Crystal Ball: Buy New or Wait for Used

Joined
Aug 4, 2014
Messages
2,276
Location
Phoenix, Az
I never buy new. My last car was $26k new. I bought it 4 yrs old with 50k miles for $9500. This was before everything went crazy. I've been looking at SUV's for a while. New are $40k. Used with 90k miles are around $13k. I could buy three of them for the price of a new one. Used prices went down this year on average 5%. I'm waiting to see what happens in the next 6 months before I buy.

The computer chip crisis is over. I work in the industry and right now it's completely dead. They scaled back production and already had a layoff last month. There is actually a surplus now. Good thing we got all that money from the Chips act to build factories we don't even need anymore.
Show me those Suv's. I am in the market
 
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
680
A friend of mine just bought a new truck. He said financing was the big thing for him. On the new truck he got 1.9%, but used the best he could get would have been around 7%. He has good credit (thats what he says anyway) and a chunk of $$ to put down.
 
Joined
Nov 3, 2017
Messages
1,601
Location
AK
I never buy new. My last car was $26k new. I bought it 4 yrs old with 50k miles for $9500. This was before everything went crazy. I've been looking at SUV's for a while. New are $40k. Used with 90k miles are around $13k. I could buy three of them for the price of a new one. Used prices went down this year on average 5%. I'm waiting to see what happens in the next 6 months before I buy.
Where you located? My buddy just sold his 2015 Tahoe with 95k for $33k in less than two days. 3-5 year old pickups with ~50k miles are going for about $5k less than ordering a new one here. Doesn’t matter the brand. I’ve been watching the market here like a hawk for about 8 months for both an SUV and pickup. No hurry for me, I’ll wait until spring/summer and see what’s up then.

I saw a graphic a few days ago that about 10% of subprime lenders are now 60 days past due. It sure seems like a lot of people are trying to dump mistakes based on what’s been popping up on Facebook marketplace. Hopefully things come back down.
 

Yoder

WKR
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
1,674
what model and where is this?!
They didn't used to cost $40k. I've been looking for an Xterra. I just seen a 2010 with 110k for $13k. 2009 with 111K for $11k, 2014 104k for $10k. 2008 91k for $9k. I don't care if they are old, as long as there is no rust. Pathfinders 2013 65k for $14k, 2014 80k $12k, 2015 98k $13k, 2015 71k $13.5k These are all on cargurus within 100 miles of Stroudsburg PA.

Sorry, autotrader. Here's my last search:

 
Joined
Jul 20, 2019
Messages
2,561
Salesman are flat awful to deal with now. The literally do not give a shit. We went out and drove some new highlanders for my wife today and could barely get a salesman to open one up for us at the dealership. The guy we got was a complete asshole. They wanted to charge $6k over MSRP and said they had a 4 month wait.
 
Joined
May 17, 2015
Messages
877
They didn't used to cost $40k. I've been looking for an Xterra. I just seen a 2010 with 110k for $13k. 2009 with 111K for $11k, 2014 104k for $10k. 2008 91k for $9k. I don't care if they are old, as long as there is no rust. Pathfinders 2013 65k for $14k, 2014 80k $12k, 2015 98k $13k, 2015 71k $13.5k These are all on cargurus within 100 miles of Stroudsburg PA.

Sorry, autotrader. Here's my last search:


When you buy one of those xterra’s be prepared to replace the tranny, those are prime mileages for the Nissan pink milkshake


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Crghss

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jun 1, 2018
Messages
286
Location
Jupiter, Florida
A friend of mine just bought a new truck. He said financing was the big thing for him. On the new truck he got 1.9%, but used the best he could get would have been around 7%. He has good credit (thats what he says anyway) and a chunk of $$ to put down.
I got 0.0% financing from Ram a few months ago.

I use to always buy used 20 - 30K vehicles. These days that doesn’t seem to be a bargain any more.

Plus you miss out on new technology with used vehicle.

Because of the safety package that came with my new Ram the insurance for my new truck was less then the insurance for the 2015 Ram I replaced.
 

Yoder

WKR
Joined
Jan 12, 2021
Messages
1,674
When you buy one of those xterra’s be prepared to replace the tranny, those are prime mileages for the Nissan pink milkshake


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I seen it was only a few years that had that problem. I think anything after 2010 was ok.
 
Joined
Jun 14, 2020
Messages
343
I just traded my 2017 tundras 1773 package with 100k miles and scratched to hell for 8grand less then I paid for it new which blew my mind. I also financed the new suburban for 6% less then if I bought I slightly used one. I needed more car seat space.
Now I tried to trade in my 2020 Ltz with 90k mikes On a ZR2 and I was going to loose 25 grand on it. So decided to keep it As I didn’t need a zr2. I just like them a lot.
 

croben

WKR
Joined
Aug 21, 2022
Messages
332
Bought my wife a new hybrid Highlander at the start of the year. She’s averaging over 40mpg. It is honestly one of the most comfortable and smoothest riding vehicles I’ve ever been in. When we were looking, a new one was only about $3k more than used ones with around 50k miles on them. It made sense to buy new at that price and we needed a bigger vehicle.

With inventory coming back, you might be able to find something a little older for cheaper. If you’re just using it as a runner vehicle, it might be more beneficial instead of buying brand new.
 
OP
treillw

treillw

WKR
Joined
Mar 31, 2017
Messages
2,037
Location
MT
Bought my wife a new hybrid Highlander at the start of the year. She’s averaging over 40mpg. It is honestly one of the most comfortable and smoothest riding vehicles I’ve ever been in. When we were looking, a new one was only about $3k more than used ones with around 50k miles on them. It made sense to buy new at that price and we needed a bigger vehicle.

With inventory coming back, you might be able to find something a little older for cheaper. If you’re just using it as a runner vehicle, it might be more beneficial instead of buying brand new.
Does she do a lot of highway or city miles?
 

croben

WKR
Joined
Aug 21, 2022
Messages
332
Does she do a lot of highway or city miles?
She’s about 60/40 (highway/city). Going 50-60mph, it shows it’s up around 50mpg. Around 70+mph it does drop to lower/mid 30’s mpg, but still really good for what it’s doing. City driving is pretty much always over 40mpg. I’ve been really impressed with it.
 
Joined
Nov 14, 2020
Messages
1,182
Used crystal balls are far superior to new ones. They have more psychic juice in them. The new ones require breaking in, and for that you need eye of newt and tongue of toad at a bare minimum. Both difficult to obtain.
 

NiteQwill

FNG
Joined
Jan 1, 2023
Messages
55
I like new... My experience with used vehicles has always ended bad, regardless of how 'recent' it has been.
 

5MilesBack

"DADDY"
Joined
Feb 27, 2012
Messages
16,169
Location
Colorado Springs
That said, I will never pay over MSRP.
I will never pay anything close to MSRP. Yes, times have changed.......for now. But everyone always thinks "this time is different", when in reality "there is nothing new under the sun". Things happen and there are always deals to be had. The key I've always lived by is to never set myself up to "have" to buy something. So if I don't "have" to buy it, I can always wait and then take advantage of when someone else "has" to sell. I apply that to everything.
 
Joined
Apr 21, 2015
Messages
986
She’s about 60/40 (highway/city). Going 50-60mph, it shows it’s up around 50mpg. Around 70+mph it does drop to lower/mid 30’s mpg, but still really good for what it’s doing. City driving is pretty much always over 40mpg. I’ve been really impressed with it.
Your reported values seem significantly better than the specs for that vehicle. Fuelly reports for that vehicle echo what I’ve seen and are significantly worse than advertised specs.
Are you calculating actual mileage, or just looking at a number on a trip computer?
 
Joined
Feb 19, 2019
Messages
408
Location
Central TN
In the current market, I think the only way to come out ”even” is to have a used vehicle of your own to trade-in or sell. You gain on one end and take your lumps on the other. And certain vehicles are more coveted than others. Look at the prices of cargo vans. It is the same as the housing market, if you were buying and didn’t have a house to sell you were absolutely screwed.
 
Top