Buy Second hand Cars for Less

Residents of the UK were relieved to hear that the economy had finally emerged from a protracted recession in the last quarter of 2009. Shortly thereafter, there was another encouraging economic sign as the auto industry experienced a thirty per cent year-on-year rise. Unfortunately, however, when you dig a little deeper, the numbers are not all that impressive.

To begin with, the economy only grew by a paltry 0.1 per cent, which was less than expected. And the rise in the auto markets had more to do with the Government-funded scrappage programme than it did with an increase in consumer confidence. You see, the Government offered shoppers a two-thousand pounds discount off of any new vehicle if they traded in an old car.

In the end, the savings were simply too much to pass up, as consumers traded in old clunkers for new vehicles at a brisk pace, at least to start. Over the last few months the programme has been running on fumes and the Government still hasn’t used up all available funds, which means that they have had to extend the programme several times. On the bright side, however, consumers are opting to Buy second hand cars instead.

Why would consumers buy second-hand cars when there is an attractive discount programme in place? Well, the fact is that pre-owned vehicles are still much cheaper than new ones, even after the government rebate. The reason for this is simple: new cars depreciate at an incredible rate. Believe it or not, the average new car loses over half of its value in the first five years of ownership alone.

Then there is the fact that buying a used car is much safer than it has ever been. That is because most dealerships now offer full or partial warranties on their pre-owned vehicles, which mean that if a customer buys a clanker, the dealership is responsible for repairs.