Hello Celticguy,
I prefer to buy a one-owner directly from the original owner about 4-5 years old in very good condition, keep it real nice, drive it till it has about 130K, then sell it.
I rarely have to do many repairs, but I often perform deferred maintenance. I usually upgrade the oil to synth, change the tranny fluid and anti-freeze, put on a set of tires, and do a detail job. Maybe I have to replace a battery sometimes. The dollar-stretching way to do that is to buy refurb batteries instead of new. They are about half price. The way you get a good refurb battery is check the voltage. The higher the better. Don't accept anything below 12.7V.
I used to drive 'em till they drop, but decided it is more economical to get out before many repairs are needed, and get some money back when selling. That way, I end up spending as little as 1K to 2K per year on a car, and get to drive relatively nice cars.
I like buying used cars because you get real data on how well the cars hold up over the years.
A good way to find a reliable car is to use
CarComplaints.com
Find out through wiki pages on cars how many units of each prospective car were built that year, then create a ratio of complaints per number built to get a good comparison.
You also get feedback on what owners disliked about the car. Of course, it never hurts to be familiar with how the car drove when it is new, so I rent newer prospective cars from time to time for a trip or vacation. Keeps your own car young and mileage is everything when it comes to used car value.
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