4 ms·
My own theory is that everyone else is thinking the exact same thing: looking for a "great deal" 1-3 year old used car. So demand for these cars is quite high.
by argonaut 8y ago
My own theory is that everyone else is thinking the exact same thing: looking for a "great deal" 1-3 year old used car. So demand for these cars is quite high. Modern cars are much more reliable than before, and that is reflected in the price you pay for a lightly used car.
Used luxury cars still have a lot of depreciation and 1-3 year old luxury cars can be a good deal; my guess is that luxury cars tend to be more costly to maintain and less reliable than regular cars. Also, luxury car owners tend to lease their cars, which creates a large market of used luxury cars.
- madcaptenor 8y agoAlso, the point of a luxury car is to show off that you can afford a luxury car, so a 3-year-old luxury car doesn't have the same cachet as a new one. The point of a "normal" car is transportation, which a 3-year-old car can do just as well as a new one.
- pfranz 8y agoI knew quite a few people who had a dream of owning a specific nicer brand, like BMW. They started making decent money and bought one that was 3-5 years old. Literally 6mo later they'd dump it at a loss because during that time it was constantly in the shop and each repair cost was ridiculous. I now know a few people who own nicer cars for peer and client status reasons (I'm sure they like having a nice car, too). Leasing or selling the new car after a couple years seems like the only sane way to operate. A friend bought a Mini Cooper new and drove it for 10 years. It had very low milage because for quite a few years it wasn't needed much. For the most part it ran fine, but paying for expensive brake pads, run-flat tires (no spare), and other maintenance on a car where the glove box wouldn't stay closed and the cloth headliner sagged down just didn't make sense.