When it comes to cars, many people view them simply as a form of transportation. They want practicality, they want safety, and maybe sometimes they care how the car looks, but cars are also used as status symbols in many places. Luxury car value, however, can be deceiving, especially if you’re not looking at a Ferrari or Lamborghini, and there are some used cars that look luxurious and expensive but will cost you less than a brand new Toyota Camry.

Here’s what you can buy

There are a lot of cars that didn’t make it on to this list because of the sheerly intense amount of high-end luxury cars you can get for around or under $10,000 when you’re looking at cars on the used market. For the sake of saving time, I will just go over the car brands that you can find on the used car market around these prices.

Audi and BMW go head to head with a lot of their cars, and it makes sense that along with performance and luxury, they also have similar price points and unfortunately similar scales of deprecation. Because of this, you can be the previous generation of cars like the Audi A4 and A5s, BMW 328i, or even some of the larger, higher-end models depending on the year.

Even more surprising is that you can find some not-so-old Mercedes-Benz sedans on the used-car market for less than $10,000. Mercedes-Benz has that elegant, timeless look that makes them a great option for buying an older car because they will still look very nice. The high-quality materials used don’t wear and tear with time, and you can get one that’s still in excellent condition for a low price.

Problems with buying used luxury cars

Used luxury cars can be an affordable way to get your foot in the door of higher-end cars, but there are some drawbacks you should take into consideration if you are looking to buy on.

If you want to buy one of these cars because you don’t like to spend money, or maybe you just prefer to buy used cars, it’s important to note that all of the cars on this list might not be expensive upfront, but they will be expensive if anything goes wrong.

As luxury cars age and come out of warranty, this is when the age and wear on the car begin to show. If the car was maintained properly by previous owners and things like oil changes and recalls were well managed, you can typically expect the car to have fewer issues. Always ask for service records if they are available to see what kind of work has been done to the car.

You can never be sure that the car was properly maintained, however, so there is always a little bit of a gamble, and of course, some things are just going to inevitably break and go wrong. Unlike a more standard Nissan or Toyota, repairs, and maintenance on these luxury cars can get pricey, and cost a lot out of pocket to fix or repair if something does go wrong.