They're usually tied together. Quite often it's the car that allows the person to buy a home and commute to and from work to this home. The car is very much a

They're usually tied together. Quite often it's the car that allows the person to buy a home and commute to and from work to this home. The car is very much a tool. It it frees up time (which can be traded for money), or otherwise opens up opportunities (like to live in a suburb and commute to work rather than taking public transportation which may be nonexistent or otherwise time inefficient) then it's an investment as well - it just returns its value not in money or intrinsic value of the car but in saved time, effort, and doors opened. Not everything should be viewed as a financial instrument only. Say a musician buys a trumpet, and 20 years later that trumpet has depreciated. The argument could be made that if he bought a house instead of a trumpet it would have been a much better investment. But how would he have played the trumpet his whole life then?