"How not to be poor"

[YelloJeep]

http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/ho...fographic.html

Here's some info from Edmonds.com:

A new car loses 11% of it's value the moment you leave the lot.
During the first 5 years the car depreciates by 15%-25% EACH YEAR.
After five years, the car is worth 37% of what you paid for it at the dealership.

So, if those things are true, then I have to say you probably get the best deal after it is at least five years old.

Now, in the rare event that someone buys a car new and drives it into the ground (RARE), I guess the difference does become less significant. But the person could have bought one that was 6 months old with 300 miles on it and STILL would have come out better, but not a whole lot different..

[rivalarrival]

Originally Posted by YelloJeep

http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/ho...fographic.html

Here's some info from Edmonds.com:



So, if those things are true, then I have to say you probably get the best deal after it is at least five years old.

Now, in the rare event that someone buys a car new and drives it into the ground (RARE), I guess the difference does become less significant. But the person could have bought one that was 6 months old with 300 miles on it and STILL would have come out better, but not a whole lot different..

There's not a huge market of cars being turned in that have burned less than a full tank of gas. That's one of the fallacies of saying that a car loses x% of its value the minute it's driven off the lot. What's actually happening is that you're comparing the market value of your brand new car to the newest vehicles that are being turned in, vehicles that have lost a significant portion of their service lives.

If there *were* a compelling reason for people to regularly unload their brand-new cars within weeks or months of having purchased them, you wouldn't find that abrupt dropoff.


Again, I'm *not* suggesting that a brand new car is going to be a better deal. In certain circumstances, it will. In most, it won't.