I’m starting a new Blog series on buying a used car and the questions I am often asked.  I’m starting with this one: Do European cars need more repairs?

I get this question, or some variant of it, a lot.  Here’s my general reply:

A European car is more like a race-horse while a Japanese or Domestic car is more like a pack-horse.

A pack-horse is more dependable, is happy being fed hay, plods along, is boring but reliable.

A race-horse is finicky, fussy about it’s care-and-feeding, but is spirited and fun.

This pack/race horse ‘rule’ applies to all vehicle makes and models.  Some more than others but it’s a good rule of thumb.

The question is:  Which do you want?  Everyone has their preferences.  Just don’t buy one and expect the other – you’re either buying a race-horse or a pack-horse / there is no horse that is both.

I find that students are the most vulnerable to this trap.  Since they’re younger I think the appeal of a ‘fun’ car is higher and most of them, as a used car buyer, are responsible in their approach:  they budget for their car payment, insurance, registration, etc.  What they don’t realize is they also have to have a repair budget.  If you don’t have some disposable income for the unexpected repair that your race-horse is going to need then you’re likely to become disappointed/trapped by this problem.

It would be irresponsible of me not to also mention that before buying a used car, race horse or pack horse, you should have a good pre-purchase inspection done to ensure you know what you’re buying.  More on this next time.