Secondhand cars

[stevewool]

I am sure someone has mentioned this, but are there decent secondhand cars to be brought in the Phils?

Is it best to always try to buy new but if your budget does not stretch that far where do you go for secondhand??

[imagine]

Second hand hold their value, and if bought from a private seller, could be ownership problems as its treated the same as houses or land.
New cars here are not expensive,

But finding a good mechanic with some tools - other than a screwdriver and knife - is a nightmare

[Terpe]

Yes there are some decent 2nd hand cars. Bit pricey but as Stewart says they do hold value very well.

I've come to the conclusion that, for me personally, buying new is the optimum strategy for a number of reasons.
Well unless I can buy something I know from a person I trust implicitly.

Another alternative is to buy something really cheap just for fun, a couple of weeks ago I was offerered a 6 seater Jeep for P25K. It was running well and had good tyres.
Gawd knows how it got maintained. When I looked it over it had home crafted bits and pieces all over. Including SM bottle tops
I didn't take it based on advice from my wife as it was open style with no aircon.

I'm still not ready to make that leap just yet as the local jeepney transport is just too convenient and cheap.
Even air-con taxi isn't expensive. The average fare for us from home to almost anywhere in the Davao area is less than P120

I'm sure that one of these days we'll feel the need to buy our own transport, but so far no need at all.

[stevewool]

Thats the problem, once you have paid good money and a lot of money too, you have to use it, another question is, do I really need one?

[Terpe]

......
do I really need one?

You probably can't answer that one until you're already in residence.
Depends also where you decide to plant roots.

When we lived in Yokohama we had all the transportation links with 5 minutes. As with most big cities, I've never even considered buying a car.

Personally, I feel it's something to seriously question on cost and convenience in most big cities, unless there's a benefit from a safety and security perspective.
(eg Manila)

[New Shoes]

Although I'm not living in Phils permanently yet (have to be content with holidays only at the moment). I would think that for me, I would like transportation of my own. I like the idea of just jumping into a car/bike/scooter and going off somewhere and have the freedom to stop anywhere as and when I would want.