Despite a slumping economy, people still often need to purchase a car and according to Edmunds.com, more people are turning to used cars to save some cash.

Edmunds, an online automotive resource, says that 511,000 of the used cars purchased in the last three months would most likely have been new car purchases in a better economy.

“It is safe to assume that many shoppers who normally would be tempted by ‘new car smell’ and the latest automotive technology made a more cost-conscious decision because of economic pressures,” said Edmunds.com senior analyst David Tompkins.

According to the research, more than two thirds of the people who bought used cars did not even consider a new car when they began looking at vehicles. In a normal economy they would have at least considered a new car, says Tomkins.

The remaining buyers did look at new cars, but at some point decided to make a used car purchase instead.

Those who did make a used car purchase seem to have chosen a proper time to make that buy as Dow Jones recently reported that used car prices fell by 8 percent in 2008.

Find New York Used Cars with New Jersey State Auto.