Buy New Or Used Cars

Q.I'm looking for advice on buying a car. I'm actually on my first car now ( I mean truck). I've had it for over 3 years. its a 95 chevy s10 with a stick shift. My parents tried to talk me out of buying a truck especially one with a stick but I had my heart set on a truck. I would like to get a car for several reasons. I have a phobia/anxiety about driving and many people have suggested I would be more comfortable with a automatic. It snows a LOT here in the winter and I could get through the snow easier with a front wheel drive. Reason #3 would be I want something with a nice seat that I can kick back in on my lunch break and take a nap. Although im not far from work it takes a nice chunk of your break if you drive home and im pretty tired on a 330 am lunch! These all look like important reasons for a new car to me. Now comes to the question what car should I get? keep in mind I know very little about cars. I want just a plain medium sized car that has a good safety rating. I heard in some cases smaller cars arent quite as safe? Also theres the decision on if I should buy new or used? I was told I could probly get a car 1-2 years old for a much better price. I have about 15,000 cash to buy a car but I really want to keep it under that if possible. A lot of people keep telling me the foreign cars are much better. I would prefer something american made but if a foreign car really is that much better then I will buy one. Im not a fan of any certain brand I just want something safe and that will last me a long time. a chevy malibu caught my eye and looked kind of nice but I dont know anything about them. I have also been suggested a honda civic by a friend.

A.No one can tell you which car is right for you, since there are so many factors to consider (cost, reliability, size, comfort, etc. etc.) That said, here are some thoughts: Do a *lot* of research before you buy, and don't let your ignorance about cars lead you to make rash decisions. It is impossible to make the best decision based on tips from a few friends or newsgroups or based on one article, and with some effort you can become an expert yourself. Spend a month or two reading about different cars in different resources (car magazines, consumer reports, newsgroups, web, etc) to find out what cars you like and their reliability rating. Once you have it narrowed down to a few models, spend time reseaching the new/used prices until you can rattle off about how much each of your favorite models should cost each year from new to five years old. There are a number of websites for this. Even if you put in 100 hours educating yourself it will worthwhile even if your research only saves you $1,000 bucks (thats a rate of return of $10 an hour). If your 100 hours ends up saving you $3,000 that is the equivalent of earning $30 an hour. Plus, after doing a lot of research and educating yourself you will feel confident with your ultimate purchase rather than worrying that maybe you could have done better. Don't believe broad generalities like "its always better to buy used" or "its always better to buy new" or "foreign cars are better than US cars" or "US cars are better than foreign." Every car and situation is different, and no one generality is always true, although some are more often true than others. So, get people to explain the reasoning behind their advice and see if it makes sense to you and whether it applies in your case. You should be able to get a good car for less than 15K, even new as long as you don't load up on the extras and features and you don't feel the need to have something big and fancy. With regard to private sale of your existing truck versus doing a trade in, look your truck up on some of the used car value websites and see how much they generally go for in a private sale. Also look in your local paper every day for a few weeks and see what people are asking for trucks like yours. With this info you will be able to tell whether a particular trade-in offer is good or not.

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