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Our household has a 2004 sedan with 140k miles, and a 2014 SUV about to hit 100k. Both fully paid. I had a college econ professor explain that the best way to

Our household has a 2004 sedan with 140k miles, and a 2014 SUV about to hit 100k. Both fully paid. I had a college econ professor explain that the best way to save money on a car is not to buy used (everyone's first guess). It's to drive it until "the wheels fall off." Depreciation is the biggest cost of car ownership and it stops at a certain point in a car's life. If the car is maintained well, several hundred thousand miles is even doable. I took that advice to heart.

alangibson 3y ago
The best auto advice I ever got was to buy a 2 year old (avoid the depreciation cliff) Toyota (durability) and drive it until it rusts into the ground (drive as many of those depreciation-free miles as possible).
- ramesh31 3y ago
  > The best auto advice I ever got was to buy a 2 year old (avoid the depreciation cliff) Toyota (durability) and drive it until it rusts into the ground (drive as many of those depreciation-free miles as possible). You're still eating a good amount of it at two years. Five is where the curve flattens out. The objectively best used car to buy is a single owner 5 year old Toyota Corolla with 60,000 miles.
  - hackeraccount 3y ago
    In today's market what is that? 20K 25K ? You're saving 10K or so for a bet that the original owner was reasonably responsible.
    - ramesh31 3y ago
      > In today's market what is that? 20K 25K ? You're saving 10K or so for a bet that the original owner was reasonably responsible. About $15k: https://www.kbb.com/toyota/corolla/2018/le-sedan-4d/?category=sedan&color=black&condition=good&intent=buy-used&mileage=60000&options=8066950%7Ctrue&pricetype=retail&vehicleid=431099 https://www.kbb.com/toyota/corolla/2018/le-sedan-4d/?categor... And I'm not sure what you consider a good deal, but $10k is a lot of money; nearly half the price of the car which has >80% of its useful life left.
      - hackeraccount 3y ago
        10K is a lot of money. But there's something to be said for being really confident (as opposed to just confident) that your car won't have issues for the next 100,000 miles as opposed to the next 50,000. That and there's something nice about knowing the car has been taken care of the way you'd take care of it (because you have) as opposed to a stranger (who, who knows maybe planned to get rid of it after 50K miles?) :-) This is why everytime I've had to buy a car I think about getting a used one and end up buying new. And honestly, I tend to agree with the overall sentiment of this thread that cars a waste of money. I just don't want to have to think about the damn - I just want to get in and be able to get to where I'm going.
  - antisthenes 3y ago
    > The objectively best used car to buy is a single owner 5 year old Toyota Corolla with 60,000 miles. Depends if they did all the 60k service stuff or not. That's the first major service interval that could easily run you $2000 (brakes, battery, all liquid changes, belts, etc.)
dagw 3y ago
It's to drive it until "the wheels fall off." Not sure I agree. I've seen people do that and they inevitably end up spending thousands on repair and maintenance the last few years of the cars life. Had they sold 'in time' and bought something used, but slightly newer and more reliable, I'm pretty sure they would have ended up ahead. If you have the time/skill/equipment to do all your own repairs and maintenance it might be OK, but otherwise keeping an old car on the road gets expensive.
- thehoff 3y ago
  We've basically be doing this. One of ours is a 2006 with just over 230k miles on it (Toyota). The last few trips to the shop for just an oil change and tire rotation has turned into large bills to fix things. I don't think if we sold it earlier we'd come out much ahead but maybe I'm wrong. We plan to replace this with a similar 2-3 year old model and drive that one into the ground. Our other is a Ford and has not been as reliable. That will be replaced with a Toyota when it's time comes (which sadly may be with a lot less years/mileage than the Toyota).
- hn72774 3y ago
  Knowing when to call "wheels falling off" is definitely important. I recently replaced the water pump in the 2014 and the dealer quoted between $4,500-10,000+ for replacing the pump or replacing the engine if the coolant being where it's not supposed to be broke bearings or anything else. I got a second opinion from a small independent shop and he took it step by step and confirmed no engine damage before I committed to the pump replacement. It was around $3,500 total. Replacing the vehicle would have cost $20k plus, so the math made sense for me to repair. If I was looking at an engine replacement might have gone the other way. Keeping up with routine maintenance is the most important thing and even then random things do break.
  - dazc 3y ago
    I think the 'key' moment is when something non-routine and expensive breaks because then the sums start to move away from your favour. A water pump is maybe not in this category but anything bigger/costlier would be, in my opinion.
cooper_ganglia 3y ago
Right? This is what my parent's have done for the last 3 decades. It's worked for them, they haven't wasted 1 dollar on a slightly shinier metal box on wheels. That's my plan, too. Bought a 2015 Kia in 2020 for $10k, which was by far the most expensive car I've purchased, and aside from usual maintenance costs (gas, oil, tires, etc.), I haven't had one single issue. EDIT: Prior to this car, I had a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am. That was the best car I ever had. Bought it for $2,000 and drove it everyday for 5 years until the engine gave up the ghost. Highly recommended.

alangibson 3y ago

The best auto advice I ever got was to buy a 2 year old (avoid the depreciation cliff) Toyota (durability) and drive it until it rusts into the ground (drive as many of those depreciation-free miles as possible).

ramesh31 3y ago
> The best auto advice I ever got was to buy a 2 year old (avoid the depreciation cliff) Toyota (durability) and drive it until it rusts into the ground (drive as many of those depreciation-free miles as possible). You're still eating a good amount of it at two years. Five is where the curve flattens out. The objectively best used car to buy is a single owner 5 year old Toyota Corolla with 60,000 miles.
- hackeraccount 3y ago
  In today's market what is that? 20K 25K ? You're saving 10K or so for a bet that the original owner was reasonably responsible.
  - ramesh31 3y ago
    > In today's market what is that? 20K 25K ? You're saving 10K or so for a bet that the original owner was reasonably responsible. About $15k: https://www.kbb.com/toyota/corolla/2018/le-sedan-4d/?category=sedan&color=black&condition=good&intent=buy-used&mileage=60000&options=8066950%7Ctrue&pricetype=retail&vehicleid=431099 https://www.kbb.com/toyota/corolla/2018/le-sedan-4d/?categor... And I'm not sure what you consider a good deal, but $10k is a lot of money; nearly half the price of the car which has >80% of its useful life left.
    - hackeraccount 3y ago
      10K is a lot of money. But there's something to be said for being really confident (as opposed to just confident) that your car won't have issues for the next 100,000 miles as opposed to the next 50,000. That and there's something nice about knowing the car has been taken care of the way you'd take care of it (because you have) as opposed to a stranger (who, who knows maybe planned to get rid of it after 50K miles?) :-) This is why everytime I've had to buy a car I think about getting a used one and end up buying new. And honestly, I tend to agree with the overall sentiment of this thread that cars a waste of money. I just don't want to have to think about the damn - I just want to get in and be able to get to where I'm going.
- antisthenes 3y ago
  > The objectively best used car to buy is a single owner 5 year old Toyota Corolla with 60,000 miles. Depends if they did all the 60k service stuff or not. That's the first major service interval that could easily run you $2000 (brakes, battery, all liquid changes, belts, etc.)

dagw 3y ago

It's to drive it until "the wheels fall off." Not sure I agree. I've seen people do that and they inevitably end up spending thousands on repair and maintenance the last few years of the cars life. Had they sold 'in time' and bought something used, but slightly newer and more reliable, I'm pretty sure they would have ended up ahead. If you have the time/skill/equipment to do all your own repairs and maintenance it might be OK, but otherwise keeping an old car on the road gets expensive.

thehoff 3y ago
We've basically be doing this. One of ours is a 2006 with just over 230k miles on it (Toyota). The last few trips to the shop for just an oil change and tire rotation has turned into large bills to fix things. I don't think if we sold it earlier we'd come out much ahead but maybe I'm wrong. We plan to replace this with a similar 2-3 year old model and drive that one into the ground. Our other is a Ford and has not been as reliable. That will be replaced with a Toyota when it's time comes (which sadly may be with a lot less years/mileage than the Toyota).
hn72774 3y ago
Knowing when to call "wheels falling off" is definitely important. I recently replaced the water pump in the 2014 and the dealer quoted between $4,500-10,000+ for replacing the pump or replacing the engine if the coolant being where it's not supposed to be broke bearings or anything else. I got a second opinion from a small independent shop and he took it step by step and confirmed no engine damage before I committed to the pump replacement. It was around $3,500 total. Replacing the vehicle would have cost $20k plus, so the math made sense for me to repair. If I was looking at an engine replacement might have gone the other way. Keeping up with routine maintenance is the most important thing and even then random things do break.
- dazc 3y ago
  I think the 'key' moment is when something non-routine and expensive breaks because then the sums start to move away from your favour. A water pump is maybe not in this category but anything bigger/costlier would be, in my opinion.

cooper_ganglia 3y ago

Right? This is what my parent's have done for the last 3 decades. It's worked for them, they haven't wasted 1 dollar on a slightly shinier metal box on wheels. That's my plan, too. Bought a 2015 Kia in 2020 for $10k, which was by far the most expensive car I've purchased, and aside from usual maintenance costs (gas, oil, tires, etc.), I haven't had one single issue. EDIT: Prior to this car, I had a 2002 Pontiac Grand Am. That was the best car I ever had. Bought it for $2,000 and drove it everyday for 5 years until the engine gave up the ghost. Highly recommended.