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Avoiding new cars is not something I agree with. A new inexpensive Toyota Corolla will have cheaper financing, fewer miles, and a longer warranty and fewer yea

Avoiding new cars is not something I agree with. A new inexpensive Toyota Corolla will have cheaper financing, fewer miles, and a longer warranty and fewer years at the starting to get expensive to maintain stage. You also have to price in the true cost of an old car once it reaches the age of unreliability if you intend to drive into the ground. Just one failure on a road trip can result in expensive alternate transportation, towing fees, expensive and unreliable repairs, your time etc. Having a young reliable car has value and how much value it has depends on whether you have more money or time. Used cars are over priced IMO. There is an argument to be made RE trading in cars at 100k before you need to do the tires, brakes, plugs, transmission fluid either the first or second time. So many things aren't priced into cars correctly. Depending on how much you pay for mechanical work it's overall cheaper and lower risk and requires less of your time.

lotsofpulp 9y ago
If you want to extract the most value, and you have multiple cars in your family with 1 car being not mission critical, then you should always buy new, keep up with maintenance, and use them until they’re run into the ground. As long as you have 1 car that someone doesn’t absolutely need, or at least everyday, then you have time to shop around when your oldest one breaks down.
eru 9y ago
Just buy eg a three year old Toyota Corolla? (Only speculating. Out of personal preference I only live in places where you don't need a car.)
- sjm-lbm 9y ago
  As a once-a-decade new car buyer, I think the problem with this strategy is the risk profile. There's a decent chance that the 3 year old car will be fine, but the risk is higher - and a lot of buyers that hold on to cars for a long time would view an unscheduled car purchase (due to a reliability issue) as worse than getting the very best deal on the purchase price. Buying a new car every other year is for suckers. IMHO, buying any car every 3-4 years is for lesser suckers. Part of how you get to the comfortable decade on a car is to buy new and take care of it. .. and, of course, this all goes out the window if you find cars interesting or exciting, and therefore want to buy nicer cars more frequently just because you enjoy cars.

lotsofpulp 9y ago

If you want to extract the most value, and you have multiple cars in your family with 1 car being not mission critical, then you should always buy new, keep up with maintenance, and use them until they’re run into the ground. As long as you have 1 car that someone doesn’t absolutely need, or at least everyday, then you have time to shop around when your oldest one breaks down.

eru 9y ago

Just buy eg a three year old Toyota Corolla? (Only speculating. Out of personal preference I only live in places where you don't need a car.)

sjm-lbm 9y ago
As a once-a-decade new car buyer, I think the problem with this strategy is the risk profile. There's a decent chance that the 3 year old car will be fine, but the risk is higher - and a lot of buyers that hold on to cars for a long time would view an unscheduled car purchase (due to a reliability issue) as worse than getting the very best deal on the purchase price. Buying a new car every other year is for suckers. IMHO, buying any car every 3-4 years is for lesser suckers. Part of how you get to the comfortable decade on a car is to buy new and take care of it. .. and, of course, this all goes out the window if you find cars interesting or exciting, and therefore want to buy nicer cars more frequently just because you enjoy cars.