Intro
This is the third and final post on buying a car. The first post showed that buying a mid-size sedan instead of an SUV can save $25,000 over 10 years. The next post showed that buying an economy car saves nearly $50,000 per decade versus buying an entry-level luxury car. And now this post is going to show that buying a 4-year-old used car can save $15,000 per decade versus buying a new one.

The trade-offs with buying used are a) it isn’t as sexy – no new car smell or shiny new technology, and b) the maintenance costs are higher for older cars. For this example, I compared a used 2010 Honda Accord to a new 2014 Honda Accord. The reason I chose a four-year-old car is that four years is long enough that the vehicle has had adequate time to depreciate but young-enough not to just be a headache of repairs.
Read moreUsed Cars Save $15,000 Per Decade Versus Buying New