Used luxury cars are a great buy if you ask us. Luxury cars depreciate faster than you think and within a good budget, you can get low-run clean examples of used luxury cars for the price of a new mass-market car. Since India is a large market for luxury cars, finding one that fits your budget is also the last of your worries. It’s quite easy to find luxury cars under Rs 20 lakh, for example.
However, as with buying any used car, there’s a certain level of risk involved. In fact, the risk is even more since luxury cars are expensive to repair if something goes wrong. Keeping this in mind, we think buying a luxury car for under Rs 10 lakh might not be the best idea. We have different reasons why we don’t suggest it as well. So, without further ado, here are some reasons why you should not buy a used luxury car under 10 lakh:
Older Cars
Luxury cars in India are the ones that are priced at least north of Rs 30 lakh in India when new. So when a luxury car is available for under Rs 10 lakh, one should understand that it is going to be an old model. It can be an outdated version or a now-defunct model which is not the best option for a number of factors. For instance, if it is a discontinued model, sourcing parts might prove a challenge as most old luxury cars were fully built imports that will require importing parts. Also, an old luxury car will be lacking many modern creature comforts such as a good infotainment system which is a fairly new tech that caught on in the last 10 years.
That said, if you are offered a relatively new used luxury for under Rs 10 lakh, make sure you check everything is right with the car. The car can be a flood-damaged car, have a bad accident history or any legal issues, or even worse, a stolen car. So make sure the owner/dealer is asking for a fair price and not passing it off for a cheap price to cover up something that might not be obvious.
Expensive Upkeep
Let’s be real. Luxury cars are anything but cheap to maintain and their general upkeep can be an expensive affair. A major part failure in a high-end luxury car can even cost 50% or more of the car’s purchasing cost as well. So, it is safe to buy used luxury cars with additional warranties as well as thorough quality certification. One can also make sure to avoid luxury cars priced below Rs 10 lakh as these tend to be older cars. And older cars will have older parts nearing the end of their life cycle. These parts are more prone to failure and hence can burn a hole in your wallet.
Reliability Concerns
Cars are like tech and new cars are built better and are way more reliable. In the last decade, cars have gotten much more reliable as carmakers across the globe took reliability more seriously, especially with Japanese brands being the benchmark for reliability.
It is not news that European luxury cars have reliability issues and older luxury cars are mostly plagued with issues. Some cars were not really designed for Indian roads and climate conditions and hence were deemed unreliable due to this reason alone. A good example of this is how many high-end luxury cars with air suspensions fail in India leading to a hefty repair bill. So it is advisable and safe to avoid used luxury cars below Rs 10 lakh unless you completely understand the risks and complications and are prepared to bear the cost of maintaining the luxury car.
Uncertain Legislation and Laws
Another major factor and the final nail in the coffin are the Indian laws and legislations and how uncertain they can be. For instance, we do know it is illegal to drive a diesel car older than 10 years and a petrol vehicle older than 15 years in Delhi-NCR. Although this is only for the capital city, we never know if the same will be applied to other metropolitan cities in the near future with the rising questions on the poor Air Quality index of different Indian cities.
We do know how diesel engines are almost on the verge of extinction in India due to strict emission standards. In the future, if all restrictions tighten for older cars in India, diesel cars will be the first to get the boot, followed by petrol. The fact that the most popular old luxury cars in India came with diesel engines is not really a piece of good news.
