Used Car Buying - Vehicle Reputation

How to properly utilize vehicle reputation for used car buying

When used car shopping many people base too much, or all, of their opinion on the car based upon the reputation of the vehicle. For example many people will say that Honda car engines will last longer than other types of cars. Though there may be some truth to this it is important to recognize that a used car should be evaluated on its specific condition and not based on a generalized summarization of an entire class of car types.





A Honda car may run a long time, but certainly not if it has been abused or had a poor history of maintenance. For this reason you can certainly factor into your buying equation the reputation of a specific car type, but ultimately a good deal can be found in any vehicle make. A car that has been driven little and meticulously maintained will always be a better deal and have a higher likelihood of reliability than an average car with a good reputation of being reliable.

When buying a used car shop according to vehicle class

Instead of choosing a specific make and model of car that you are looking for it would be wise to choose a class of car that you are considering and research all car makes and models that fall within that category. Some example of cars in the four cylinder economy class are:


Dodge Neon
Dodge Omni
Dodge Shadow
Ford Focus
Ford Escort
Toyota Tercel
Toyota Carolla
Toyota Camry
Honda Civic
Honda Accord
Nissan Stanza
Nissan Sentra
Nissan Ultima
Hyundai Accent
Pontiac Sunfire
Pontiac Grand Am
Mazda 323
Mazda Protige


Not a definitive list, but simply an illustration of how many used cars are available by looking at class instead of specific makes and models. By broadening your search criteria and by having an understanding of what constitutes a good used car you can dramatically increase your chances of spending a little and getting a lot from buying a used car.





Our experts advise that they do not use vehicle reputation in the traditional sense at all when shopping for a used car. Read what our experts say vehicle reputation should be used for in the section on vehicle reputation secrets.