Why I Bought a Used Prius

Concerned about high gas prices and the need to conservere resources, I bought a used Prius last week. I couldn’t afford a new one. According to a recent Wired article, buying a used car is better for the environment than a new one any way.

It made sense for a number of reasons. First, gas prices seem to be heading north for the foreseeable future. I wouldn’t be surprised if we are talking about $6-7 gas prices per gallon in a year or two. Right now it costs about $9 per gallon for petrol in the UK. Could price like that be in our future?

From a financial stand point, it doesn’t always make sense to buy a hybrid if you still owe a lot on a loan or can’t sell your existing car. That wasn’t a problem for me. I owned my old car and can sell it for about half of the price I paid for the hybrid. See this article to find out more about the economics of trading in your current vehicle to save money on gas. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25051729

Second, I don’t like to waste stuff. As a Christian, I believe we need to be careful to conserve resources when possible. I don’t think we have to go back to the stone age. But we should do what we can to conserve resources and have as minimal of an impact on the environment as possible.

Third, I was getting a new -to-me car, which is always fun. After a while, I kind of get tired driving the same thing. Fourth, I did a lot of research and decided that the Prius is the most economical/highest gas saver 4-passanger sedan on the market. It will likely stay that way for at least a few years. And since I don’t have the money to buy a new car, it is years before any of the emerging technologies will be available as used cars.

The only catch is that my car only has three years or 13,000 under the battery warranty. If the battery goes before 120,000, I may have made a bad decision. But we will see.