As you might imagine, I get asked to help people buy a second hand car quite a lot. I love doing it, I find the world of used car buying one of almost limitless choice. Its so much more fun than buying a new car, but people do fail to grasp some of the basics.

One of the biggest things people don’t get is this, If you cant afford a new BMW, why do you think you can afford to run a second hand one? I use Beemer as a example, but it stands for any high end car. Just because it was once a reliable and luxury car does not mean it will still be as good when it has done 140,000 miles. Thanks about it…someone sold that car because it had done too many miles, and they could afford to run it and buy it new! You cant, but still you take it on hoping you can have a slice of luxury for none of the price.

There are lots more ramblings on this topic in my head but this one makes for a simple point. Only look at cars you could see yourself buying new at some stage, the cost of the  parts and servicing etc often sit at the same level as the original cost. They don’t get cheaper to run…