Silly Question #28: Should I buy a second-hand luxury car?

Wednesday, 28 February 2018

A gift of a $65,000 Bentley had mechanical problems in less than a week.

One of the 'amusing motoring stories of the week' is the yarn out of Rotorua about the man who paid $65,000 for a 2007 Bentley Continental Flying Spur as a gift for his father - only to find it was a lemon.

Within just a week of the start of the ownership experience, the car began to be plagued by mechanical problems.

The good news for the owner is that the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal ruled that the faults found on the car were not what a purchaser should reasonably expect of a 10-year old luxury vehicle with little more than 70,000km on the clock.

Dreams are free - but the cost of buying and maintaining luxury product such as Bentley is always high.

It ordered the dealer to pay $68,275 to the owner to cover the refund of the car's purchase plus the costs the owner had racked up in getting the faults assessed, and transporting and storing the vehicle.

**READ MORE:

Mass-market brands such as Toyota are always the least expensive to purchase and to maintain.

* Argument over condition of $65000 Bentley ends in disputes tribunal ruling

* Bentley reveals special edition Continental 24

* Falling for the mighty Bentley Flying Spur**

There's an important lesson to be learned from this episode - it's the well-known rule of thumb that any car that is expensive to buy new, is also expensive to maintain used.

Bentley Continental Flying Spurs cost $335,000 to buy new in New Zealand, and they cost that much because they are chock-full of luxury technology.

In other words, there's a lot that can go wrong - eventually. Because of their relative rarity, maintenance and repair costs are a lot higher.

And as our Rotorua man discovered, the older they get, the higher the chance they will suffer mechanical problems.

Surveys in the United Kingdom regularly show that not only does affordability always trump luxury when it comes to vehicle dependability, but the cost of repairs are always lower because the more affordable cars are mass-market product which means the cost of parts is also always lower.

Car reliability surveys also always show that it is the more affordable brands such as Toyota, Honda, Mazda and Suzuki that are by far the most reliable, with the least reliable brands being the low-volume luxury product.

And, as many have discovered with their luxury cars, even the cost of normal maintenance can be eye-wateringly expensive.

So should you buy a second-hand luxury car?

It's nice to dream of the time you'll be in a position to be able to afford to step out of your run-of-the-mill Toyota or Mazda and into something more premium such as a used Bentley, BMW or Benz.

But do your due diligence first.

Where did the car come from - was it New Zealand new or imported from Japan or Singapore? Because there's a far better chance of checking out the car's maintenance record if it's closer to home.

Is the mileage appropriate for the car's price? Have the vehicle checked by a reputable organisation such as the AA.

And remember that rule of thumb: a car that is more expensive to buy new, is more expensive to maintain used.