Trying to decide on 2014-2015 low mileage vs new

[mizzou]

Any real downside to getting a low mileage (Sub 30,000) 2014-2015 used car vs getting a brand new 2017?

I think I've covered everything, and outside of just not getting the latest tech....everything is still well under a powertrain warranty and even a basic warranty in some instances. Unless I'm missing something glaringly obvious

I'm also a cash buyer :\

 

[DaTT]

Buying used, you aren't taking the initial depreciation hit from buying new. I would say that if the used vehicle you are looking at is equipped with what you want, then why not save some coin? If it is missing a key option that you would regret not having in the future, then buy new equipped to your satisfaction.

I see no real downside, except the lack of new car smell.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Really depends on the car. If there was a revision to the model in question then maybe. I also try to stay away from first year products.

It's hard to tell on that new of a car how the previous owner treated it. Especially when it's a lease turn in. The dealership typically changes the fluids and tires. Washes it up real nice. Can't tell by looking that the previous owner never changed the oil, smacked a curb and never bothered to get it aligned, and generally beat the living snot out of the car.

Extended bumper to bumper warranty helps mitigate.

 

[mizzou]

Yeah... The previous owner thing is always a worry. I suppose if it's relatively low miles and there are some records of maintenance, it's probably reasonable the car wasn't driven like a NASCAR.

I've been trying to avoid looking for a manufactured certified pre-owned vehicle...but for not much more money then a as-is model it seems to be a good investment to have the added powertrain warranty.

 

[Uppsala9496]

CPO is nice with regards to the warranty.
My Infiniti came with 6 years from original service date. It's a 2015 so I still have 4 more years.
Oh and my dealership has lifetime free oil changes and loaners. Heck, they've picked up my car and dropped it off for me when they were out of loaners and I was scheduled for an oil change.

 

[cardiac]

We had this dilemma last year. Found a deal we couldn't pass up. 2015 Hyundai Elantra with 20k miles for under $13k. 2017 was $24k. Had everything the wife wanted. Hyundai gives you half of the 100k/10 year warranty when buying used, including roadside assistance. So she is covered until 2020 and 50k miles (She drives 7k a year). This was a no-brainer for us.

 

[mizzou]

ent looking at some 30k mile leaze returned vehicles. both pretty clean but looking at the undercarriage i immediately suspected snowy rust belt state cars and was right. The rust wasnt extrodinary...but the control arms, bolts and frame were lined with rust. much of the factory steel coat was flaking off.
i think i may just start by looming at the undercarriage as my first smell test then go from there


I really dont want a car that was never washes and garaged...unfortunately i feel like that might be a vast mahority of used cars

 

[lxskllr]

I would never buy new. I'm against it on principle, regardless of money. The only exception at this point would be an electric car, but I don't expect to get one any time soon, or maybe ever.

 

[CA19100]

I've done both. After the new-car shine wears off, they'll both be "used" cars, so it's a question of whether the older model still has some factory warranty left (that's a must for me), and if it has the features you want. If so, I wouldn't hesitate saving a bunch of money and buying a slightly older one.

The new car smell is nice. The new car payment, not so much.

 

[lxskllr]

The new car smell is nice.

I like the old car smell of rotten vinyl and oil. You don't really get that as much anymore :^(

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You save a crapton of money. Like, jetski money.

 

[manly]

As everyone has mentioned, depreciation of a new vehicle is a killer. On principle, I'd avoid it unless my income was quite high.

Having said that, it really depends on the car. If I was buying a Honda Accord, I'd probably get a new one. It depreciates really slowly compared to average; and it's impossible to get Honda Sensing on a used car.

Yeah... The previous owner thing is always a worry. I suppose if it's relatively low miles and there are some records of maintenance, it's probably reasonable the car wasn't driven like a NASCAR.

I've been trying to avoid looking for a manufactured certified pre-owned vehicle...but for not much more money then a as-is model it seems to be a good investment to have the added powertrain warranty.

CPO warranties are quite good for "luxuxy" marques, but somewhat inferior for normal car brands.Typically in the latter case the powertrain will be covered for a long period, but the bumper to bumper coverage is relatively short.

I'd still go for the CPO for ease of mind and warranty coverage, but it depends on the deal.
If you don't go CPO, make sure you get a pre-purchase inspection.
In fact, a small number of people will say a PPI is required for any used vehicle purchase. I bought a CPO car a week ago and because I'm not a car person, I actually did get a PPI done. Worth $100 to me to have an independent mechanic evaluate the body frame and engine bay.

 

[SearchMaster]

I've bought new twice - both were brand new models that I fell in love with so used was not an option. I drive my cars past 200K though, so the depreciation is not as big a concern for me. We've bought my wife brand new Odyssey minivans twice as well. Odysseys hold their value very well so used makes less sense. I suppose we could have gotten a two year old Chrysler minivan for half the price of the Odyssey but she wanted an Odyssey and only an Odyssey.
My next car will probably be used unless there's another brand new model that I really like. The previous owner thing does bother me, primarily after talking to the husband of a former co-worker. He always bought new, never did ANY maintenance (including oil changes), then got rid of the car at 30K miles. I never understood why paying $30-$50 for an oil change every 6 months or so was such a big deal.

 

[Triumph]

ent looking at some 30k mile leaze returned vehicles. both pretty clean but looking at the undercarriage i immediately suspected snowy rust belt state cars and was right. The rust wasnt extrodinary...but the control arms, bolts and frame were lined with rust. much of the factory steel coat was flaking off.
i think i may just start by looming at the undercarriage as my first smell test then go from there


I really dont want a car that was never washes and garaged...unfortunately i feel like that might be a vast mahority of used cars

What car is this? A VW will look almost new after 100,000 miles in the northeast. A Dodge will look like the rust was a factory option.

If you are paying cash, there's no reason to buy new. If you are financing, a used car might be 10 or 20 dollars cheaper a month making it a no brainer. But not so much when paying cash. A car with 30,000 miles on it is practically brand new anyway.

 

[lxskllr]

A Dodge will look like the rust was a factory option.

LoL! What's up with that? You'd have to look for rust on my 97 Cherokee, and it's been 100% outside since I got it in 2000, and was never washed. In contrast, my 05 dakota has the typical rust around the bed wheel wells, and rot around the radiator. Same company... All the dodges are like that, across a long span of years. Why don't they do what jeep does, whatever that is? Shouldn't be an issue figuring it out since it's their company.

 

[rancherlee]

I bought a 2010 Fusion as a rental return when 2010's were still on the lot new, Had 36K on it and saved 7000$! Its been a great car and as the dealer put it "With a rental return you get a mixed bag of people driving it, with a single owner car they may have babied it the whole time or beat the hell out of it"

 

[manly]

What car is this? A VW will look almost new after 100,000 miles in the northeast. A Dodge will look like the rust was a factory option.

If you are paying cash, there's no reason to buy new. If you are financing, a used car might be 10 or 20 dollars cheaper a month making it a no brainer. But not so much when paying cash. A car with 30,000 miles on it is practically brand new anyway.

Fuzzy math? For a 2014/2015 car, you're looking at somewhere between 20%-35% depreciation or more. $20 a month comes out to $1200 for a 60 month loan, which is way less than depreciation.

As a practical matter, buying a brand new car is almost always the worse decision but it's one that many people enjoy doing. Like I said earlier, if I was buying a Honda Accord, it might as well be new because they are well optioned for $25k and hold up their value well for a car. Another obvious example would be a Tesla Model 3 (or Chevy Bolt) where you don't have an alternative but to buy brand new.

Paying cash or financing typically does not matter to the dealership. In fact, their finance (& insurance) office is a profit center so they usually prefer to finance so they get one last opportunity to make money off the transaction. Either way they get paid.

I didn't mention it earlier but IMO MY2014 is currently the sweet spot for a used car. You'll see a lot of lease returns, and most are good enough to enter the national CPO program. You're typically getting a car on the current platform unless it was just refreshed in the last 2 years. You've avoided the worst of the depreciation hit (years 1 and 2) and if you prefer peace of mind, CPO cars are new enough to have fairly low mileage and a decent warranty.

Finally cars have been jam-packed with technology for the past few years so you'll probably get a fair amount of that. However, some of the interesting stuff is still on the horizon (i.e. ubiquitous all-electric drivetrains and autonomous driving) so I see current cars as a holdover until the future arrives. In practice there's probably not a heck of a lot of difference between a MY 2014 and 2017 car in most cases.

 

[desura]

I'm kind of in the habit of going used, but honestly on a 24k car you might save 4K and it'll have like 30k miles on it already and you won't have the dealership relationship or full warranty. Here's a good chance I'll just get a new car next time.

 

[mizzou]

if they are all rust buckets im going to wait until 2015 lease returns start pouring in

 

[agent00f]

Any real downside to getting a low mileage (Sub 30,000) 2014-2015 used car vs getting a brand new 2017?

I think I've covered everything, and outside of just not getting the latest tech....everything is still well under a powertrain warranty and even a basic warranty in some instances. Unless I'm missing something glaringly obvious

I'm also a cash buyer :\

The real downside to a used car is it will be somewhat more trouble prone than a new one of the same, that's just how mechanical wear works plus the risk of undisclosed issues from previous owner. Car enthusiasts tend to accept this same as computer enthusiast might accept the occasional bullshit from something they pieced together, esp since they might own more than one anyway. But to a normal person whose job or schedule or whatever might be predicated on getting somewhere on time every time that addition peace of mind has a price.

Generally speaking the car marketplace is pretty competitive and therefore rationally price, and rarely will you ever get something for nothing or otherwise someone will have snatched it. If your circumstances are hospitable to a used vehicle then of course you can choose to save some money.

 

[Triumph]

Fuzzy math? For a 2014/2015 car, you're looking at somewhere between 20%-35% depreciation or more. $20 a month comes out to $1200 for a 60 month loan, which is way less than depreciation.

As a practical matter, buying a brand new car is almost always the worse decision but it's one that many people enjoy doing. Like I said earlier, if I was buying a Honda Accord, it might as well be new because they are well optioned for $25k and hold up their value well for a car. Another obvious example would be a Tesla Model 3 (or Chevy Bolt) where you don't have an alternative but to buy brand new.

Look, obviously not all transactions are the same. But if you could buy a brand new car for 10 or 20 dollars more a month, versus a 1 or 2 year old car, all else being equal, I can certainly understand why someone would do that. Can't you? I'm not asking if its the right decision. I'm asking if you can see why someone would want to do that.

 

[mizzou]

finally found our car whew. really clean 30k lease return with very little rust underneath. tires look great still. and got a great deal ,)

 

[DaTT]

What did you get?

 

[mizzou]

What did you get?

2014 crv exl

they dropped the price on the car, gave CPO, and gave me way more then i deserved on thr trade in