vtcarter6

Was just reading an older thread where this came up and thought I should post a new topic though I'm sure it's on a subject rehashed many times...but we too have noticed how expensive a used car will be in the US. We got our Volvo here in the UK a few years ago with low mileage. It was already several years old, but we bought it for something like £3500 and it's done pretty well. It's hard to make the leap from that to looking at buying 2 cars with similar low mileage for easily $15,000-plus each.

So if we were in a position to go for new cars, is that the better value in the US? Assuming that if we needed to sell them at some point, we'd probably get a decent price for them (compared to what we're getting selling our cars in the UK)?

Also, when's the best time to buy a new car? Does anyone have experience with doing all the negotiating online, in order to avoid the classic 6 hours spent at the car dealership scenario?

MidAtlantic

Last time I bought Toyotas new because the prices were so near to used that it was worth it.

I did a lot of research, used TrueCar to get a real price, walked into the dealer and did a deal at the True Car price in 15 minutes. It was end of December, dead in the dealers, and I'm sure that helped. I made it clear I was ready to deal immediately at that price but would not negotiate. I simply refuse to do this 5 hour dealing nonsense with the sales rep continually going to his/her manager. I don't go to a car dealer to get coffee or donuts. Don't do it; walk out.

scrubbedexpat091

The car we got was used only because the lender would not approve a new car, so we got a 2 year old car. Our loan was pre-approved to a certain amount through our bank, all we had to do was find a car that fit the loan amount.

We went to a used car dealer drove a few cars, picked one, asked them the best price was, they took off 3k, I said it wasn't enough and started walking away, and the sales guy comes screaming how they will take another 3k off, so 6k off in total which I was happy with.

Get up and leave, if they want the sale you wont get off the lot, if they let you leave, well find a better dealer.

From walking onto the lot to leaving 90 minutes, most of test driving cars.

cranston

There is a car talk show called the "Car Pro Show" with a guy named Jerry Reynolds. carprousa.com

He claims: the best times to buy are end of month/quarter/year. End of the year is particularly good time. He also has a list of approved dealers in many (not all) markets. If you phone or email the approved dealer and they guarantee to give their best price up front with no haggling needed.

If you can't do that he says the best way is to email the dealers in your area and ask for a price. Tell them they are in competition and the best price will get the deal.

andrewlohnes

I don't completely understand this, obviously you lot know how it works over there but I've searched for Land Rover LR3s in the US and the UK and the US LR3s are about $12,000 and in the UK for the same vehicle but with a smaller engine are about £12,000.

Pulaski

All vehicles that I know of that sell in both markets sell for the same number of dollars as pounds, from Hondas and Toyotas to BMWs and Landrovers. Of course in the US there taxes on top, but not 60% of taxes! British car buyers are being royally scrëwed!
That's mostly my view, that in the US there's too little discount in "buying used" to make a used car attractive in most cases. I thought the opposite in the UK, where used cars are much cheaper than new cars.

Bob

The big drop in price to buying second hand is in the higher end market, so a brand new, not entirely shit packaged Audi A6 for $65K can be found fully loaded for $35K as a four year old car and low mileage.

Most mid/low range cars in the $20-30K range, you won't find much of a difference, so you might as well buy new just for the sake of $2-5K.

Difference tends to potentially be cost of insurance.

One thing though, location makes a massive difference.

Somewhere hot and dry, that does annual inspections is probably a safer place to buy second hand than somewhere that gets a lot of snow or flood damage such as the north east and avoid cars that have come from states with no annual inspections such as FL/NJ unless you know a bit more about cars.

Giantaxe

No VAT is applicable to the purchase of a used car in the UK whereas sales tax is charged on used car purchases in the US. This can make a big difference in states with a relatively high sales tax rate.

S Folinsky

Some vehicles really keep their values while others plummet like a rock once you drive off the lot. In our recent car search, the certified used SportWagens were hardly less than a new one. Hence, we purchased new.

Pulaski

Hyundais and Kias being two cases in point.

Yorkieabroad

That's how we've bought the last 3 new cars we've had. Worked like a dream for 2, in and out in less than 30 mins. The 3rd had a slight wrinkle in that when we turned up, they point blank refused to honor the deal (that was Planet Ford on I-45 for any Houstonites out there). Claimed the quoted price was for a finance deal with an early repayment penalty in the first year, and we were cash buyersWe ended up going to back to our closest dealer who had the second best price, and they were only a few hundred dollars out. When we arrived there, they offered us a cheaper price (I think it was 1000 off) if we would take a zero percent finance deal with no early repayment penalty.....err, ok! We then made a bit more because they let us put the balance on credit cards so we even got cashback we were in and out in less than an hour...slightly longer because of the finance paperwork, but still a massive improvement over "the norm"

S Folinsky

In my latest purchase, we did the e-mail blast after getting three cars.com quotes. One of those quotes were quite good and I started getting responses "If they will sell to you at that price, grab it." So I went to grab it and the dealer went "oops, it was a mistake." Did end up beating the second lowest one by a few hundred at a different dealer with a particularly good selection. So other than that one blip, it worked and we did no negotiating in the dealer itself. Much more pleasant.

S Folinsky

That reminds me of back in the 60's where VW's were sold for asking in the US and then hardly depreciated. I remember Motor Trend listing best used car buys and the best used sub-compact was -- a new VW. When I was in the Army, I heard that some GI's would make a profit by buying used VW's in Germany and then selling them to newly arrived GI's who didn't realize that Germany was not the US on car prices.

Moral -- OP should not compare UK and US particularly when it comes to models.

TransnationalElite

Would there be any price advantage in buying from New Hampshire as opposed to buying in Massachusetts? Either old or new? Would be living in MA.

RICH

Are the 'rules' expressed here for cars the same for Pickup Trucks? I want a cheap but decent truck, never bought a vehicle in US, and never owned a new car in UK. I have been driving a 1994 Maxima for 10 years, that I inherited, but it is time to relegate it to the 'backup' vehicle.

The car was in the shop last week and I spent about twice it's trade in value to keep it on the road.