CAMBRIDGE, Mass. –

For a used-car shopper, figuring out if a specific vehicle will be dependable can be tricky.

In fact, the recent CarGurus Reliability Survey found that just over half (51%) believe determining the reliability of a pre-owned vehicle is “easy.”

With that in mind, there are factors that used-car shoppers consider when thinking about vehicle reliability, and CarGurus shares the top five in this blog post on the study:

Maintenance and history report (80%)
Detailed inspection from dealer (63%)
Call out damage (63%)
Consumer ratings/reviews (62%)
Expert reviews (60%)

Another tip from the CarGurus analytics team in their post: “One thing that consumers do consider when judging reliability is brand. Many, especially those buying used, believe it can be a strong indicator of how reliable a vehicle is.

“According to our survey, Toyota wins the perception as most reliable (29%), followed by Honda (23%), Ford (19%), Chevrolet (18%), and Subaru (16%),” they said. “In addition to brand, many buyers also look to third-party sites, detailed maintenance and history reports and ratings/reviews for validation.”