[rainmaster]

I have different point of view on purchasing used car in India and abroad as well . Out of 10 cars I have purchased in different stages of my life , only 2 are brand new , rest are all used cars .

While purchasing used cars in India , I look for cars which haven’t done well in our market , but have good reputation among auto enthusiast. I have purchased Maruti Baleno from True value with 2 free Services and one year warranty. Got fantastic deal since mass market rejected it as failure model and gave me more bargaining chip with dealer. Had wonderful ownership experience , backed by Maruti service, no worries on spares or services.

One more interesting used car purchase was my Ford Fiesta . My Dad had Ford Ikon TDCI and I have Figo , we know its capabilities and ownership cost as well. Myths like Ford cars are costly to maintain still lingers with public . Due to such misconceived perception , high mileage Ford cars are available for bargain. I got my Fiesta for 3 lakhs with 80 thousand KM on Odo. As soon my purchase was complete , took it to Rajshree Ford Service center , did complete check ,changed fluids, changed worn out parts gave second life to it. I have driven more than one lakh kilometers , now running at 183000 kilometers without any issues. You have to be prepared to spend additional 20-25 thousand rupees when buying high mileage cars.

In 3-4 lakhs price range I could have bought entry level cars like Alto , Kwid or Eon. Instead , I got car with better build quality , twin airbags , abs , soft touch dash and joy of driving sedan with mature ride quality & bigger boot. Used car market holds lot of hidden gems , if you have patience and can tolerate few nuisances , you can buy fantastic ride for your money.

Purchasing used car is always a treasure hunt for me . Apart from Maruti and to some extend Hyundai , none of the manufacturers are realizing the potential business in selling Certified used cars. Some of the manufactures have started to sell certified used cars. Those who are looking for some assurance , backing from manufacturers and peace of mind while purchasing used cars can opt for this route.

[dvr08]

Excellent topic to discuss. A perfectly timed thread for me as I've been on the look out for a pre-owned SUV/MUV.

There is always this thought in many people that Toyota, Hyundai or Maruti Suzuki are the only brands to look out for in the pre-owned space. This thought is the major contributor for the exorbitant prices quoted for any cars that belong to these brands. When i see the prices in reality, I cant find a reason to disagree. One thought keeps cropping up in my mind. Even though some cars are very reliable, are they really worth paying >10L? Some of them what I saw in the last two weeks.

Toyota Innova: All cars that are KA and TN registered are of very high mileage. Could not find one car which was <70k on the ODO. The least I've seen is 1.1L on the ODO.
2012 Gx, 2nd owner. 2.25L run car and the asking price is 12L.
2013 Gx, 1st Owner DL registered 1.1L - asking price 11L (including conversion to a KA number)
2014 V, 1st Owner DL registered 1.16L - asking price 13.5L (including conversion to a KA number)

XUV5OO W10 AT: 2016 model, single owner 81k kms done. Asking price is 13.5L

Safari Storme: I've few of these in OLX (2012-2014 models). Asking price for these is around 6 to 8L, but all these have run in excess of 1L kms.

2012 BMW X1: This was a surprise package. It was a 2012 s20d, 34k kms run and TN registered car. Asking price is 11.55L (excluding KA RTO charges). This was very tempting, but I decided against this without even digging deep into vehicle's details considering the brand. No offence to BMW car owners, but I have no experience nor knowledge on ownership of these luxury machines and so afraid to step into that territory.

Buying a pre-owned has its own good and bad. If budget is a constraint, we might have to choose a car which is either excessively run or >7 years old. The asking price of a <3 or 4 year old car is almost 70% of the brand new ones. Moreover, we must agree to this fact that very well maintained but excessively run cars can have rattles, minor issues that need fixing no matter which brand they belong too and these are additional expenses that the car might demand.

End of the day, any car is a good buy when we can be absoulutely sure that it is maintained well and the car is still backed by the manufacturer (in terms of service and parts availability). It all boils down to patience and a clear mind of what one would need!

[CrimsonKnight]

I have been very happy with the VAG group as well, but now looking to upgrade my daily driver to a daily chauffeured car.

Two options that seem interesting in Mumbai aftermarket are
1. 2016/17 vintage Superb TSI 35-60k in the 12-18L range
2. 2016/17 vintage Camry Hybrid 35-70k in the 13-20L range

There is also a 2019 Superb TSI with 17k on odo with asking in 25L but haven't engaged to see where that will land up as its a bit out of budget.

Would be great to hear the group's thoughts / views?

[123.rishabh]

In my opinion, i only avoid cars which have mechanical issues which are bound to happen irrespective of the maintenance you do and will reoccur even after being repaired

Example -
1. Porsche engines with IMS Bearings - Whatever you do, you will have to stay worried about the failure of the IMS which can happen anytime
2. BMW N54 engines which are prone to HP fuel pump & turbo failures
3. BMW M60B30 engines known for loosing compression due to usage of high sulphur fuels which eats up the nikasil coating & can't be solved

Other cars where there is an issue from the factory but have revised parts which solve the problem can be bought safely
Example-
1. Skoda Laura TSI - The infamous timing tensioner failure can lead to a catastrophic engine failure, but if the whole timing kit is replaced with the updated parts, then one can safely drive it without any issues

[car_guy1998]

Here, in Hyderabad, Innovas and Fortuners sell for more than the market price.

For eg, in 2019, my cousin had bought a used 2015 Innova VX, which had run just 54000 Kms(yes, just 54000 Kms in 4 years) and the price the owner had quoted was Rs.15L, which we had to bring it down to Rs.14L after lots of negotiations and it has fancy number totalling 9 as well as it was owned by one of the top pharma companies and just by seeing the car and its drivability, we felt this is the car we wanted and within a day of finalising the deal, we bought the Innova home. And, that credit was taken by myself as I was the one who had looked for this used Innova and made my cousin purchase this.

Even, a 2015-16 old gen Fortuner, no matter how much it has run, is sold for Rs.25L or below and recently seen a 23K Kms run(yes, 23K Kms run only)2014 Fortuner AT in rare gold colour going for Rs.24.5L and last price of this vehicle was Rs.21L when I had asked him to give it for Rs.18L. The 2013-14 model Fortuners still go for Rs.18L here, irrespective of Kms it has run.

On the other hand, we had bought a 2011 Innova VX, which had run just 75000 Kms for Rs.10L in 2016(it was around Rs.15L in 2011 when new) and got an offer of Rs.7.5-8L if we sell off the Innova right now considering the demand for used Innovas in our city.

Hence, this shows how a used Toyota has huge demand and priced exorbitantly in South India when compared to North and other parts of India.

[shrinz.vivek]

I generally agree with the majority opinion of buying used cars only from Maruti, Hyundai and Toyota. However wrt. to Hyundai there's always another thumb rule to be applied - "Dont buy used cars which did not sell in huge numbers".
I had a Santro Automatic for a year and got fed up with the niggles. Spent more than 15k in repairs, all related to the AT. So Hyundai is a unique case of having some of the most reliable and most unreliable cars in the same brand.

Additionally i will list down my past 11 used cars along with the major problem I faced:
1. Premier Padmini - Unsolvable starting issue
2. M800 - nil
3. M Omni - Body rust.
4. Daweoo matiz - Impossible to find spares
5. M Zen - nil
6. Another M800 - nil
7. Tata Indica - Never ending suspension struts & steering column issues
8. Another M Omni (new) - nil
9. M ritz - nil
10. Santro MT - nil
11. Santro AT - Expensive AT failures
12. Wagon R (new) - nil
13. S-presso (new) - <Still owning>
14. TUV300 - <Still owning>

So the pattern what I have observed is - the most popular model of that segment from the most popular OEM of that time is the best used car to buy !!!

[Entsurgeon]

IMHO, even before considering or ruling out a model, we should have a disclaimer about intended use for a car to be purchased.
Cars, unlike superbikes/niche products, are more often than not, used for daily driving. Thus factors like reliability and fast turnaround time from workshops are paramount. Again, fast turnaround times will depend on spares availability as well as experience of the mechanic with that particular model. Hence hot sellers would do good in used market. As they will have lot of spares available off the shelf and ever FNG having repaired dozen cars with exact same probleem you face. This factor would also work in tandem with how well made a car is because if a car doesn't age gracefully, you end up driving a rattler and a rustbucket. ( Excludes the maintenance by previous owner as a badly made car would have limitations no matter how well you maintain her). Hence a reliable car like Innova has high resale in used market. However we now see 10 and 15 year rule applied to some.places and if our top 6 7 metros get this rule applied , there would be so many used cars out in the market that Indian hinterlands would not keep lapping up especially since the supply keeps rising each year. Thus even if you buy a used Innova assuming you city won't ever get that 10 year rule implemented, this rule may still cause prices to slide down and by the time you sell her after few years, the high resale values may no longer remain. Every market changes. There was a time used car could be sold for higher than acquisition prices.
This brings us to the leisure/second vehicles. You can always go for a cheap Audi TT or Skoda vRS if you have a reliable hatch in your shed. This genre will be highly sensitive to price variation due to demand and supply at the time of new as well as used deals.
I seriously think new Thar will eventually go dirt cheap in used market because its a purpose built car with niche users in mind. A primary car with no rear doors? A lot of people who have bought her will soon outgrow that euphoria and then it will be party all the way for genuine enthusiasts.
Another rarely mentioned factor that affects demand in used market is which category the vehicle originally catered to. You can be often seen tinkering under the hood of your Baleno or swift. But you can never afford to be caught on streets with an open hood of your 5/7/E/S. And hence a used 10 yo Alto or i10 may still have takers at 1 lakh INR but not so much for a 8 year old generation or 2 older S class for 10 lakhs

[OctYFAN]

Originally Posted by EightSix

#2. Anything from the VW Group

Call me biased, and while the newer VW/Skoda are somewhat more reliable, the previous gen models available for cheap in the used car market are plenty. Buyers who want a German car for cheap end up with a dashboard that lights up like a Christmas tree.

Attachment 2133379

When buying a used car, reliability is everything!

[/url]

I think this is just a stereotype. Yes the dash does light up. But at the most minor problems. I own an Octavia TDi and it has a turbo pressure error code. Any owner would have a heart attack at the news. But it turned out that a wasp had it's nest in the sensor( I have no idea how it got in there).

Yes these cars have a very low tolerance towards uncomfortable conditions. But they are not extremely unreliable. This is mainly due to the image of German cars. German=speed. They are driven fast and abused. Can you ever see a Maruti being revved hard. I for one haven't.

It's so disheartening to see that these amazing machines are being beat by unsafe tin cans like Maruti Suzukis in the used car market. Awareness has to be spread about this. German cars are not bad unless you drive them bad.

Cheers
OctYFAN

[kunalghogle]

I have purchased a used Fiat Punto 1.4 in 2012 and still using it..If we are staying in any metro city most spares for Fiat/Chevy/Nissan etc are easily available or are made available in reasonable time.....The beauty of owing a used car is to have a car that Indian buyer avoided but is a success worldwide and rightly so.....Till date I have never had any issues with spares for my punto in Mumbai and it is an absolute pleasure to drive.....Althought I also own the new Creta now I do understand the absolute tank like built of the Punto and the evergreen design. Also while buying used cars we always look for VFM and while buying Punto I had compared the same with a Wagon R for which I had to pay around 50K more and it was rusted to the core.

[throttleking]

How about used Isuzu MU-X with around 60k plus kms on odo, service history available, and seemingly not abused off the road?

While MU-X did not do well in Indian market, in front of tough competition like Fortuner and Endy. Although it was solid package, as tough and reliable as competitors, it was priced also way too low and available in used cars market at a very reasonable price.

[mrdexter]

Please advise,whether it is a right decision to buy VW Jetta 2015 model with 90K on the ODO. What should be the maximum price we can pay for this car? Chauffeur driven but not abused. Complete history available.

[Sran]

Originally Posted by mrdexter

Please advise,whether it is a right decision to buy VW Jetta 2015 model with 90K on the ODO. What should be the maximum price we can pay for this car? Chauffeur driven but not abused. Complete history available.

Put your question here.
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/india...ck-thread.html (The "USED" Car Price Check Thread)

[TheARUN]

Originally Posted by throttleking

How about used Isuzu MU-X with around 60k plus kms on odo, service history available, and seemingly not abused off the road?

Only if you are OK with sourcing parts from the international market through the net. The Isuzu is indestructible and has a commercial presence as well, that way maintaining it should not be too much of a daunting task.

Use all the cons to drive down the price as much as possible.

[ReventonLover]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

Good thread, and I agree with most of the points.

However,



This is something I disagree with. There are some good cars with some unique value propositions, but they still flop in the market because that value propositions was not seen by or not applicable to masses. But if one wants that specific value, then the same car in the used market makes sense. Such cars invariable have low resale price, and could make for a great deal in the used car....

Couldn't resist posting about Opel cars (and so late). I vaguely remeber a design professor teaching us importance about aesthetics. The Opel cars sold in India back in the 90s were designed such that there wasn't a significant difference in mileage with the Aircon unit on or off! This was in the 90s! But their designs were not popular back then and they slowly faded away into oblivion (in the Indian market). But someone who appreciates that sort of technology wouldn't be discouraged to buy one. Or an enthusiastic collector perhaps.

[shankar.balan]

Whatever one buys in the used market one needs to go in with their eyes open and prepared to spend what is necessary in order to ensure continued useability and enjoyment.

(Depends completely on what you enjoy)

There is NO one size fits all hard and fast rule. Nor is any one brand going to be absolutely 100% infallible absolutely 100% of the time compared to any other brand. Its all down to maintenance and care.

1. People denigrate skoda. But when I sold my Yeti, I had spent the money to ensure all proactive preventive maintenance. The new buyer didnt have to worry.
Indeed this is the case with any car I ve sold.

2. I bought a Gypsy from UP. And ended up spending a lot to get it up to scratch. The seller wasnt helpful with the documents either for transfer. I used the repair work as my partial learning curve investment.

3. I part exchanged that Gypsy for another, which was all nice and spruced up but deep underneath, was cancerous. I used this Gypsy as my investment in my education in the art of factory quality restoration. Learned a lot! Sold it onward to a friend. He is presently very happy with that Gypsy.

4. Bought a Cooper. 7.5 years old at the time, 33700kms done. Looked nice but wasn’t as well cared for as it ought to have been. Again, I ve invested in this vehicle, as my on going education into the art of the automobile.

What I am seeking to show in the above is ‘One man’s meat may well be another man’s poison’. And there is no ‘one rule for everyone’ especially when each person is free to spend his or her earnings the way they want.

In this sense, I have demonstrably broken ALL the rules in these above purchase and repair and restoration aspects.

What’s next? Who knows? Maybe a Porsche Boxster Flat 6!

(Clearly, I seem to enjoy a spot of mechanical masochism. My good pals these days with whom I hang out quite often on weekends, are a selection of oil-stained overall-ed, gloved and booted, mechanical repair experts, in their chosen ‘dives’, namely, their greasy garages!)