Worst Used Cars To Buy

As of an example of what he has to offer, here are two bits of overall buying advice on used Toyotas that not only makes good sense, but serves as a warning about what is happening in the used car market today and how you should respond to it.

worst used cars to buy

That said, here is another important video from The Car Care Nut YouTube channel that was released just this afternoon that is so timely, it is too important to delay any further with repeated reporting on his recommendations of which Toyota used models to pay particular attention to when looking for a used car. Plus, those Toyota models you should avoid and why.

Greg Macke is a car buying specialist, author and consumer advocate working closely in the industry to improve the buyer's experience. The same proven methods Greg uses when buying cars for his clients are available to you at:

Even if you test drive used cars and take along a trusted mechanic to check out everything under the hood, there are many flaws that can go undetected. Use this checklist to help you avoid buying a lemon. And keep in mind there are more bad buys out there than just these, so research any brand and model before you buy it.

Touareg is what the North African nomads who roam the desert are called, and if you purchase a Volkswagen Touareg, you may find yourself doing a lot of hiking as well. Produced since 2002, the major problems appear to have emerged in later years. Reporting agencies state that the 2007 model was the worst, with multiple complaints across the board. Problems range from a faulty EPC warning light with a repair tag of $5,000 plus to fuel pump replacement, which will set you back around $11K for later models. Unless you enjoy hanging out at car repair shops, pass on this used car, no matter how sweet the deal seems.

January, February, and December are the three best months to buy a used car, in that order. According to iSeeCars, in general, late fall and early winter are good times to purchase a used car with a deal.

iSeeCars analyzed over 32 million used cars sold between 2018 and 2019 for the study, and vehicles listed at or below 5% market value were then considered deals. The final percentage points per month reflect the differences between the chances of finding a deal that month, and the chances of finding a deal on an average day, which is 26.1%.

"New car shoppers are likely holding out for the next model year vehicles, which come out in late summer and early fall," Brauer said in a statement. "As a result, they aren't trading in their used cars so inventory is lower than normal."

To help buyers select the best used cars aged from six to 15 years old, we asked more than 16,000 car owners to tell us how reliable their cars had been over the previous year for the annual What Car? Reliability Survey.

To help us highlight the most common problem areas for different models, we asked owners to tell us what went wrong with their cars. They could pick from 15 categories: air-con, battery, bodywork, brakes, clutch/gearbox, engine, engine electrics, exhaust, fuel system, infotainment/sat-nav, interior trim, non-engine electrics, steering, suspension and other.

It's not the most exciting to drive, but the previous-generation Yaris is doggedly dependable. Only 4% of cars went wrong, and they were easy to fix: all were back on the road within a day. Even better news for owners is that although no cars were fixed for free, no repair bills exceeded 300.

Ok so depreciation is when something loses value over time because it gets worn out. You can see why this is an issue with cars what with their tendency to age and add mileage. Carfax offers this metric:

The best case scenario when buying a used car is to identify the sweet spot where depreciation flat lines (or close to it), but where the car still has lots of life left. One one hand, this is a crap shoot. On the other hand, this is not a crap shoot because you have the internet and the internet has open source data sets!

After living on our 66-acre homestead for several years, we realized we wanted a truck as our second car, so we sold the 2010 Outback in July 2018 for $9,300. This is a pretty modest rate of depreciation and proof that you can buy used and re-sell used and not lose all that much money.

I do the same thing to compare used cars. In NE cars do not last as long as in other parts of the country (once they start really rusting, good luck getting them to pass inspection) so it really matters how many drive-able years are left. When researching to purchase a new tacoma to replace my husbands 15 year old one, I would dived the purchase price by how many years they had left to be in reasonably good shape. I found that 4 year old trucks were the sweet spot. The cheaper older trucks actually cost more per year then the newer ones. My theory on why that happens is that most people looking to buy used are trying to keep things to a certain price point (10k) and that creates greater demand for the older trucks and raises the price.

We too live in Vermont, and the one serious issue we find with our aging cars here is body rust from winter road salt. We get our cars oil undercoated every year and nonetheless have had to retire them all before their mechanical failure when they failed inspection due to compromised body integrity (rusted out). I would be cautious about buying an older car in snow country.

I am a current owner of a 2007 Odyssey! Although you have recently put a fair amount of money into your van, you will probably be good for a while before needing more repairs. I would calculate what your yearly car payments will cost, and decide if it is the same or more than your perceived maintenance cost for the next year. You rarely use it, so, to me, the added cost of the new purchase just to have something younger may not be a worthwhile expense. Not to mention, you know what has been fixed on the van. The newer used car may need unexpected repairs over the next few years. On a side note, friends of our went on a driving vacation for their honeymoon. Since both cars were older, they opted to rent a car to reduce the chance of breaking down far from home!

So for each vehicle I take the amount spent on each vehicle (all CDN dollars). Purchase price plus maintenance minus sale price. No gas price and no insurance cost here. I divide this number by the number of kilometers (NOT MILES) I put on each vehicle. The best vehicle has been a high mileage old Taurus purchased in 2002. It ended up costing 0.15 per km. The worst vehicle was a high mileage Taurus purchased in 2008. It was so unreliable we kept it only 13 months and it cost 0.75 per km.

Generally we find that the newer, low mileage/used vehicles cost around 0.20 cents- 0.35 cents per km. Variation does seem to be due mostly to size of vehicle/engine. We did have one lemon in this the newer low mileage group also. But at the end of the day this is where most of our vehicle purchases happen. It is not just about the money- but the relative piece of mind with a newer vehicle in a remote area with a disabled child. We do have CAA but it is just really really difficult being stuck.

So, my conclusion is that the older/ high mileage vehicles can result in some amazing deals. Also some terrible duds. The lower mileage/newer used cars seem to even out the cost per km., and give slightly more peace of mind while being a far better value than brand new.

I feel like anything would be more fuel efficient. The resale value is only 8-10k (I purchased for 12k and have put 21,000 miles on in year one). I would have to put more cash down in addition to trade in to get a little used Kia or sonic, or similar. But in the long run, I think it makes sense if I keep driving this much, right?

I prefer used older model with low mileage. I bought a 2008 Subaru forester for $10k but it only had 58,000 miles. I hope it will last another 8-10 years and my 13 year old will drive it as her first car. I figure we generally spend $1500 per year when factoring in purchase price, maintenance, depreciation and life span. Not bad, if you ask me. My last car was a Toyota Corolla and that averaged less that $750 per year. I think with patience you can find a low mileage older vehicle that will last for years and cost relatively little per year.

I wonder if any readers have any knowledge of cars with a salvage title. Most people will tell you to stay away from these cars, but I know of some people who only own cars with a salvage title because you can purchase them at prices well below market value. I wonder if there are certain things to look for that might make them worth the risk.

Currently, we have a 21 year old car and a 1 year old car. Both cars are low mileage for their ages with reasonable insurance costs.We will drive the old car into the ground. It is so easy to pay for repairs because back in the day there were fewer bells and whistles to break.

I just bought a low mileage 1.5 year old car. I took a totally different approach than your logic. I looked for cars that lost significant value the first year but also needed to have a good factory warranty.

The people first warranty from VW is great. And VW loses a ton of value after the first year. But I have the confidence to load the kids up and drive across the country in my low mileage 1.5 year old used car.

I understand frugality and purchasing used, however. We have mostly bought new and traded the cars in while still low mileage at trade in. Because of this we have always been able to get good trade value and drive a newer car without the fear of breakdowns. We are much older and would not be happy getting stuck somewhere with a breakdown. Yes, I know new cars can breakdown too but just not as likely. We cannot justify the aggravation of old cars with high mileage. We always pay cash, no interest on loans as we do not need to finance. I think when a person gets to the point that they can pay the cash difference, it is much easier to make a deal and drive newer safer cars that will not need maintenance every time you turn around. Also our daughter is an adult now but when we bought her a car it was a one year old car. We did not want to worry that she would get stuck with a breakdown in the middle of an isolated road. I know many will argue against this but peace of mind is worth a lot to us. 041b061a72