Lately I’ve been going back and forth between buying a new or used car when the time comes. Thankfully, we haven’t had any more trouble with my car, so we haven’t been having to give it too much thought. Just tossing around ideas. Tiffany brought up a good point about buying a used car.

“However, used is much cheaper, but I see it as inheriting someone else’s problems.”

That’s a great point, and I can’t get it out of my head now. Even though I’ve always wanted to buy a used car as our next vehicle, I’ve been debating about getting a brand new car. Here are some of the pros and cons I’ve been thinking about:

• If we buy new, we won’t have to worry about ANYTHING being wrong with the car. Well, of course something could be wrong, but we would know it would be covered under warranty.
• Some used cars are “lemons”. I’d hate to get stuck with one.
• If we buy new, the minute we drive off the lot, the car has depreciated in value. Of course I’m not looking at the car as an investment, but it just stinks to know there’s money gone instantaneously.
• If we buy used, our insurance will be cheaper.
• If we buy used, we may have the opportunity to pay cash for the vehicle. Mr. Money and I have different opinions on this (he’d rather take out a loan and have cash available if we need it) but the option may be there.
• Used cars can smell bad or be “beat up” from the previous owners being abusive. I definitely don’t want a car someone smoked in because of Mr. Money’s allergies.

Those are just some ideas I’ve had. I hope we don’t have to start seriously looking for a vehicle for awhile. I like having money in our emergency fund. I like not having a car payment. I like that our insurance premium is not outrageous. I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed for the moment! It’s good to know that we are exploring our options for the future though.

Is there something I missed in the “new versus old”? What would you do?

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