Is it smart to buy a new car if you plan to keep it for ten to twelve years?

[Guest]

It is *never* smart to buy a new car. Never.

It depreciates so quickly that no matter how long you keep it, you’d still be far further ahead if you got a pre-owned one still under warranty.

I have bought pre-owned cars my entire life, I also keep them until they literally die - 10 years - sometimes longer or shorter. From a used Sentra to a BMW.

The great thing is that all of them could be paid off very quickly (because the initial amount I spend was literally less than half of list price for a new one), they were under warranty, and I got almost all the benefits of a new car - without the horrible toxins or high payments:

Is That New-Car Smell Toxic?

So I drive my cars, fully paid off for a long, long time…I save a fortune, and when they finally die, I start shopping for a new “used” car to replace it.

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-smart-to-buy-a-new-car-if-you-plan-to-keep-it-for-ten-to-twelve-years

 

Quote

Depreciation, like many other things, isn’t what it used to be. There are segments of the market where three years and 36k miles only costs maybe 7k in depreciation, and while that’s often steeper than the fall over the next three years, it’s not always, and it’s not necessarily by enough to effectively spend another three years out of warranty.

As an example, a new Honda Accord Touring is about 32k out the door; a three-year-old Accord Touring with 50k miles still goes for $24k. Go back to 2012 and add another 50k miles and they’re down to 11k. The second three years cost more in depreciation than the first three!

Obviously there are some other factors, like changes between platforms and such, but a car like the Accord is always going to be pretty solid. So this is a good indication of how different reality is from the conventional “loses 20% when you drive it off the lot” wisdom on Quora.

Cars are good enough now that that just doesn’t apply; that was normal when the things rusted out in three years. As you point out, a three-year-old car is almost as good as a new one, and that’s reflected in low depreciation, even on newer cars. If you’re going to buy an Audi A8, hell yeah, get it CPO; depreciation in the second three years will be half what it was during the first three. But for more-normal family sedans? Check out the numbers and do the math before jumping to conclusions.

David Wiernicki

I am wondering about German Luxury cars though.....

[Guest]

Or what about Tesla's Retail value? Does buying a used one still make sense?

[Queen Esther]

MY  advice  - buy  a  used  one  from  the  new  Tesla's....   that  makes  much  more  sense

Rich  people  can  buy  a  new  one,  bec. they  anyhow  buying  every  year  a  new  car  or  more !

Our  new  car  we  only  had  for  short  time,  but  the  used  car's  we  had  always  more  years...  Mercedes  and  3 big  'Amis'...   the  last  one  will  not  die,  since  2000 !  haha    Its  still  looking  nice  in  silver color,  its  a  'Grand  Renault  Espace',  ideal  for  Camping !  I  saw  a  TV  report  about  the  Tesla - Roadster  in  RED,  WOW !  I've  a  red  picture  too...  beautiful,  but  very  expensive,  sorry !   I've  mixed  emotions  about  Tesla  car's,  bec.  I  not  trust  to  100 %  the  technology....   The  more  modern  technology,  the  more  can  happen   or  not ?