Reasons To Buy A Used Chevy Silverado
More often than not, salespeople hope to convince you to purchase a brand new car or truck. It’s good for business, right? In fact, there are many tales and anecdotes about why buying used is a bad idea – and, granted, there are certainly enough reasons to avoid used cars – but sometimes there are reasons to seek used vehicles over new ones. For instance, if you ask, “Why should I buy a used Chevy Silverado?” the answer would be price and availability.
But even more so, there are some trims, features, and configurations of used Chevy Silverados that just might be more enticing for car shoppers as opposed to buying a brand new Chevy Silverado. Let’s take a look at some of these individual reasons.
Best Features
In older times, when buying used, there was the worry that you were being left out of some of the best features available for newer cars or trucks. Nowadays, things are a bit different, and buying used no longer carries the stigma where it seems you are instantaneously locked out of some of the most modern features available for today’s vehicles.
In the case of the Chevy Silverado, if you decided to buy used and go with any model from the third generation onward, then you are still keyed into just about every single modern-day accouterment that the pickup has to offer, whether buying new or used.
You might lose out on some of the infotainment features and convenience technology if you decide to go with anything from the second generation. However, any Silverado from 2014 onward will come with many of the luxury items and safety components necessary to have an entertaining and safe journey no matter where you travel.
The other benefit is that all of these features are already available in a used Silverado, and you do not have to worry about wondering if the model you’re going with has one thing or another or missing something else entirely. You can know right from the start whether the model year you are eyeing for purchase has what you need and whether or not it’s the configuration you want.
Worry-Free Safety
Another benefit of buying used is that you don’t have to worry about post-launch recalls. If a certain older model has been recalled, you can scratch it off your list and focus on another model, preferably one with a high IIHS and NHTSA rating and very few complaints.
Sometimes with newer vehicles, you don’t really know if the truck you drive off the lot with has some sort of faulty component until the company issues a recall notice to dealerships. But at that point, it’s already too late, and you purchased the vehicle without knowing that it has a critical failure somewhere. If you do your homework and buy a used Chevy Silverado from a model year that had no recalls, you’re already out of the woods as far as general safety is concerned.
Now, used models from an older generation typically don’t have the latest and greatest in safety technology. However, the benefit of buying a used Silverado, especially from the third generation, is that almost all of the safety technology and features added to the latest iteration of the Chevy pickup are also in older models in the newer generation.
Again, you get the benefit of hindsight here: being able to scout for the Silverado year and trim with all of the safety features and ratings that make you feel comfortable, but typically without the worry of any post-buy recall orders.
Trim Availability
When a brand new model year is launched, it usually comes with a predefined set of trims, features, and package options. If you choose to buy a used Chevy Silverado, then you can scout for the exact trim and configuration you want for a particular model year; you have many more options on the used market than the new one. After the hype dies down and the market waters calm, it’s much easier to find what you’re looking for and with specific features when buying used as opposed to purchasing brand new when the vehicle first launches.
Of course, there’s no guarantee that just because a vehicle is used that all trims and options will still be available. Recalls, production shortages, or limited run editions could end up in short supply through the used channel, making it difficult to get your hands on what you want. That’s the give and take when choosing to buy a used vehicle. However, availability does usually fall in favor of used vehicles since you don’t have to worry about rushing to be first in order to get your hands on a particular model configuration.
Affordability
The most obvious reason to buy a used Silverado, though, is affordability. Obviously, prices for a used vehicle are going to be lower than a new vehicle, even if by just a few thousand, which can make or break a car shopper’s potential decision to go with one vehicle over another.
Buying used can alter the price of a vehicle for as little as a few hundred dollars if the used vehicle was hardly driven, has no wear and tear on it, and comes fully featured. Alternatively, you can see a vehicle’s MSRP drop by up to 90%. This is, of course, typically if the mileage is high and the vehicle is well beyond its warranty and edging close to the end of its road life, though. The sweet spot for a used vehicle is somewhere in between, where the depreciation isn’t so high as to negate the purpose of buying the vehicle, and the price isn’t so high that it becomes purchase-prohibitive for consumers who may as well buy new.
In all, the best part about a used Chevy Silverado is that many limited edition trims drop significantly in price, making them more affordable for some shoppers where they otherwise would have been too expensive to purchase at launch.
Why Should I Buy A Used Chevy Silverado?
We now come full circle with the question of why should you buy a used Chevy Silverado? Well, because of the price, availability, safety, and package options.
A used vehicle from the top end of the last generation comes feature-complete with all of the upgrades and updates from that generation, making it a worthwhile purchase. And alternatively, buying a used model from the newest generation means that you don’t have to worry about waiting for restocks or certain trims being sold out. Buying used from a model year that hasn’t had any recalls or safety issues also means you can scratch that worry off your list. And obviously, buying used means that you can get what you want for something cheaper than the MSRP.
All of these are important facets of buying a vehicle, especially if you’re considering buying a used Chevy Silverado. But in general, your preference for what kind of vehicle you want and in what condition you want it in should be the top priority above anything else. That said, if you have been considering buying a used Chevy Silverado, here is your extra push. We sure think you should do it!
