You are absolutely right. And because of the loan requirements, buying used can be an even worse deal than new when financing. Combine that with the fact that the used salesmen are usually the better negotiators and you can be upside down in a month.

People really need to get over their fear of buying a beater. It takes work to get ahead. Do your homework whenever makinig a major purchase. Also, do lots of homework and networking to find a mechnanic and/or learn to fix it yourself. Try the community college or leisure learning.

Also, private party is plagued by cheats as well, caveat emptor.

Menno,

Don’t worry, someone will always buy new cars. It will be a long time before our population figures out the cheapest time to own is AFTER 80k.

We just bought a low mile used from CarMax for our daughter. They don’t pressure sale, put everything on the window, and have a great warranty to back up their cars. I have finally convinced my wife that this is the way to buy instead of throwing it away on a new vehicle. We are in the process of getting her a 2006 Mini-Cooper, loaded with low miles, from CarMax for a great price. Like someone said earlier…you can’t get this good of a car, new, for the price.

I will never buy new again!

My last 2 purchases have been from elderly folks who had the cars serviced every 3000 miles whether they needed it or not. Private parties are the way to go!!

Perhaps it’s Hertz, Avis, Enterprise, etc. buying a lot of these cars. Of course, with GM, Ford and Chrysler trying to wean themselves off so many low-profit sales to rental companies, it seems that Hyundai, Mitsubishi, etc. will take up some of the slack (and be the losers instead).

Maybe the Chinese aren’t crazy after all.

A brand new “foreign” “luxury” and “economy” for about 3/4 of the price of South Korean or US (read: Mexico manufactured) vehicles might just resonate with some buyers sick of repair bills larger than a prospective new-Chinese-car payment.

My last 4 vehicles were bought in November, seems that Nov-Dec are pretty good times to buy.

The Ford dealer is no better, in fact, their used lot might be even bigger. Orphan, unloved vehicles can be had for a song these days. They have a 2005 Rendezvous (which is a pretty good family vehicle) without a scratch on it that has been sitting for 8 months. And Ford Five Hundreds with low mileage can be had for a 25-30% of sticker after 2-3 years with low, low mileage.

Now I just need to the price of a good used Bentley Continental GT to drop to 10% of it’s original sticker and I am laughing.

The lack of trucks and SUV’s is not unusual for me. But for some reason the market is starting to become a rather nice one and some of the higher end models that have been struggling are selling quite well.

For instance, I sold a 1998 Volvo XC70 owned wagon by two grandamas and had 85k for $7900. It was actually a car I bought from my mom and gave to her for West Palm Beach. Even after five months I still did exceptionally well and the folks who bought it got a truly fantastic vehicle for the long haul. That along with a T5 Volvo, a VW Passat, and a Buick made up the bulk of my higher end sales for this past week.

Purchases this week thus far…

2002 Volvo XC70, 111k – $6200

1996 Saturn SC2 – 109k – $750

1997 Town Car, Silver, Signature – $2100

1995 Volvo 850 Turbo, TMU – $700

1997 Mazda 626, Leather, 105k – $1450

1992 Lexus SC300 – 170k – $1750

2001 Pontiac Grand Prix SE – 150k – $2000

1998 Nissan Quest XE, 159k – $2050

2000 Dodge Neon Highline, 165k – $1300

2000 Olds Intrigue Leather – 180k – $1100

I am right now buying more vehicles on the side than I ever have in the past. Ever. A lot of my buyers are folks who can no longer afford the payments on their car and need to scrounge up enough money to get a ‘beater’ before their car gets repo’d. The flip side of it is that it seems in Atlanta that immigrants are also becoming a much larger portion of the ‘cash’ side of the business. It’s not too surprising since they have actually formed the foundation of most public auctions here for nearly a decade now.

The golden combination for most cars in demand seem to be…

1) Luxurious
2) Foreign
3) Cheap (Either to buy or cheap on gas)

If you get any two of the three, your car will sell at a reasonable profit since it’s tax season. With that in mind once we get to July and August, the used car market may start turning ugly. Election years are usually a bastard when it comes to big ticket purchases and with a recession to boot, we’re in for some strong volatility.

I got out of the buying new cars a number of years ago – it makes no sense no matter how you may examine it, if based upon logic.

I’d buy new only if the car was unusual and going away – say like a body on frame Crown Victoria.

It won’t be new minivans replacing those minivans, it will be used CUV’s and SUV’s. They buy value (and those used minivans are really cheap), not new. Luckily for GM, they will likely still be GM because those folks find value in sticking with what they know how to repair.

Its nice to drive a brand new car, but the initial costs are ridiculous. You lose at least $2k of the value as soon as you drive it off the lot, no matter what it is. And if you don’t plan to keep the car for more than 3-5 years its a waste of money.

Why pay $37-38k for a G37 when you can wait a year or two for leases to end and get one with some 5-10k miles on it (essentially broken-in) for $5k less?

I hope this is the last time I bring up my ‘07 Sonata, but I bought it for $14k and it had 13.5k miles on it. That is with the 3.3l motor, 17″ wheels and a sunroof. $14k won’t even get me into brand new Focus! And who wants that?

Another thing I notice is that in the Mexican neighborhoods, the old “dustbuster” GM minivans reign supreme. If Lutz was 1/2 as smart as he thinks he is, he’d put out an updated version and advertise it bi-lingually. The lambda platform didn’t need a 4th overpriced, overweight CUV built on it, it needed a Chevy Lumina APV sold at a bargain price.

-Matt