Buying a car after college, new or used?

[senseless]

Buy high depreciating vehicles used, but buy low depreciating vehicles new. When comparing original prices, keep in mind that the MSRP may have been heavily discounted or incentivized.

 

[ender land]

That's a rephrasing of something I've already posted, so we agree.
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That's what I have done for my last 4 vehicles (in a 2 car household). Kept two of 'em for 12 years, one for 10. The other one is now less than 1 year old. I guess I don't know I'll have the car for 10+ years, but I certainly anticipate that I will.

What? No, you are saying that buying new is a better financial investment (or at least equivalent) than buying used.

The article you quoted from proves this to be incorrect when you look at the actual numbers involved even if you were to keep the new car for 10 years.

 

[Gregg2]

What? No, you are saying that buying new is a better financial investment (or at least equivalent) than buying used.

The article you quoted from proves this to be incorrect when you look at the actual numbers involved even if you were to keep the new car for 10 years.

???
As many have stated, including me, a car is not an investment. I'd go find my posts that say that if it were worth my time.

Ditto on reading the article again, as that's not what I got from it.

I think this thread has probably run its course.

 

[Synchromesh]

Two problems with that statement:

1. The first 3 years, a car is not going to need much maintenance. Oil change, tire rotation. Maybe replace the air filter. That's all cheap. Maybe even a DIY job if you're mechanically inclined. You may need new tires, depending on how good the factory ones are and how hard and how much you drive. But tires can be unpredictable - you never know when a well placed nail on the road or a punk ass kid with a sharp knife who thinks slashing tires is fun is going to force you to buy new tires so you should always be prepared for those.

This varies from car to car. Yes, in 3 years it's unlikely it will need very expensive stuff but you are still forced to go to the dealer in most cases if you don't want to lose warranty and that means spending more than usual.

2. A lot of manufacturers now have free maintenance for the first few years now. All of my maintenance on my VW GTI was free for the first 3 years, well, I hit the 36,000 miles first before 3 years because I drive a lot. But you get the idea.

Some do but not all. Either way you pay for this with huge depreciation your new car will take when you resell it.

 

[yg17]

This varies from car to car. Yes, in 3 years it's unlikely it will need very expensive stuff but you are still forced to go to the dealer in most cases if you don't want to lose warranty and that means spending more than usual

Not true at all. Dealers cannot legally require you take your car there for service to maintain your warranty. That is a common myth. As long as the service is performed and you have records showing that, they cannot deny warranty service.

The same laws that prevent Apple from voiding your computer's warranty because you installed new RAM rather than have an authorized repair center (aka a dealer) do it prevent dealerships from voiding your car's warranty because you or an independent mechanic performed maintenance on your car.

Read up on the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. It's a wonderful thing.

 

[Synchromesh]

Not true at all. Dealers cannot legally require you take your car there for service to maintain your warranty. That is a common myth. As long as the service is performed and you have records showing that, they cannot deny warranty service.

The same laws that prevent Apple from voiding your computer's warranty because you installed new RAM rather than have an authorized repair center (aka a dealer) do it prevent dealerships from voiding your car's warranty because you or an independent mechanic performed maintenance on your car.

Read up on the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act. It's a wonderful thing.

While you are not wrong about dealers not being able to cancel warranty, it's generally frowned upon. And, if the dealer really doesn't like you they might figure a way to deny it. Why give them more ammunition? Most people don't exercise this right anyway.

 

[mrsir2009]

Used. The price for new cars are steeeeep 😱