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I am a car dealer and I sell used cars.

So, you might think that I am against buying new cars, right?

Actually, I have nothing against new cars. Quite the opposite is true: without new cars being sold I would never have access to used cars.

There are times where it makes sense to buy new cars. If you can afford it and you simply cannot life without a brand new car. Or if you know you will use this new car for a very long time and drive long distances. [what else???]

Average Price for New Cars Are Increasing Rapidly

But the recent Yahoo Autos article “Average American can no longer afford “average-priced” new car or truck” has a very good point.

The article states that according Interest.com, the average new vehicle costs $32,086. That comes out to a typical monthly payment of $633. Americans have to pay 3.6% more for their car compared to last year.

I love new cars – just not like you think

I look forward to the new cars being sold.

I also can’t wait to get that car with low mileage when the lease is up or when the owner just wants to get another car.

But this person took a financial loss the second the new car drives of the dealership’s lot. I will be ready to buy that car when the owner is selling it and save you thousands of dollars.

Buying a car second-hand is a better value

Let me put it into perspective for you.

• New Toyota Camry LE              $23,680
• Used 2011 Toyota Camry LE      $15,998
• Difference                               $7,682

And this specific 3-year-old Camry has only 23,000 miles on it.

As you can see in this example, that is a decent savings! In addition to that, used cars do not have a destination fee of $600 or more. The destination charge is calculated by each manufacturer based on something called an “equalized delivery.” In other words, they factor the cost of shipping all vehicles in the line and “equalize” the cost so the fee is “equal” for all car-buyers.

Here you are getting a low mileage, late model, clean CARFAX report vehicle and save over $7,000 for virtually the same car.

Only good used cars come on our lot

Like most dealers, I have a limited amount of space in my dealership. We have to be careful what we buy. But I take that a step further.

At Salit Auto Sales, we only buy what we drive ourselves or would let our family drive. We specifically target low mileage cars, we run CARFAX reports on everything we buy, we look for vehicles that were not previously smoked in, and we drive what we sell.