As long as you can afford it, do you prefer to buy new when you buy a car?

[hunter]

18. I bought a new car once when I was young and cocky. I won't do that again.

First of all I hate that feeling of having to keep everything "like new" and worrying about all the ways my car could be damaged. (Even worse is driving someone else's new car! You say "yes" because they are proud of their new car and want you to see how wonderful it is to drive, but then you have to drive with excruciating care and hope nothing random happens.)

The other day I was waiting to turn out of a parking lot when an older guy in a handicapped spot backed his car into mine. I had nowhere to go, nothing to do but lean on my horn. He stopped when he bumped me. It was a pretty hard bump too.

I was glad whatever damage he did to my car was lost among the other dings and dents. His own car was undamaged, it's plastic bumper unscratched, unharmed except for a smudge of actual dirt. (I rarely wash my car. I clean the windows but the rest literally has lichen growing on it.)

He got out of his car afraid that I'd be some kind of asshole, and I got out to smile and say, "No harm done."

You could say that maybe old guys who have to rely on their mirrors because it hurts too much to look around directly, who can't hear car horns, shouldn't be driving and that me being an asshole might have prevented some future accident, but I don't believe that. I don't trust ANYONE driving. The worst fools on the road think they are great drivers.

I'm a pretty good mechanic too, so I don't have a lot of reason to fear older cars.