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There are a lot of factors at work here. How much do you drive? What kind of vehicle do you want? How long do you plan on keeping the car? Etc... Here's on

There are a lot of factors at work here. How much do you drive? What kind of vehicle do you want? How long do you plan on keeping the car? Etc... Here's one case: I just bought a new Tundra a couple months ago (cash because I don't like debt). I could have saved $5K (15%) and gotten one 3 years old with 40K miles on it. That's the problem with some models. The resale value is SO good that the value proposition for buying used is almost nil. Since my trade-in Tundra was 10 years old with 178K miles, let's assume that's the life of the new vehicle too. I don't think saving 15% to buy a vehicle that's 20% through its life span is a good deal.

cpursley 10y ago
Should have kept it :) I bought my Tacoma with 178k miles on the clock. I just surpassed 280k with no major repairs.
- IanDrake 10y ago
  I would have love to keep it. But the repair bill was 8k which still didn't fix some things like the rust in the truck bed. With unlimited resources you can keep anything on the road. But 8k is about 25% the cost of a new truck, so you'd have to be bonkers to put that much into something that old.
pilom 10y ago
"Since my trade-in Tundra was 10 years old with 178K miles, let's assume that's the life of the new vehicle too." That's a terribly faulty assumption. The average age of all cars on the road in the US is 11 years old. Yes that is mean not median, but even the median is likely to be >8 years old. Your 10 year old truck probably was at the midpoint of it's life.
- IanDrake 10y ago
  > That's a terribly faulty assumption. The average age of all cars on the road in the US is 11 years old. No, my assumption is fine. Oddly, yours is flawed. My assumption doesn't use national averages that include southern states and non-coastal states where cars last forever. In my unique living conditions, my assumption is fine. Again, there are more factors at work here. The trucks practical life was over, not because it couldn't be repaired, but because it didn't make sense. When a repair bill becomes greater than the value of the car, you stop repairing it.

cpursley 10y ago

Should have kept it :) I bought my Tacoma with 178k miles on the clock. I just surpassed 280k with no major repairs.

IanDrake 10y ago
I would have love to keep it. But the repair bill was 8k which still didn't fix some things like the rust in the truck bed. With unlimited resources you can keep anything on the road. But 8k is about 25% the cost of a new truck, so you'd have to be bonkers to put that much into something that old.

pilom 10y ago

"Since my trade-in Tundra was 10 years old with 178K miles, let's assume that's the life of the new vehicle too." That's a terribly faulty assumption. The average age of all cars on the road in the US is 11 years old. Yes that is mean not median, but even the median is likely to be >8 years old. Your 10 year old truck probably was at the midpoint of it's life.

IanDrake 10y ago
> That's a terribly faulty assumption. The average age of all cars on the road in the US is 11 years old. No, my assumption is fine. Oddly, yours is flawed. My assumption doesn't use national averages that include southern states and non-coastal states where cars last forever. In my unique living conditions, my assumption is fine. Again, there are more factors at work here. The trucks practical life was over, not because it couldn't be repaired, but because it didn't make sense. When a repair bill becomes greater than the value of the car, you stop repairing it.