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8.1 BUY USED AND SECONDHAND CARS

A new car has no repair history, which is the only reliable way to know if a model is well made. The Consumer Reports Annual Buying Guide lists the repair history of just about every make and model in detail for the last ten years.

My father always bought a two year old car, which was then and is now the best value in a car. Most of the depreciation has occurred by this time and most of the repair problems have been documented. If you buy a two year old car with less than average repair problems, you are buying a known quantity. When you buy a new model car you are buying an unknown quantity.

Availability:

==With lots of people buying leases today, there are often late model cars that were formerly leased on new car lots. These should be good buys.

==The best deals are in the classifieds from individual owners, but you will need to spend time and money getting these cars checked out.

==Used car lots often buy cars wholesale and clean them up so that they look good. A used car salesman confessed to me once, that he often did not know whether a car was good or poor mechanically, only that it looked showy.

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