Reliability Is The Key Factor When Buying A Used Car

Car manufacturers have been hit very hard by the current recession and many people thinking, or (more realistically in these difficult financial times) dreaming of buying a brand new car may have second thoughts and go for the more financially sensible option of buying a second hand car. What then is the single most important factor for someone buying a used car? Is it the brand? Is it the colour? Is it the size and shininess of the alloy wheels? Is it how fast it can go from nought to sixty? Is it how many children it can squeeze in the back? Or maybe it's how economic the car is? Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong and wrong!
The single most important factor that is considered by the majority of people when buying a used car is reliability. Boring it may sound, but the reliability factor outweighs the wow factor. How many people have had that awful, gut wrenching experience of buying a used car, thinking you have secured a bargain only to have to fork out a small fortune a couple of months, or even weeks, later on repair costs?
According to the Top Used Cars list of the past decade, Lexus have two of their models in the top 20, second only to Mazda and Honda, with the Lexus IS200 and Lexus LS400 were the two most reliable Lexus vehicles in the list. Now this will be food for thought for those who are looking to upgrade their car in the near future.
Try this for size - a used Lexus IS200 can be yours for as little as 8,000 pounds from any number of Lexus dealerships from around the country. An absolute steal when you consider that a brand new Lexus from the IS range starts at around the 30,000 pound mark. And, according to Parker's Car Price Guide the Lexus IS was the most reliable car in 2008 beating off competition from fellow Japanese brands such as Honda and Toyota.
The consumer experts, Which?, recently assessed the satisfaction of consumers of brand new cars with regards service and repairs at franchised car dealers. Lexus came out on top, by quite a distance, with 78 per cent of owners very satisfied with the service and repairs made to their vehicles by Lexus dealerships.
Lexus cars, especially used Lexus cars, are growing in popularity in the UK but they have some way to go to match the popularity that Lexus has found in the United States. In the US, marketing powerhouses, J.D Power and Associates voted Lexus most reliable car brand through a vehicle dependency survey for the 14th consecutive year! Put that in yer pipe and smoke it Jeremy Clarkson! Actually, in fairness to the Top Gear presenter he has championed Lexus cars for a number of years.
Clarkson even preferred the Lexus IS 250 SE to its more expensive competitor the BMW 3 series - a glowing reference if ever I saw one, especially as the 3 series is BMW's most selling car of all time and generally marked as the benchmark for the mid-range coupe.
The Lexus slogan is 'The Pursuit Of Perfection' and in terms of reliability, they're not far off the mark - a main factor as to why sales of used Lexus cars will continue to do well, on both sides of the Atlantic.

About the Author
Shaun Parker is a car expert with many years of experience in the used cars industry. Find out more about quality used cars at http://www.inchcapelexus.co.uk