If you are contemplating the purchase of a new car, apart from trying to decide which model and colour, and which of the bells and whistles you absolutely must have, the process is relatively simple compared to buying second hand.
Why buy brand new?
You will be the only driver of the vehicle, and therefore you will impose only your driving style on the machine, and you will know its history. You will control its maintenance, and you also get to experience that new-car smell. Of course, that smell is entirely contrived. One day I’m sure the manufacturers will make available the aerosol to the general public. But driving away from the showroom in your brand new, sparkling clean, shiny motor is a very special feeling.
Why buy second-hand?
The general reason is that the cost to get on four wheels is lower than buying new. Two or more people have pooled resources to acquire the car on a time-sharing basis. This is particularly important when considering a high-end make, such as Mercedes, Audi, Volvo, BMW, etc.
You may decide that given the many things that can go wrong with owning a car, you may not wish to put a lot of money into something that could be stolen, written off due to accident, flood, fire, or other unforeseen events. You will carry insurance to respond to such sudden and unexpected situations, but after the settlement you will still have something to contribute to the cost of replacement. If the budget is stretched because you are buying a house and car, a good second-hand car may be just the ticket.
Generally speaking, brand new cars can be classified into low cost, low quality; mid-range cost, mid level quality; and high end cost with top quality. The low cost group are priced to make them accessible as entry-level cars. However, the quality is simply not there and consequently these have a programmed useful life of, say, up to ten years.
Such vehicles obviously continue to run beyond that date but the cost of maintenance can be expected to start to skyrocket. The costs were not there at the start but become apparent at the end.
Mid-level cars are programmed to have a useful life of approximately between ten and fifteen years by which time they are likely to spend quite a bit more time in the garage, with the attendant costs.
High-end cars that are built to last forever continue on well beyond twenty years. We see them still going strong with more than 700,000 kilometres on the clock. Obviously, among others there are the Range Rovers, Mercedes, Volvo, BMW, Volkswagon, especially the Beetle, which bucked the trend by being a low cost car when new, built simply to last.
Brand new models come with so many electrical, computerised widgets, gidgets and gadgets, they are almost assured to become headaches long before older models. Computers are brilliant when new, but if your car is simply a computer on wheels it will need a lot of monitoring, and they give new meaning to “my car crashed.”
Dealing with the Second-Hand Car Salesman:
Firstly, buying a car should be a process that is spread over time to make rational decisions, get recommendations and to think through what you are about. In other words, you need patience.
When approaching a used car lot, if prices are not clearly displayed on all the cars, perhaps you should go no further. More than likely this salesman will make up his prices as he goes along, according to how much of a sucker he thinks you are. (If you’re a foreigner in Spain, he’s likely to think you are a big sucker.)
This is not the type of mindset that promises transparency, honesty, integrity, and care of the client. The saying, “Let the buyer beware” is never more applicable than when buying a second-hand vehicle.
If at all possible, get a reference about the dealer you are thinking of doing business with from someone who has actually bought from him. There is no substitute for this. The industry seems to attract more than its fair share of Rogue Traders who are in for a quick buck
For those readers in the Valencia, Spain area, specifically the town of Betera, I have no hesitation in recommending you pay a visit to Autos Betera, located at Avenida Del Ejercito, 51, which is on the main Betera-Naquera road. Once there, ask for Armando. In my opinion the Gem on their lot is Armando. I found him to be so helpful, so open and possessed of such integrity that I bought two cars from him, and I would not hesitate to buy a third. I should also say that three partners run the company, all of whom have very good reputations.
The point I’m trying to make is that the most valuable commodity that the dealer has for offer should be his integrity. The real Gem on the Lot that you might hope to find is the dealer himself who you can trust.
Naturally, those who give their personal recommendation based upon their own experience do so as a public service, and cannot accept liability for other people’s transaction. Such is the case for this column and myself.
Finally, before paying down any money at all you need to ask the dealer what happens if there is something that would stop the transfer of the title from happening, such as money owed on the car, or unpaid fines. The dealer should have done a check to ensure that there are no impediments, but in most cases this will not have been done. In those cases he simply will not know what the position is.
You need to be able to get all of your money back if you encounter this type of problem, including charges paid up to the time of discovery. Depending on what his response is to that question you will then be able to decide to proceed to do a deal or not.
Good Luck, and Happy Driving!
Copyright © 2007 Eugene Carmichael
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