What is your ideal mileage of the used car/age of the used car, if you would like to purchase a used car? (brakes, truck)
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Eventually, people will want older cars in order to be "off the grid". Newer cars can potentially be hacked over the Internet through your cell phone and some may also have various automotive forms of spyware. I'm pretty sure that a recent NBC News report demonstrated a car being "hacked" into and having its brakes applied by an outside actor.
There's a LOT more to this and not really accurate....
You would basically have to be hardwired into the car's computer to "hack" it as the CANBUS system is not accessible over the air. A mechanic friend of mine has had lengthy discussions over this and it is almost impossible aside from being connected to the car.
Out of lease vehicles with 35,000 to 50,000 miles preferably bought privately is a good bang for the buck.
However mechanically inclined people can buy dirt cheap cars and drive them for years.. that's the best value overall.. if I sold mine for $500 it would probably run another couple years or more without a problem. I'm gambling that it won't or have just gotten bored with it.
Buy for $500, run it 2 years, sell it for $500.. what a steal and low insurance rates.
Usually about 10 years old, 100,000-120,000 miles.
Ultimately it comes down to condition. How was the car taken care of? Was it wrecked or abused?
My last vehicle had 270,000 miles on it when I sold it, and was in better condition than a lot of cars I've seen with 70,000 miles. Current car has 120,000 and other than a couple rock chips, it looks and drives like it rolled off the showroom floor.
5 yes old and approaching 100k miles. New enough to have decent tech stuff, enough miles to scare off people who think it will turn into a pumpkin at 100k, better pricing leverage that way.
I don't go by mileage or age. I drive everything I buy and that tells me what I want to know. I've bought 54 cars since 1983 but have passed by more than that after a test drive. Only one lemon so far that I should have known better about, but that's a pretty good batting average.
Last one I bought was certified used which gave it a better than new warranty with just 8,000 miles and less than a year old. Saved $7k vs new as it was a fully optioned model and options depreciate fastest. And got it before it even needed its first service at 10k so I had all the maintenance records.
8-10 yrs old w/ 100k and a good service record. I prefer Toyotas. The price will be great and you can get another 100k+ miles easy with minimal maintenance.
Yeah, agree, but that is the problem with the original question. Part of buying used is hitting that value sweet spot when the car still has lots of life left, but the asking price has dropped low enough to make those remaining miles good value. For Toyotas, the resale value is so high you can't get a good value until the car is old, or beginning to hit the lower slopes of "high mileage" - like over 100k.
For a lot of cars, though, if the resale value drops as you drive off the lot, then after that first year is great.
Although, we got our Toyo Camry "at auction" - and got ripped off at the time. It had either 60 or 80k when we got it (I forget), and we paid at least 2k too much. HOWEVER, since we still have that car, with the same engine, and it now has over 300k, and plenty to go, I am a happy camper, and forgive those greedy ba****ds who took advantage way back when. Well, maybe forgive!
Last one I bought was certified used which gave it a better than new warranty with just 8,000 miles and less than a year old. Saved $7k vs new as it was a fully optioned model and options depreciate fastest. And got it before it even needed its first service at 10k so I had all the maintenance records.
Great deal and I agree with your take on the options. Leather and nav packages seem to have exorbitant markups like 3k but after some use only command about 1k more than a base model. If you want a brand new car, get a base model, but if you want "bells and whistles" let someone else take the depreciation for you.
Also I like that most cars bought under 36k miles get you the remainder of the factory warranty... and a few manufacturers (Volvo, Acura, Lexus, Buick) have transferable original warranties that run to 50k miles. If you get one of these with 20k miles on it you may have 2 years of "free" warranty coverage should an issue arise.
For my most recent purchase I was looking for a particular model with an engine that was only available from 1999 to 2003. I narrowed the search for a 2002 or 2003 with low miles, and after about a year was able to find one in mint condition with less than 120,000 miles. That was nearly four years ago; since then I've put new tires on it, replaced the battery, and replaced the hatch struts so the hatch would stay open, and changed the oil every 10k miles of course.
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