How to Get a Deal on a Used Car, Or: Why the Heck Did I Buy 20 Smart Cars"
It’s a common joke that winking at an auto auctioneer can get you into trouble. I found plenty of trouble recently thanks to my winking, as I am now the terrified owner of a small army of Smart Fortwo city cars. These cars have less than 12,000 miles on their odometers, are equipped with heated leather seats and upgraded sound systems, and are still fully covered by Mercedes-Benz’s four-year/50,000-mile factory warranty. At $4000 for a 2014 model and $4900 for a 2015 model, the Smarts weren?t so much bought as they were legally stolen. Although it’s a bit nerve-racking to own so many of them, to me these cars represent the rolling embodiment of opportunity in today?s used-car market.
When it comes to used cars, it pays to study the recent past to help understand the present. The Smart Fortwo, for example, has not sold well in the past few years. Last year, U.S. sales fell 17 percent to a mere 6211 units. That comes after sales plummeted 28 percent in 2016 to 7484 units. Parent company Daimler has decided that it will no longer sell the gasoline-powered model in North America but only the Fortwo Electric Drive. Smarts are now sitting en masse at wholesale dealer auctions around the country along with a multitude of other subcompact and compact vehicles. Last year, I picked up a 2015 Ford Focus SE hatchback with 20,000 miles for only $9000. There were thousands of one-year-old Chevrolet Cruzes, Dodge Darts, and other compacts that sold for even less m...
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