bagwell

Some people stay away from used....I usually end up buying low mileage used vehicles for huge savings...of course if I was wealthy, it would always be new!

hypervish

Mostly used. Like to buy at around 5 years old, which means the original owner took the depreciation hit. I then hold onto them forever!

Gekko

my philosophy is buy new, get exactly what you want, pay cash, and drive it "forever" ie 10+ years.

i looked at buying slightly used (3 years old, 36K miles) but these cars (Lexus) don't depreciate fast enough to justify buying slightly used. i can negotiate a better deal on a brand new car and get exactly what i want. and i get 3+ more years of service out of new than used as well as make up a little bit at resale. i did the math and new made sense for me.

Joey-E

iTrader: (1)

Great condition used, for now anyways.

mmarshall

In most cases, IMO, except for very expensive vehicles (and, "Expensive", as I define it, generally means over 40K), a brand-new car is usually worth the money over a used one. CPO's, however, have greatly reduced the risk of buying a used vehicle....but, of course, the extra work/inspections/reconditioning and longer warranty-coverage that the CPO process itself requires to the price, so you aren't saving as much either.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

"infotainment" electronics are changing so fast in cars i don't want used unless i got something without nav (most likely for my next vehicle).

poll options should have included "always new" and "always used"

LexBob2

I buy new every 3 1/2 - 4 years or so. As I've gotten older I can resist the bug better and the trend is closer to 4 years.

bagwell

ahhh feel free to amend...

patgilm

I buy some used, some new. Depends on the deal. If I buy a used Lexus, I usually buy within the 4yr/50k warranty so I can purchase the extended warranty if I want and get all the TSIBs done instead of paying more because it is at a Lexus dealer and for the CPO process which if age/mileage is low enough, isn't worth much. However, sometimes a used Lexus costs almost as much as the negotiated price of a new one so in that case I will buy new.

Extreme Dimensions

iTrader: (1)

I've bought ONE new car, and I have to say I LOVE having a warranty, new car smell, etc. My genesis coupe was 100% worth buying new, because I knew it was going to be a car i was going to keep for a long time.

Other than that, I've always bought used, simply because I cannot justify crashing a new car at the track (I did that the first week I had the gensis, so I know i cannot justify it lol), and because I just have a thing for weird cars lol.

mmarshall

3-4 years is generally a good compromise on the depreciation-curve. On average, the highest deopreciation (percentage-wise), is in the first couple of years, then the curve gradually flattens out each year after that, so that by the 9-10th year, the added amount of depreciation each year is negligible. But, of course, as a car ages, the money you save in depreciation can be (and often is) offset by a higher risk of needed repairs. Another factor, of course, is that in states like mine (Virginia) that tax car owners each year based on the car's assessed KBB value, you save on those property taxes each year as the car depreciates.

92 SC400

I prefer used/CPO with low mileage, however, my wife prefers new therefore we buy new! Haha

Extreme Dimensions

iTrader: (1)

LOL.

My girlfriend prefers new as well. She was ecstatic when I bought the genesis, as she no longer had to ride in what she lovingly calls "the rust buckets".

FrankReynoldsCPA

Used. Every time. Learned this from my dad.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using IB AutoGroup

keyframe13

My philosophy to get the most of the car with little as possible money:
- always used @3 years old
- One Owner
- Low Miles (@ 30k)
- Private party (it's against my religion to pay dealer fees and their overpriced doc fees )
- All the maintenance records from the owner.

I always made great deals on my cars and never had issues with them.