Car Solutions Canada How Old Should a Used Car Be | Page 4

A favorite expression of many people is that it’s not the years that affect them,
but the mileage! This is also true of most used vehicles out there. A quick
search of used car dealerships will reveal that a five-year-old car with twenty
thousand miles on it is going to cost more than an identical model with forty
thousand miles reading on the odometer. Why is that? Because the more
mileage a car has on it, the less it has left on it. So, the logic is that the first car
will last longer than the second, although it’s the same model.
So, now that everyone understands age and mileage, the question becomes
how much money does a person have in their pocket and what can they afford
to pay? One can always make a down payment on their used car, but the
question that really affects the price is just how much money they have to
spend every month on their new vehicle. Knowing how much they can put into
a car payment is one of the most important parts of determining what they can
get. Some may be able to easily afford to buy a car that’s just a year old, while
others might find them struggling to make the payments on a seven-year-old
car.