ROANOKE, Va. – Looking for a new car can be daunting and sometimes expensive, but Consumer Reports said it doesn’t have to make you break the bank and instead recommends buying a used car.
“The used car market is sort of rebounding a bit. In the last year, we have seen prices come down about 10 percent in some cases, and inventory is rebounding as well. So, you know, you’re more likely to find the used car that you’re actually interested in, and hopefully pay a little bit better price for it,” said Associate Director of Auto Test Development Alex Knizek with Consumer Reports.
Knizek said they see that 40 percent of Americans considering buying a vehicle in the next year, are only looking for used cars.
For the first time, Consumer Reports put out a list of its “10 Top Used Car Picks.”
“We see brands like Toyota, Lexus, Mazda, they’re at the top of the list. They tend to be more conservative with their redesigns. When they’re making, you know, the next Camry, for example, they tend to iterate on their products rather than starting with a clean sheet that just lends itself to better reliability and fewer problems over time,” said Knizek.
Here are the top 5:
- 2021 Toyota Corolla Hybrid
- 2021 Kia Sportage
- 2018 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid
- 2020 Maza CX-9
- 2020 Buick Envision
For the ten top used car picks, Consumer Reports looked at vehicles that are between five and ten years old. It had data on more than 150,000 different vehicles from model years 2014 to 2019.
Of course, some cars were at the bottom of the list.
“We see brands, you know, Jeep, Dodge, Chrysler, even Tesla, more towards the bottom of the list,” said Knizek. “We see more problems reported from members with those vehicles, so their reliability is less consistent over time. And I will say, though, just because a brand that you might be interested in is somewhere towards the middle or maybe towards the bottom of our ratings chart, doesn’t necessarily mean that every single vehicle that they make is unreliable,” said Knizek.
If you’re in the market for a new car, Knizek said you really want to find a reliable car.
“Just going to drive that point home, because that car is just more likely to last you a long time. You know, you’re trying to save money. You don’t want to have to go buy another new car or another used car in the near future,” said Knizek.
He said you can do this by going to the Consumer Reports website.
Then, you want to look at the ownership history. Knizek said another option is to consider a certified pre-owned vehicle.
“This car is backed by the manufacturer, inspected by the dealership that’s selling it, and will ultimately come with a warranty. So yes, you’re going to pay a little bit more for a CPO vehicle compared to the equivalent non-CPO version of that car, but it can be worth it in a lot of cases, and we actually see through Consumer Report survey data that you know people who go this route, they’re generally more satisfied with the vehicle, and they report less problems with it,” said Knizek.