Buying a Car – New or Used?

My car is currently in for a major service after experiencing sporadic problems with it (practically since it was bought).  It is now 6 years old – I had purchased it second-hand.  My previous car was procured out of the box and I’d had it for 5 years.  No problems whatsoever with it – except once with the starter after maybe 3 or 4 years.

I’m faced with a bill of over R8,000.00 after this service is over – and it’s not even covering everything that would need to be done, such as changing the cambelt, replacing the broken clutch and repairing the faulty wiper sensors.

My thinking is that when you purchase a car brand new, you have peace of mind for at least the first few years, knowing that the car is covered for service under the maintenance plan and also more likely to be reliable.  You would also not be inheriting the problems the previous owner has caused to the car.  You would be lucky if he or she had taken good care of it, serviced it regularly, etc.

My argument is that a car is not a good investment and shouldn’t be treated as such.  Buying a car brand new means a depreciating value of at least R10,000.00 the moment you drive it out of the showroom.  A car is not purchased every day, however, and ideally it should be used for at least ten years or more before considering getting another one.

So why spend such a fortune on an older car that may not be dependable?  As a car owner who has experienced both scenarios, I have found that it has worked out cheaper to purchase a car brand new.  Sure, if you stuff it up, then fine – you’ve no one to blame but yourself.  But why deal with someone else’s car troubles at your expense?

I look forward to hearing your comments - would you buy your car brand new or second-hand, and why?