Prchasing a new vehicle is often an exciting experience, especially since buying a car is usually the second largest acquisition one will make in a lifetime, next to buying a house. You can choose exactly what you want, the car is readily available, the warranty is fresh, and obviously the car is new and free of problems. These are all reason- able points, but the option of buying used has many benefits. Quite obviously, most consumers opt for used cars for financial reasons. Sim- ply put, the price of a used car may be 50 percent less than the latest model even if the used model year is fairly recent. Depreciation is the factor behind these savings, as the new vehicle drops in value the moment it is driven off the dealerʼs lot. In fact, during the first year alone a car will depreciate at least 20 percent, and will continue to drop in decreasing increments every year thereafter.