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What’s most surprising to me is that the average car purchase was $48K. Seems like a lot of money given that the average salary in the US is $60k. But then agai

What’s most surprising to me is that the average car purchase was $48K. Seems like a lot of money given that the average salary in the US is $60k. But then again, people on lower income brackets may be buying used vehicles.

deleted 4y ago
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latchkey 4y ago
I'd personally never buy a new car again. The moment you drive it off the lot, you've lost value. The hard part with that though is finding a used car that fits your criteria. Even with all the search engines online now, they don't cover all the various features cars can come with. You setup a specific search and they email you seemingly random results. It is maddening.
- kylehotchkiss 4y ago
  Not every car! My gently used SUV reports having about the same or slightly higher value than the sales price on KBB for my area.
- paulpauper 4y ago
  Isn't it like this with any car? You always are paying at a markup whether new or old.
  - sieabahlpark 4y ago
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- pfannkuchen 4y ago
  I think part of the value drop is due to a fundamental lack of certainty over what has happened in the life of a used car, however short. Did it have undocumented problems, etc. If you buy a new car you don’t have that uncertainty.
  - lmpdev 4y ago
    This is why I love the idea of importing used vehicles from Japan (I live in Australia) They're some of the most over serviced and least questionable vehicles I've ever seen The online JDM car auctions are fascinating to observe even if you're not interested in cars
    - sidewndr46 4y ago
      My understanding is it's the opposite. No one services vehicles in Japan because after a few years they cost more to keep on the road than they are worth.
  - zdandoh 4y ago
    Indeed, my first used car that was otherwise in good repair and wasn't cheap had a recurring carpet beetle infestation that popped up each spring. Hundreds of the things crawling out of every crevice, and there was no way to know about it until months after I had purchased the vehicle. Could never find the source, but got it managed with yearly treatment. It makes me quite reluctant to buy used cars again.
    - roundandround 4y ago
      I've occasionally heard of those kinds of problems from acquaintances, but I've heard and seen so many more newly introduced defect problems and individual car misassembled problems. On average, I think a used car is a car that has been debugged under warranty by someone else with its design critiqued collectively. The discount for the possibility that the last owner was in the bottom 20% seems to not take into account the positive aspects of a car that is at least 2 years old, 80% of the time.
  - nikau 4y ago
    This is why ex-lease vehicles are the ones to go for, at least in Australia. They are typically driven by older people who want the latest shiny thing after the lease expires after 3-4 years vs being dumped due to issues.
- pg938hkd 4y ago
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deleted 4y ago

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latchkey 4y ago

I'd personally never buy a new car again. The moment you drive it off the lot, you've lost value. The hard part with that though is finding a used car that fits your criteria. Even with all the search engines online now, they don't cover all the various features cars can come with. You setup a specific search and they email you seemingly random results. It is maddening.

kylehotchkiss 4y ago
Not every car! My gently used SUV reports having about the same or slightly higher value than the sales price on KBB for my area.
paulpauper 4y ago
Isn't it like this with any car? You always are paying at a markup whether new or old.
- sieabahlpark 4y ago
  [dead]
pfannkuchen 4y ago
I think part of the value drop is due to a fundamental lack of certainty over what has happened in the life of a used car, however short. Did it have undocumented problems, etc. If you buy a new car you don’t have that uncertainty.
- lmpdev 4y ago
  This is why I love the idea of importing used vehicles from Japan (I live in Australia) They're some of the most over serviced and least questionable vehicles I've ever seen The online JDM car auctions are fascinating to observe even if you're not interested in cars
  - sidewndr46 4y ago
    My understanding is it's the opposite. No one services vehicles in Japan because after a few years they cost more to keep on the road than they are worth.
- zdandoh 4y ago
  Indeed, my first used car that was otherwise in good repair and wasn't cheap had a recurring carpet beetle infestation that popped up each spring. Hundreds of the things crawling out of every crevice, and there was no way to know about it until months after I had purchased the vehicle. Could never find the source, but got it managed with yearly treatment. It makes me quite reluctant to buy used cars again.
  - roundandround 4y ago
    I've occasionally heard of those kinds of problems from acquaintances, but I've heard and seen so many more newly introduced defect problems and individual car misassembled problems. On average, I think a used car is a car that has been debugged under warranty by someone else with its design critiqued collectively. The discount for the possibility that the last owner was in the bottom 20% seems to not take into account the positive aspects of a car that is at least 2 years old, 80% of the time.
- nikau 4y ago
  This is why ex-lease vehicles are the ones to go for, at least in Australia. They are typically driven by older people who want the latest shiny thing after the lease expires after 3-4 years vs being dumped due to issues.
pg938hkd 4y ago
[dead]