For used vehicle shoppers on a budget, a vehicle that is 10 years old, or even older, is a good choice. Unlike 20 or 30 years ago, older used vehicles are still dependable and, depending on the owner, probably still in good shape. For some models, appearance hasn’t changed that much.
About 20% of vehicles currently registered in the D.C. region are 10 or more years old. The number of vehicles on the road in the D.C. area that are 10 or more years old has increased by 78% in the past decade.
Older used vehicles are more expensive than they used to be, though. The average price of a 2014 model that has sold in the D.C. area this year is about $12,000 — 51% more than a similar 10-year-old vehicle would have sold for in 2014, according to vehicle search site iSeeCars.com.
There are some trade-offs to buying a vehicle from the mid-2010s.
“Technology in the areas of safety and driver assistance, as well as connected car technology have really ramped up over the last 10 years. So if you’re buying an older car, you’re not going to see things like automatic emergency braking or lane-keeping assist, or warning systems like that,” said Karl Brauer with iSeeCars.
A 2014 vehicle isn’t talking to the internet either, meaning no over-the-air updates, service notifications or driver behavior monitoring, which might be a selling point for some buyers. The vehicle may have limited wireless phone integration, but not full touch-screen interactivity. Navigation systems may be a bit more crude.
But all in all, a 10-year-old vehicle does not sacrifice much for diving, functionality or driver-controlled safety.
The bestselling 10-year-old vehicles aren’t particularly sexy cars. In the D.C. market, they are currently the Hyundai Sonata, Subaru Legacy and Mercedes C-Class.
“Every era has the popular cars, and for the last two decades it has been trucks and SUVs. If you’re buying a 10-plus-year-old car, you’re probably looking for a sedan because they’re going to be the least expensive. People who shop in that area are probably very price sensitive and are looking for the least expensive cars, which makes sedans a popular choice for them,” Brauer said.