- My Forums
- Tiger Rant
- LSU Recruiting
- SEC Rant
- Saints Talk
- Pelicans Talk
- More Sports Board
- Fantasy Sports
- Golf Board
- Soccer Board
- O-T Lounge
- Tech Board
- Home/Garden Board
- Outdoor Board
- Health/Fitness Board
- Movie/TV Board
- Book Board
- Music Board
- Political Talk
- Money Talk
- Fark Board
- Gaming Board
- Travel Board
- Food/Drink Board
- Ticket Exchange
- TD Help Board
Customize My Forums- View All Forums
- Show Left Links
- Topic Sort Options
- Trending Topics
- Recent Topics
- Active Topics
Started By
Message
re: Buying a new car/truck ever 3 years advice.
Posted on 12/24/17 at 9:57 am to cajuntiger26
Posted on 12/24/17 at 9:57 am to cajuntiger26
I always buy used vehicles and keep them until a new set of tires will cost more than the vehicle is worth. I have found you can normally put about 180K miles on a modern car without having too many maintenance issues. The last new vehicle I bought was a loaded Explorer for my wife. I went outside my norm as a surprise. Our son totaled it about two months later. Replaced it with a 2 year old 4Runner for about 60% of the cost of the Explorer. With the left over money I bought a 4 year old fully loaded Explorer that has a couple of small cosmetic issues for myself. Two cars for one that were both less than four years old.
I actually like the fact that my vehicle already had a minor scratches and small door ding. It means I don't have to freak out when somebody parks too close to me. Why buy a new truck every 3 years? Aren't trucks supposed to be for work and hauling stuff? Save yourself a bunch of money and buy a pre-dented or scratched one. A shiny new truck every three years? Don't be like the guys that buy 4 wheel drive vehicles and never go off road or the people that wear boots and a cowboy hat but have never ridden a horse.
I actually like the fact that my vehicle already had a minor scratches and small door ding. It means I don't have to freak out when somebody parks too close to me. Why buy a new truck every 3 years? Aren't trucks supposed to be for work and hauling stuff? Save yourself a bunch of money and buy a pre-dented or scratched one. A shiny new truck every three years? Don't be like the guys that buy 4 wheel drive vehicles and never go off road or the people that wear boots and a cowboy hat but have never ridden a horse.
0
Posted on 12/24/17 at 11:54 am to cajuntiger26
quote:
I am in the market for a new truck and looking at the #’s it seems to me that if i can consistently get a good end of the year deal on my truck then i can rotate new cars every 3 years for only slightly more than keeping them long term. (I always buy a 2017 model right now to get max off MSRP)
Current truck - bought for $28k, had 5 years now worth $16k. =$200 month depreciation.
I am now looking to buy a truck for a good end of the year deal and expect a similar depreciation, purchase at approximately $31k. The main reason I have not bought a used vehicle is because ford in particular gives significant rebates on new truck purchases and it is almost negligible to buy used vs new.
I know this doesn’t account to TT&L, but i avoid major maintenance fees and stay in the warranty period for most of the life of the vehicle since i only drive 10k miles a year.
Am i overlooking anything here?
You put 10K miles per year and you want to buy a new or uses vehicle every 3 years? Why?? Why would you want a car note for the rest of your life? Unless you paying cash for the vehicles?
Posted on 12/25/17 at 8:15 am to GaryMyMan
If it's a lease, can he use section 179? Wouldn't it have to be a capital lease?
Posted on 12/25/17 at 8:29 am to Double Oh
He is clearly fine with having a car note and prefers to have the newest and latest technology. Financially, cars are a necessary evil but some people find a lot of joy in driving a nice car or changing cars frequently. It won’t make sense financially but golfing or a hunting club don’t make sense financially either.
Posted on 12/26/17 at 5:53 am to lynxcat
quote:
He is clearly fine with having a car note and prefers to have the newest and latest technology. Financially, cars are a necessary evil but some people find a lot of joy in driving a nice car or changing cars frequently. It won’t make sense financially but golfing or a hunting club don’t make sense financially either.
This gets to the root of this thread. People just need to admit to themselves that they just want a new car. They want the new bells and whistles and the excitement of it all.
Others don’t care.
Buying new vehicles will never make financial sense. But I have never met anyone who makes every decision a purely financial one.
I only buy used cars with over 100k miles on them (from the original owner) as long as they can get me a printout of all the maintenance records.
I rarey pay over 40% of the original sticker price and they are rarely over 5 years old. I do the maintenance work myself and my family drives them for another 100k Miles and we sell them for good value. Most cost me about $135 per month to own. I have never had a car break down and leave me stranded. (Some luck here)
However, I waste money in other areas of my life. My house is way too big and I own a condo that I pay monthly fees to maintain and only stay in it about 10 nights a year. I should rent it out but I don’t want to. I could make $1700 rent a month. But I don’t want to. But the last thing I am going to do is try to convince myself (or you guys) that it is a good financial decision. It’s a waste of money. But it’s what I want to do - so I will do it.
Posted on 12/26/17 at 10:47 am to SECdragonmaster
quote:
This gets to the root of this thread. People just need to admit to themselves that they just want a new car. They want the new bells and whistles and the excitement of it all. Others don’t care. Buying new vehicles will never make financial sense. But I have never met anyone who makes every decision a purely financial one.
I have to agree with your post the most. I'm admittedly a car junkie. Since childhood, I've been a gearhead. But for daily drivers, I don't worry about driving anything special. I usually buy unique used vehicles and drive them for years (I'm anal about maintenance and have never had a major problem with a carefully chosen used vehicle). About every ten years, I splurge on a rather expensive specialty sports car or performance sedan. But I know going in that it is not a wise financial decision. Very, very few cars are good financial decisions, especially new cars. And despite believing that building equity in a depreciating asset lessens the pain, in truth, it does not. The only way to actually come out ahead is to be able to net/net sell something for more than you've paid for it. That's just basic finance. You don't judge making (or losing) money on a house purchase by considering how much it cost you to live there over time vs. renting or whatever - and it's no different with a car.
Had I bought the Ferrari 308 GTS for $30K +/- that came up for sale a few years ago, put another $30K into the required service, I would be in the black on it now - it's about an $80K-$90K car in good condition. Cars like that, you can sometimes make money on. And I have some antique vehicles that are worth more than I paid for them. But the average, grocery-getter vehicle, just buy within your means, don't fool yourself by following unsound financial thinking, enjoy what you enjoy, don't be stupid and try to keep up with the Joneses... and enjoy your ride.
But if you get to retirement age, and your 401K and IRAs are running a little light, but you have an album full of pictures of hot cars and Harleys from your youth... you've got no one to blame but yourself. And unfortunately, that's exactly where a LOT (the majority) of Americans are these days.
Posted on 12/27/17 at 12:15 pm to lynxcat
quote:
He is clearly fine with having a car note and prefers to have the newest and latest technology.
Yeah but OP isn't buying the latest and greatest with only a 30k truck, in fact a 30k truck is more a fleet type vehicle without leather and basic electronics. That's why I don't understand his method at all?
OP could drive a 4 year old top of the line truck for 10 years and likely have a nicer truck for 4-5 more years then the low end models he buys new.
Posted on 12/27/17 at 7:19 pm to baldona
Yep, and then there's that. ^^^
Page 2 of 2
Popular
Back to top
Follow TigerDroppings for LSU Football News