car deal a nightmare for an average buyer.

1. Availability and Search : while it is easy to say that patience pays, but sometimes wait can be frustrating. Moreso, a common man is dependent on either portals like OLX or Cars24 or dealers. The number of scamsters that proul on OLX, any common man with limited knowledge will be worried. How many people can really judge a car with simple checks. For many the sound of an engine playing pranks is discernible.

Another issue is ownership transfer. Making sure no previous challans or legal issues with the car and ownership transfer is seamless is another pain in our place.

2. Cost : Not many people can negotiate. With a new car, you get what you see and scope of negotiation has gone down to minimal anyways. But, negotiation stays an important issue with used cars. The fear of being fooled and not being able to pay the right value of the car is again something that keeps people away from used market.

3. Technical knowhow: let's be honest, most of us buy a car and are on the mercy of the dealer service centers for any work related to the car. While you can show a strong face to the SA trying to sell added services to avoid inflating the bill, very few of us are able to judge the workability of the mechanics there. Which means judging a car on your own or with a friend who claims to know cars is a big gamble.

Added to that, getting a trusted FNG is not that easy, unless you have contacts or have had the privilege of owning cars for long where you have a trusted FNG contact.

4. Maintenance cost: This thread clearly talks of the benefit of buying almost new cars which might also have factory warranty intact. But often when buying a used car, people might end up targeting a higher segment to get the best bang for bucks. But with that also comes higher cost of spares, service etc. as you might end up buying a more premium car or brand, especially when moving into the luxury segment. That can negate financial benefits of the purchase.

5. It's a different story if you stay in Bangalore: lot has been said about the garden city when it comes to used cars. Everything defies logic in this city, cars don't depreciate the way they do in other cities and finding good options is a task in itself.

Ofcourse there is always a scope of learning the art of the points stated above and clearly the forum has enough examples of patience paying off well. But for a common man, the hassles often are too many to handle. And now with cars becoming gadgets, getting used cars with same bells and whistles is not always easy (though I would love to have simpler and robust cars rather than gadgetary complexities).

The fear of the unknown is too much for many to venture into this domain of used cars. Markets abroad are far more mature when it comes to used cars/bikes.
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Old 2nd November 2020, 14:47   #70
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Whenever I see a car on sale which is less than a year and is quite attractively priced, my first thought is whether this is an accident / flood vehicle. There are specialized shops only for covering up such things.

Second thing I also consider is if the warranty expiration is impacting something that is wrong with the car. Typically cars have 3-4 years of warranty period and so if something goes wrong, you have exactly a year or so to figure out what's wrong.

Third would be the loan / payment options. Most banks have inflated used car rates vs. new car rates. Would you be ok to pay the higher EMI for an older car? Unless the amortized value hits at least somewhere within the ball park, all other costs being the same, it would leave a bigger dent.

Finally, the definition of "almost new" varies wildly. I still see some cars like a 3 year old BMW 5 series as new while I also see a 3 year old budget car (Hyundai, Maruti etc.) as old. That's my perception which sways with a lot of options.

My recommendation - if it's a rare car that you absolutely love and have CASH to pay for it, go ahead and get it. Otherwise, just search for cars with your feature list and you'll be pleasantly surprised.
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Old 2nd November 2020, 15:38   #71
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Quote:
Originally Posted by batladanny View Post
These two points are really important. Especially in a city like Bangalore where dealers seem to have a grip on the used car market.

How process works is usually like…
original owner posts on olx > gets bombarded by dealers who convince them that many used buyers don't do RC transfer and they would be liable in case of any accident > people don't want this hassle and sell it off to the dealer.

This process also happens quite fast so if you want to get hold of a used car from a genuine owner, you need to keep searching daily for a few weeks/months in the hope of finding a person who has just listed their car and hasn't sold it off to a dealer yet. It is tiring but rewarding.
Agree. You really need to spend time daily to keep monitoring. It took me almost 2 months of search to finally get my car. Before I finalized my Creta, I had shortlisted two cars but before I could go for inspection those were gone.
So dealers are there to quickly get good cars.

I have also seen some listings where dealers are not entertained.
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Old 2nd November 2020, 15:47   #72
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

Going by the posts of other members, used cars in Bangalore actually do not make much financial sense under 20L on road price of new cars.

I'm surprised how in other cities the car value gets depreciated rapidly and in turn benefit the used car buyer. The cars in Bangalore are quoted at 80-90% of the on-road price despite being 2-3 years old and being driven 20-25k kms.
Adding to that Bangalore cars would have been in traffic for majority of the time and we don't know how the previous owner has maintained the car despite regular servicing.
Unless one has patience and searches for a car for a month or two, then he/she might get lucky.

I'm not sure if we can buy used cars in another state and then use in Bangalore without being harassed by cops.

If one nation, one road tax becomes a reality, then it'll be level playing field for used car buyers and sellers alike
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Old 2nd November 2020, 15:57   #73
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

While am completely in favour of owning a used car. I myself bought a 2010 Jetta 2.0 TDI in 2013 with close to 30000 km on the odo. The car is still going strong with rapidly coming close to be run 100000 km.

However, of late, another question comes to my mind considering my car usage primarily. My cars are usually used for city driving within the Pune city. I do go driving out of Pune maybe once a year with maybe a couple of quick trips to Mumbai in a year. Considering the driving pattern, I wonder if it makes more sense to keep a small car for city use (I have another Hyundai Grand i10 to do the grocery runs) and rent a self-drive (zoom cars, Drivezy etc...) for outstation drives. Since I travel mostly once a year, the cost of renting out these self-drive cars comes lesser that the ownership cost of Jetta which is the car that I take out when travelling out of Pune.

I would like to know what other fellow bhp'ians think about it. I am in the following dilemma:

1) I love the way Jetta behaves on the road. However, it's already more than 10 years old and soon it's registration will be up for renewal. In this case, should I sell it and buy a new car (preferable an SUV)?
2) Should I renew Jetta registration beyond its expiry of 15 years and get the car repainted and restored to its glory?
3) The last option is to sell off Jetta and pocket the proceeds and rent out a self-drive car to satisfy the craving of long drives.

P.S.: Mods, please move this post to the relevant thread if you find this off-topic from the current discussion.
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Old 2nd November 2020, 16:16   #74
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

IMO if the car is good and reliable no owner will sell it within 3 years of ownership. Car purchase is a long term relationship especially in India because lease options are not so great in this country.

The ones that are available in the market could be from flop models or something wrong with the car or bad after sales experience or excessively driven.

Last edited by adi58 : 2nd November 2020 at 16:36.
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Old 2nd November 2020, 17:29   #75
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Re: "Almost-New" used cars! The logic & beauty of buying 1 - 3 year old pre-worshipped cars

3 years is definitely the sweet spot when buying pre-worshipped cars. I bought a 3 year old Jeep Compass Limited Diesel with just 25k kms on the odo for 12 lakhs. Lot of people advised me against it and just go with a new korean SUV but 3 months after using it I can definitely say it's a class apart from the Creta and the Seltos.
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