4 ms·

The correct answer is actually 4-6 year old cars. They are still new enough where you shouldn’t have major problems for several years, while having depreciated

The correct answer is actually 4-6 year old cars. They are still new enough where you shouldn’t have major problems for several years, while having depreciated more than 50% of their original value. After 4 years, cars depreciate a lot slower.

dghlsakjg 4y ago
Not anymore. The used car market is absolutely bananas. I was looking at used small SUVs in the $30k cad range. A 5 year old Mazda or Toyota was going for $5k off of original msrp. There was a 2021 low mileage Subaru going for the same price as new. COVID did some wacky shit with the car market. The upside is that my junky old pathfinder is worth more than I paid for it in 2019
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  Things certainly did go crazy for a while, mainly due to supply chain issues that reduced the supply of new cars for sale. So people bought more used cars, driving the prices up. That's starting to correct now that new car supply is getting more plentiful. Even a 15 year old car without major issues is hard to find for less than about $5,000 USD where I am though, which is more than I've paid for a car in quite a while. You can find cars for less, but they get ugly pretty quickly.
- EricE 4y ago
  As soon as interest rates started to go up the market flipped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw2rainqEtw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw2rainqEtw
TacticalCoder 4y ago
> The correct answer is actually 4-6 year old cars. They are still new enough where you shouldn’t have major problems for several years, while having depreciated more than 50% of their original value. After 4 years, cars depreciate a lot slower. That is spot on. I bought mine 5 years old after it already took its huge, gigantic, depreciation curve. Moreover depending on the car segment you pick, the depreciation curve can be even more dramatic. I bought my car used but with an extended manufacturer warranty, which I extend yearly (or for two or three years at once) and which I can renew up until 15 years and/or 200 000 km (whichever comes first). So there's no issue of "unforeseen costs": car has got a problem, it's the car manufacturer's problem, not mine. Sure, I pay for that extended warranty, but I prefer it that way. Wife recently bought a five years old car too. Four or five years old is also long enough to know if the model is a lemon or not and what to look out for on that model when you buy it: some manufacturers do really come up with a model full of problems once in a while and when you buy new, you're the guinea pig.

dghlsakjg 4y ago

Not anymore. The used car market is absolutely bananas. I was looking at used small SUVs in the $30k cad range. A 5 year old Mazda or Toyota was going for $5k off of original msrp. There was a 2021 low mileage Subaru going for the same price as new. COVID did some wacky shit with the car market. The upside is that my junky old pathfinder is worth more than I paid for it in 2019

SoftTalker 4y ago
Things certainly did go crazy for a while, mainly due to supply chain issues that reduced the supply of new cars for sale. So people bought more used cars, driving the prices up. That's starting to correct now that new car supply is getting more plentiful. Even a 15 year old car without major issues is hard to find for less than about $5,000 USD where I am though, which is more than I've paid for a car in quite a while. You can find cars for less, but they get ugly pretty quickly.
EricE 4y ago
As soon as interest rates started to go up the market flipped: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw2rainqEtw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xw2rainqEtw

TacticalCoder 4y ago

> The correct answer is actually 4-6 year old cars. They are still new enough where you shouldn’t have major problems for several years, while having depreciated more than 50% of their original value. After 4 years, cars depreciate a lot slower. That is spot on. I bought mine 5 years old after it already took its huge, gigantic, depreciation curve. Moreover depending on the car segment you pick, the depreciation curve can be even more dramatic. I bought my car used but with an extended manufacturer warranty, which I extend yearly (or for two or three years at once) and which I can renew up until 15 years and/or 200 000 km (whichever comes first). So there's no issue of "unforeseen costs": car has got a problem, it's the car manufacturer's problem, not mine. Sure, I pay for that extended warranty, but I prefer it that way. Wife recently bought a five years old car too. Four or five years old is also long enough to know if the model is a lemon or not and what to look out for on that model when you buy it: some manufacturers do really come up with a model full of problems once in a while and when you buy new, you're the guinea pig.