So you’re interested in buying a fuel efficient car, but you don’t have $25 grand to throw down on a new Toyota Prius? You probably also noticed that leasing is dead and great loans can be hard to find. There’s good news for you. First, buy a used car and if you’re not sure why, check out my Top 10 Reasons for Buying a Used Car. Second, you don’t’ have to buy a hybrid to get really good gas mileage. It’s a myth and it’s propagated by our local, state, and federal governments that do things like give out subsidies for hybrid vehicles or use taxpayer money to help car manufacturers develop hybrid technology. What’s really important is fuel efficiency – hybrid or not.
To generate this list, Google Trends was used to figure out which high fuel efficiency cars are searched for the most frequently on the web. Here are the results:
There are a few surprising things about this list:
Chevrolet Volt would be #10, but it’s not in production until 2010
The Geo Metro and the Geo Tracker came close to making it on this list even though they aren’t in production any longer
Dodge, Hyundai, Isuzu, Kia, Mazda, Pontiac, Saturn, Scion, Subaru, and Volkswagen should all have something on this list, but none of their cars came even close due to either a low search volume or the complete lack of a high fuel efficiency car
Posted by Colby Lavin on April 30, 2009 2 comments
A friend of mine alerted me to a radio article by NPR about how some new cars are cheaper than used cars. I’m always up for a good debate, so let’s have some fun and debunk the claim that “Some New Vehicles Selling For Less Than Used Ones.”
Claim #1: “Some new cars are actually cheaper than used…”
Truth Meter: Low
Comment: This is true only under certain conditions. As a used car buyer, you CAN always pay more than a new car but you would only do this if you got tricked into paying too much!
Reality: Used cars are still much cheaper than new cars. The idea that new car prices are plummeting and therefore making used cars relatively more expensive makes little sense. Car pricing is partly based on the price of similar alternatives. Therefore, if new cars prices come down, used car prices follow suit.
Claim #2: “Honda Civic Hybrid” is an example of a car where the new car is cheaper.
Truth Meter: Even Lower
Comment: A new Honda Civic Hybrid will cost you about $21,000 plus tax, title, and license. This is more than $3,000 less than the suggested retail price. However, I just used Carsala to do a price check, and I can buy a 2007 or 2008 for $17K (19% cheaper). Even better, I found the following ad on AutoTrader. It’s a Certified Pre-owned (CPO) car and the asking price is $1,000 less than the new car price. CPO means the warranty will be extended by one year and 12,000 miles so it has the same warranty as a new car.
Claim #3: Used cars are getting more expensive because if you’re “not producing as many new cars, then you’re not producing as many used cars.”
Truth Meter: Very Shaky Grounds
Comment: The statement if taken entirely literally is true. However, the used cars you want to buy now are two years old (see here for why), and the current decrease in car production will have minimal effect on the used car market. How many people are in the market to specifically buy a used car that is only three months old? Hogwash.
Claim #4: To buy a new car you will have to do some “serious research”, “shop well for financing rates”, and shop for “deals in your area.”
Truth Meter: Finally something true!
Comment: Buying a new car is a colossal pain. For me, it ranks with getting ALL my teeth pulled – without a painkiller. Read my past post about The Top 10 Things a Dealer Absolutely Won’t Tell You in case you need to be reminded about what car dealers will do and say to make as much money as possible from you.
Reality: Buying a used car is much easier. With Carsala, all you need to do is (1) choose the car, model year, features and colors that you prefer, then (2) let Carsala find your cars and negotiate a price of up to 25% off Blue Book, then (3) inspect and drive the car in person, with the option of buying at the Carsala price. It doesn’t get much easier than this…
Posted by Colby Lavin on December 16, 2008 1 comment
When I watched this video of $15 million worth of exotic cars totally smashed up (hopefully all the drivers are ok), I kept thinking that I would be really bummed if I was the owner that had to walk into a dealer and buy the same car again. What would it mean if the owners (or should I say previous owners?) of these cars bought them using Carsala? If you’re unfamiliar with Carsala, it’s a used car buying service that finds the used car you are looking for, negotiates with dealers for you, and saves you 25% off of Blue Book (on average). The owners could buy a two year old version of the same car, use Carsala, and save $2.25 million! That’s savings to hang your hat on. Here’s the very, very, sad video of many beautiful cars that have seen better days.
In case you’re wondering, here’s how I calculated $2.25 million in savings. The video featured $15 million worth of exotic cars. Used cars tend to be only worth 60% of their new value after only 2 years. Carsala saves used cars buyers 25% off of Blue Book on average. So…. $15M x 60% x 25% = $2.25 million. As an end note, Carsala doesn’t actually deal with truly exotic used cars, but it sure did work when I bought a 2007 Honda Civic!
Car Buying Tips and Advice.
Carsala exists because there aren't many companies you can trust when buying a car. Almost everyone gets paid to help dealers sell you their cars (even if they are overpriced or poor quality). Carsala is different. We work for buyers, saving them time (usually weeks of effort) and money (average $4000 off Kelley Blue Book). We've negotiated 1000s of killer deals for our customers. Comment, ask questions, email us, or call us. We're here to help you.
