Pre owned and still loved

According to the MTA, round 60,000 used cars changed hands in January 2012. New car registrations for the same period were a touch over 7,500.

But when was the last time you saw a five or ten-year-old car grace the front cover of a car magazine? Without exception these mags are filled with stories and pictures of brand spanking new cars.

It raises the question, do car magazines merely cater to car companies or are they a fantasy fulfilment boy thing?

In any event Geoff Gibson, General Sales Manager with Northland Toyota, says used car sales have been strong for the past ten months. Part of the reason earlier in the year was the lack of supply of new cars because of the tsunami in Japan. Now that supply is back to normal levels, the price of used cars has gone down and yet they're still selling reasonably well. The biggest-selling Toyota in Northland is the Corolla followed closely by the Hilux.

''Farmers and families like the 4X4 with a permanent trailer on the back in this part of the world,'' he says. ''It's a lifestyle thing.'' And being used or pre-loved is an accurate assessment of what's called real life.