Like many Americans, my wife and I are very worried about the immediate future. We are being extremely conservative financially until we have a better understanding of how the pandemic is going to affect us. We know we are not immune to pay cuts, furloughs or worse.
When the lease on our 2017 Chevrolet Volt expired in July, we did not replace it. In normal times, we would have leased another vehicle. Instead, the plan is to just pay cash for a good, clean, older used car that hasn't been to the moon and back in terms of mileage. We are, apparently, not alone in adopting this strategy.
Clean used cars — even from interred brands such as Saab, Pontiac, Suzuki, Isuzu and Mercury — are a hot commodity these days. You can hit eBay Motors and find 15-year-old snow-belt-driven vehicles from these and other brands that have 150,000 miles on the clock with asking prices between $3,000 and $5,000. Even the good ol' "beater with a heater" is commanding what I would call serious cash these days.