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> I never understood why people would buy a car younger than 15 years old.

15 years typically translates to 180K - 200K miles for average use cases.

15 year old cars are generally not in great shape. Finding low mileage, well-maintained unicorns is not as easy as it sounds.

The difference in safety between a 15 year old car and a new car is breathtaking.

There are several reasons. First of all, cars that old usually have a quite used up interior even to the point of being unpleasant.

But the big thing is maintenance. If you can't do repairs on your own and with cars just 15 years old that gets increasingly more difficult, maintenance and repairs will kill you. At a certain point the upkeep will exceed the amortised costs of buying a new car.

Safety features.

15 year old cars might be better economically. But if your in a car accident, your definitely going to want to be in a modern vehicle.