Why is it smart to buy a pre-owned vehicle?
Sometimes it’s best to let the experts explain. The Editors of Consumer Reports discuss “Why Smart Shoppers Buy Used Cars:” “Buying a used car, particularly a late-model used car, often makes more sense than buying a new car. It’s not just that the initial price is lower. Buying used also means that items pegged to the car’s value, such as collision-insurance and taxes, will be lower. If the car is less than three years old it’s probably still covered by the factory warranty. What’s more, buying used is also a way to get a better-equipped vehicle than you’d be able to afford new.” (Consumer Reports used Car Buying Guide, 2003, p. 11) Edmunds answers “Why does it make good financial sense to buy a used car?”: “A new car depreciates between 20 and 30 percent as soon as you drive it off the lot. In the ensuing years of a car’s life, it depreciates only about 5 to 10 percent a year. Therefore, if you buy a one-year-old car, someone else has paid for that steep depreciation. Furthermore, ca
