| Did you know that having and operating a car eats up | | | | warranties are more limited than for new cars. |
| 10 to 20 per cent of your revenue? You will realize | | | | Used cars are not necessarily bargains on another |
| that a car is one of the biggest buys you will ever | | | | count. They may have major weaknesses from |
| make. Therefore, it is well to shop carefully, and to | | | | having been driven hard and maintained badly. Yet |
| refuse to take what doesn't suit you in every respect. | | | | such weaknesses can be concealed beneath a |
| Perhaps the first question you ask yourself when you | | | | gleaming exterior of new paint or wax. Therefore, |
| go to buy a car is: "Should it be new or used?" There | | | | when you find a used car you like, you should have a |
| are advantages and disadvantages to each. | | | | mechanic examine it thoroughly before you make a |
| Used car salesmen like any other group of | | | | final decision to buy it. If you have a regular mechanic |
| businessmen range from responsible to crooked. But | | | | and are a good customer, he may check over one or |
| even the best of them make their money by selling | | | | two cars free. Otherwise, you will probably have to |
| you on a used car fast. So keep your wits about you | | | | pay a flat fee for a mechanic's service, which is well |
| while listening to a sales talk, and don't be pressured | | | | worth it. |
| into a quick decision. | | | | If you don't know a mechanic whose judgment you |
| One advantage of a used car has to do with | | | | trust, you should try to find an computerized diagnostic |
| depreciation. It's a sad fact that the value of a new car | | | | workshop. They will check potential trouble spots in a |
| diminishes drastically in its very first year, no matter | | | | car. The best of these car workshops are the ones |
| what kind of treatment you give it. In reality, the minute | | | | that do checkups only, without operating a repair |
| you drive a car out of the showroom, it becomes | | | | service of their own. After you know the condition of |
| "used", and is worth 30 to 40 per cent less than the | | | | the car, now you can decide there are more minuses |
| total on the sales slip you got ten minutes before. This | | | | than pluses in buying a used car. That brings you to a |
| drop in value is what is called depreciation. If you buy a | | | | new car. |
| used car, it is the previous owner who suffers the | | | | Take a critical, careful look at the car outside and in, |
| sharp first-year loss in its value. | | | | and then go home to think about it before you decide. |
| In addition to savings on depreciation, the greatest | | | | Remember that although each used car is, by |
| single advantage of a used car is, of course, the lower | | | | definition, unique, people trade cars in every day, and if |
| initial cost. On the debit side, however, repairs are | | | | you miss one treasure, you will almost certainly find |
| usually needed more frequently, and guarantees and | | | | another next week. |