Hi everyone,

After a summer of research, my husband and I have decided to make our first car together a FIT!

We've never bought a car before, so any tips would be helpful. Here's our situation:
1.) 2010+
2.) Certified Pre-Owned
3.) $14k
4.) <50k miles

(We live in the Washington, DC, area)

 

I don't know how the car market is there. But that is very reasonable to find here in florida. But with a 14k dollar budget you're so close to a brand new 2015 price! Maybe you can get one with 0% apr

 

I've always heard that it's better to buy used... and we live in a city, so I'm not sure new would be wise (since it will be parked on a street).

 

in the particular case of a Fit, i have to agree with Derka. i bought a 2015 last week.

seems around here, your prices for mileage is about the same. when i originally researched used Fit's, there were dozens in the $12k-$14k before taxes and such, depending on year and mileage. they seem to hold a really high market value used.

was seriously considering a 2013 with around 20k miles for around $14k, then just took a glance at new Fit's. to my surprise, $16k for a brand new. ( we prefer manual transmission ) i did not know this, as i was searching only for used previously.

i have almost always bought used... let someone else take the depreciation of value, and i'll pick it up when the value stabilizes at a much lower price. most brands and models drop in value quickly, and a couple year old car with low mileage can be bought for significantly less than new. that's why you have heard it is better to buy used, and in most cases, it holds true.

seems to not be the case with the Fit. for only slightly more, i would rather have no miles on it, no stains on the seats, no scratches on the doors, etc, etc. i also know the complete history of the car the whole time... buying a used one, i certainly would not want to end up buying a car that someone like me had owned in the past... i have been known to buy a car with the intention of making a race car out of it. race it for a few years, put it back to stock, and get rid of it.

when buying used, you dont know where that thing has been. but new in this case, just makes more sense.

 

Traditionally, it has certainly been a better deal financially in most cases to buy a good used car rather than a new car. Depreciation for the first bit of ownership was all out of line with the relative amount of life used up in the car. In many cases, that's still true; for some vehicles, a two or three year old used car will be around half the price of a new one, despite having quite a few more trouble-free years of service left to go.

The Fit is somewhat different, in that it seems to hold its value very well, and there is little if any savings to be had for getting a late-model used one. When I was looking around a couple years ago, I could have saved perhaps $1000 by buying a two year old car versus a new one, and it didn't take very much thinking to realize that was not a particularly good deal. (To be fair, the used one was a fancier model, but the additional features were of very, very little interest to me.)

Of course, every situation is somewhat different. If you can't afford more than $14K, then you can't buy a new Fit and your choice is made for you. However, most people can have a bit of flexibility in their budgets, even if it means waiting a bit and saving a bit more. (If you're financing, also bear in mind that often new cars can be financed at better rates than used cars. I personally think it's better to avoid financing cars, or most anything, whenever possible, even if it means driving somewhat of a beater for awhile.)

 

Thanks for your input. I really appreciate it. I'll give some thought to new, but we are planning on not financing, so the interest rate isn't a big deal.

Now I'm feeling very confused! Time to do a bit more research.

 

If you could get zero or .9 %, you could invest your cash and come out ahead.

 

That's very true. It could also help my husband (not American) build up credit here.