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Hi, my sister and I are looking to buy a small car to get us around Auckland and for some occasional road trips. We’re not sure what our plans are next year so we’re wondering what the best option is for buying a car that we might need to sell in 12-18 months. There are some good deals on new Suzuki Swifts at the moment with warranties and fuel discounts but I feel that the depreciation would make this a bad idea for a possible short term car. We’ve also looked at buying something second hand, 10+ years old, under 150,000km but I’m worried that any issues could cost us a lot of money. And then there’s the option of something near new, maybe up to 2 years old that’s still under warranty. What would you recommend ? Old? New-ish? New?
Thanks!

Hi there,
The ideal with resale in mind would be around 3-4 years of which the largest portion of depreciation has gone (up to 50% of the vehicle value) and the vehicle is new enough that it should be still free from issues. Some companies have ex lease or fleet vehicles that could give you a modern car at a reasonable price.