But you paid more for it.

My business depends on reliable transportation and to some degree a "nicely appointed" vehical since I do drive clients around. If my now 6 year old car stays reliable, I will drive it for another 4 years since I want to get the maximum use out of the investment. When the time comes, I will probably buy new and consider it well spent if it gives the same service as my current vehical.

Yes, only $2,000 more than a 3 year old model with 52,000 miles on it.

The thing is when buying a car you are essentially buying mileage. When I bought my Toyota Corolla I looked at how much a 2-3 yr old with < 30K miles was going for and then compared that cost to a new one. The new one cost ~15k and I assumed 200k miles was an expected life expectancy and came out with .075 cents per mile. Used ones were going for 13k with ~30k mi. That worked out to ~.076 cents per mile given that you only have 170k mi left.

Given the uncertainty of buying used it was a no brainer to buy new. Doesn't work with all cars but on the Corolla and I suspect Civic it works out. Now having said that if you can't afford the extra 2k then you should get the used.

The main problem with cars is most people don't look at them as tools. They are an extension of their personality or some sort of status symbol. To me a car is a tool, didn't used to think that way, but now it is just a means of transportation so I do what ever is the cheapest and most reliable.

Tongue in Cheek....

+1

I can't tell if you've got it correct or not.

Your example is just like my example of the 72 month car loan. Yes, over the 200,000 mile life of the car, it does work out to 7.5 cents per mile for depreciation. However, very few people keep a car for that long.

But depreciation - (which is the only item you expense) which is the biggest new car expense and interest expense, which is the second highest are loaded much higher on the front end - as are many other expenses - insurance, taxes, title fees, etc.

Repairs are the only expense that are back-end loaded. So that car that you think costs 7.5 (depreciation only)cents per mile over the 200,000 mile life might cost 10 cents per mile for the first 3 years of it's life, 7.5 cents per mile for the middle 7 years of it's life and 4.5 cents per mile for the last 3 years of its life.

However, your example is not indicative of the average car deal. Corollas and Civics have about the most straight line depreciation you can get. Most other cars have much steeper early depreciation rates.

whats interesting to me is my mom told me that almost same thing years ago,
except about dogs!
she grew up rural Oregon and to those folks a hound was essentially a farmtool,

i hope my mom aint disappointed in how i turned out ... i love my pooches essentially like family, and i also like my vehicles to be more then just transportation
mom ??

If it were sold in this country, I'd probably have one of these...

And that is the reason that we are ALL not driving Hyundai's.

We are an opinionated bunch.

Where's Mike Jeepers when you need him?

My stategy is buy new, maintain well, keep for an average of 16 years.

Some other adjectives immediately come to mind, but I will agree with what you said.

I love the people who show up to the boat ramp pulling a $500,000 offshore boat with a $1200 truck. Now that's setting your priorites straight.