Buying a used car during the Sefira

Can one buy a used car and use it during sefira?

Answer

The Shulchan Aruch (493) rules that one does not get married or have a haircut during the Sefira. There is no mention of not saying Shehecheyanu, and indeed the Ma’amar Mordechai (quoted in the Mishnah Berurah) permits it.

Nonetheless, there are sources for the custom that many have not to say Shehecheyanu during the Sefira, and some poskim even extend this to not wearing new clothes during the Sefira.

Rav Moshe Feinstein [Iggros Moshe, Orach Chaim 3:80] discusses buying a new car in the Three Weeks. If it is going to be used for pleasure, then it warrants making a Shehechyanu, in which case it should not be bought in the Three Weeks. In that case, for those who have the custom not to say Shehecheyanu in the Sefira, it would also be prohibited then.

If others will benefit from it (the buyer has a wife and family, for example, who will also benefit from the new car) then the Brachah of Hatov Umeitiv applies, which is only forbidden from Rosh Chodesh Av. In that case, presumably it would be permitted during the Sefira.

If it is being purchased for business use, Rav Moshe permits buying it during the Three Weeks, so as not to have to lose business, and to defer the Shehecheyanu unitl after Tisha B’Av. Again, the same would apply to the Sefira, for those whose custom is not say Shehecheyanu during the Sefira.

In this context there would be no difference between buying a new car or a used car.

שו”ת אגרות משה אורח חיים חלק ג סימן פ ד”ה ומכונית חדשה
ומכונית חדשה אם הוא לתענוג פשוט שאסור גם מי”ז בתמוז דהא צריך לברך שהחיינו, ואם הוא באופן שמברכין הטוב והמטיב כגון שיש לו אשה ובנים דגם הם נהנים מזה אסור מר”ח דהוא כמו בנין של שמחה שאסור. ואם הוא מכונית לפרנסה כמו טראק, וגם מכונית קטנה אפשר ג”כ שהוא לפרנסה, הוא רק בדין ממעטין במשא ומתן שבזמננו נהגו להקל כדכתב הט”ז סק”א וכן כתב המ”ב ס”ק י”ג להלכה, ואין זה מו”מ של שמחה שכתב בשעה”צ שטוב להחמיר, ומצד שהחיינו יברך אחר ט”ב כי בשביל זה אין עליו ליבטל ממלאכתו