The Big Question: New or Used?

Make sure you take your prospective ‘new’ car for a through test drive. Not the cursory three minute around the block but a proper 10-15min drive. Slow speed to listen for weird suspension noise – such as over humps or when turning the steering. At higher speeds to check if the car is pulling to one side or if the wheels are out of balance or unusually high levels of wind noise.

Does the automatic shift smoothly? Unless you’re buying a used hot hatch or some sporty car, engine and exhaust note should be relatively unobtrusive. Do the brakes judder under braking? That’s usually a sign of warped brake discs.

Is the air-conditioning cold? It might be more than a simple case of ‘needing more aircon gas’. Make sure all the windows and mirrors work. If anything is not working, our advice is to ask the seller to rectify all the problems before you decide to buy the car. This way there’ll no nasty surprises.

If the seller has a lot of ‘modification’, he wants to remove, please test drive the car again after it has been done as sometimes, as the car is about to change hands, the workshop might just slap on worn, wrong parts to replace the $8000 AP brakes he removed.

For the overzealous, you can actually send the car to STA for a proper onceover by the so-called professionals for a fee. This will also ensure the car is capable of passing LTA’s inspection down the road.
If buying from a used car dealer, they will usually have all the standard paperwork but if buying from a private seller, make sure that the paperwork states when you took delivery of the car in case of issues with outstanding parking tickets, speeding etc.

Keep an eye out on the radiator water levels, oil level, and watch for signs of overheating or alternator not charging over the next few days. Make sure all the lights and signals are working too – yes, including the horn, you don’t want to find out at the wrong moment it’s not working.

So that’s about it. There might be several things to look out for when deciding to buy old or new. But one thing is for sure. Make sure you do your homework with respect to insurance – which can be a fair bit more for a new car – as well as running cost. Because, buying a car is just half the equation. So make sure you take into account ancillaries like parking, ERP, petrol, insurance, road tax etc when planning your budget.

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