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We tend to associate buying a new car with one of the most exciting and satisfying moments in our lives, yet studies and experience show us things don't always turn out like that.
In fact, avoiding buyer's remorse altogether seems almost impossible, no matter how happy you might be with the vehicle you got. There's always that niggling thought that you might have overpaid, or that you either could have lived with fewer options or forgot to tick the box next to that all-important one, to list only a few of the possibilities.
However, the most depressing fact when buying new is that your vehicle loses a huge chunk of its value the minute you put the first mile on the clock. That thought gets even worse when you're leasing the vehicle; you're basically paying installments for the full price of the car (plus interest) even though, if you were to sell it after a month, you wouldn't get anything near that.
Maybe that's why, according to a survey put together by Junk Car Traders, people who lease their vehicles are almost twice more likely (50.5% compared to 29%) to feel remorseful over their purchase than those who pay upfront. Or maybe it's because you're reminded every month of the bad choice you made.
Surprisingly, the percentage is almost the same for buying new vs. used (34.5 percent and 31.8 percent, respectively). Even though used cars don't depreciate nearly as dramatically, there are other issues associated with this type of buying that keep the new owners' anxiety at comparable levels.
Perhaps even more surprising are the results on where the survey respondents had acquired their vehicles from. It turns out the least satisfactory method is to buy from friends or family, with 8.4 percent of the answers saying they were unhappy with the deal. Online marketplaces appear to be the preferred method, with 80.7 percent of people who used one saying they were happy with their purchase, while physical dealerships are still going strong, recording the lowest "dissatisfied" percentage (5.2%).
Now, let's stop beating around the bush and start pointing some fingers. The survey, which was admittedly carried out on a pretty small sample of 1,025 car owners, found out that when it comes to specific brands that buyers associate with negative experiences, Ford is a pretty distant leader (16.3 percent). The closest behind are Honda and Chevrolet (each with 10.3 percent), then Nissan (8.8 percent), and GMC (8.2 percent). What does that tell you? Frankly, nothing: if you love Ford, you'll continue to buy it even if you'll be part of those 16.3 percent after the next purchase.
If there's one thing to take away from this survey, it's this: the best way to avoid buyer's remorse, apart from actually buying the car instead of leasing it, is to do your best not to go over budget. And if you absolutely have to, stick within $3,000. The self-declared non-remorseful buyers spent, on average, $3,471 over their initial budget, whereas the remorseful ones spent $5,237.
To sum it up, even though only roughly a third (31.1%) of car owners say they experienced buyer's remorse, that doesn't mean some of the other 68.9 percent couldn't swap places, come their next purchase. Chance is still a big factor when buying a car, new or used, so just because you got lucky a few times, that doesn't mean it can't happen to you. Actually, statistically, it's becoming more and more likely with each new buy, so you have been warned.
However, the most depressing fact when buying new is that your vehicle loses a huge chunk of its value the minute you put the first mile on the clock. That thought gets even worse when you're leasing the vehicle; you're basically paying installments for the full price of the car (plus interest) even though, if you were to sell it after a month, you wouldn't get anything near that.
Maybe that's why, according to a survey put together by Junk Car Traders, people who lease their vehicles are almost twice more likely (50.5% compared to 29%) to feel remorseful over their purchase than those who pay upfront. Or maybe it's because you're reminded every month of the bad choice you made.
Surprisingly, the percentage is almost the same for buying new vs. used (34.5 percent and 31.8 percent, respectively). Even though used cars don't depreciate nearly as dramatically, there are other issues associated with this type of buying that keep the new owners' anxiety at comparable levels.
Perhaps even more surprising are the results on where the survey respondents had acquired their vehicles from. It turns out the least satisfactory method is to buy from friends or family, with 8.4 percent of the answers saying they were unhappy with the deal. Online marketplaces appear to be the preferred method, with 80.7 percent of people who used one saying they were happy with their purchase, while physical dealerships are still going strong, recording the lowest "dissatisfied" percentage (5.2%).
Now, let's stop beating around the bush and start pointing some fingers. The survey, which was admittedly carried out on a pretty small sample of 1,025 car owners, found out that when it comes to specific brands that buyers associate with negative experiences, Ford is a pretty distant leader (16.3 percent). The closest behind are Honda and Chevrolet (each with 10.3 percent), then Nissan (8.8 percent), and GMC (8.2 percent). What does that tell you? Frankly, nothing: if you love Ford, you'll continue to buy it even if you'll be part of those 16.3 percent after the next purchase.
If there's one thing to take away from this survey, it's this: the best way to avoid buyer's remorse, apart from actually buying the car instead of leasing it, is to do your best not to go over budget. And if you absolutely have to, stick within $3,000. The self-declared non-remorseful buyers spent, on average, $3,471 over their initial budget, whereas the remorseful ones spent $5,237.
To sum it up, even though only roughly a third (31.1%) of car owners say they experienced buyer's remorse, that doesn't mean some of the other 68.9 percent couldn't swap places, come their next purchase. Chance is still a big factor when buying a car, new or used, so just because you got lucky a few times, that doesn't mean it can't happen to you. Actually, statistically, it's becoming more and more likely with each new buy, so you have been warned.
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