
Consumer Reports’ April, 2024 issue, “Best and Worst Cars, Trucks and SUVs.” THIS is where to get truly honest and complete vehicle reviews. Consumer Reports is a nonprofit organization devoted solely to helping American consumers. They accept no advertising or free products, their evaluations are done by teams of experienced experts and by compiling information on the actual experiences of hundreds of thousands of vehicle owners, and there are NO fake reviews, EVER.
Many Mesa County residents have related their nightmare of buying a used vehicle from a dealer only to have major problems with it shortly after purchase: the transmission goes out, it starts burning excessive oil, the check engine light comes on, the vehicle starts making weird noises and in one instance the entire engine needed to be replaced. These are just some of the complaints. Many people buy extended warranties when purchasing used cars in an attempt to alleviate worry about such problems, but often find these warranties useless as dealers often count on people not reading and fully understanding the limitations of the warranties, or dealers try to weasel out of paying for expensive repairs, especially repeated repairs, because they’ll lose money. Because the Lemon Law only applies to new vehicles, used car buyers are often left holding the bag for thousands of dollars in repairs with no recourse.
There is a way to stack the odds in your favor when buying a new or used car though, and that is by arming yourself with impartial data about the reliability of different makes, models and years of cars.