Look beyond price when buying a used car: RAC

14 September 2010

The RAC is urging parents to think beyond the price of the second hand vehicle they are buying for their teenage son or daughter.

The release of the RAC’s 2010 Used Car Safety Ratings guide has highlighted that second hand cars with good safety records are affordable.

The guide rates cars based on the level of protection offered to occupants should they be involved in a crash; the results highlight just how dangerous some older vehicles can be.

The RAC remains concerned that many parents are turning to cheap vehicles with little or no safety features simply because of their low price tag.

RAC Head of Member Advocacy Matt Brown said many of the cheap, older second hand vehicles do not even have driver airbags.

“The first six months that your son or daughter is out on the road by themselves will be the most dangerous time of their entire driving career,” Mr Brown said.

“Why would you put them out there in a car which doesn’t have the technology to help them avoid accidents or to protect them if they are involved in a crash?

“It comes down to a choice between the dollar value of the car and the value you place on the life of the son or daughter that you are putting in that car.”

The Used Car Safety Ratings guide identifies a range of second hand vehicles with four star safety ratings which can be purchased for around $6000.

The RAC has called on the State government to help begin taking older, unsafe vehicles off the road by preventing them from being sold at WA Police auctions of impounded vehicles.

“Unfortunately many of these unsafe cars are being sold at auction for as little as $50 and some people see them as a cheap first car for their son or daughter,” Mr Brown said.

“These cars can be made roadworthy in a mechanical sense but they often lack basic safety features such as ABS, ESC and airbags.

“We believe the government should set up a system funded by $2million from the Road Trauma Trust Fund to compensate the WA Police for their costs and keep these vehicles off the road.

“There is an unacceptable double-standard here. Under the Towards Zero road safety strategy the government requires its departments to purchase only 4 or 5-star ANCAP rated vehicles for its employees.

“At the same time, the government is selling back into the market vehicles which don’t even have driver airbags.”

The release of the Used Car Safety Ratings is part of the RAC’s Take Control campaign aimed at creating safer young drivers on WA roads through targeted education and interaction with young drivers and their parents.

“Young drivers make up about 14 per cent of the total driving population but account for almost one third of serious and fatal crashes; this is a seriously at-risk group and we need to ensure they are driving safe vehicles,” Mr Brown said.

“The government has a responsibility to ensure that these unsafe cars are not allowed back onto Western Australia’s roads where they endanger people’s lives.”

The Used Car Safety Ratings guide is based on an analysis of crash data and the role vehicle design played in determining an occupant’s injuries. The 2010 guide rates almost 200 vehicles.

As well as those vehicles that perform poorly, the Used Car Safety Ratings also highlight used vehicles that offer good occupant protection in a crash giving buyers a viable alternative. All classes have at least one vehicle that rates ‘good’ while more than one third of the vehicles analysed rated either ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. 

See the full list of the Used Car Safety ratings.

Download the release (pdf)