Used Car Day

What the day is

Used Car Day is observed on October 22. It concerns the secondhand vehicle market, which in most countries moves substantially more cars each year than the new market does.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented.

The central fact about buying used is depreciation. A new car loses a large share of its value in the first two or three years, and that loss is the single biggest cost of owning one, larger than fuel, insurance or servicing for most drivers. Someone buying a three-year-old car has let the first owner absorb that, which is why the used market is where the value sits.

The trade also produced a foundational piece of economics. In 1970 George Akerlof published a paper using used cars to explain what happens when the seller knows more than the buyer: buyers cannot distinguish sound cars from bad ones, so they will only pay an average price, which drives good cars out of the market and leaves the bad ones. The paper contributed to a Nobel Prize and gave English the phrase market for lemons.

Most of the modern apparatus of the used trade exists to solve exactly that asymmetry: history checks, mileage verification, mechanical inspections, statutory warranties and dealer certification schemes. They work by making the seller's knowledge available to the buyer.

How to take part

• Get an independent inspection before buying. It costs a fraction of the car and is the single highest-value step.
• Run the history check yourself rather than relying on the seller's printout: outstanding finance, write-off records and mileage discrepancies all show up.
• View in daylight and dry weather. Rain and dusk hide paintwork and panel gaps.
• Look at service records more closely than mileage. A well-maintained high-mileage car beats a neglected low-mileage one.
• Drive it properly, including at speed and from cold, rather than around the block.
• Budget for tires, brakes and a service straight after purchase. They are the usual first bills.