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If money doesn't interest you then buying new every few years is fine. Besides the economy needs people to buy new cars. You can even buy new and have it make financial sense to do it. But you have to buy new and then drive it for several 100 thousands miles. I just purchased an SUV with 90K miles for $6000. I paid cash and because I'm the owner not the bank, I just insure with liability. I did look at new vehicles and the equivalent was $55,000. This was a no brainer.
BTW the used SUV looks almost new except for 3 door dings. I expect to get 100,000 miles out of it.
Circa 2004, I bought a privately owned 2003 mustang GT with 9000 miles on it. Owner bit off more than he could chew and the new payments were tough on him. He wanted what he owed which was $16,2xx. I bought the car for that less than a year old. Window sticker in the glovebox said $26,7xx. I drove that car 5 years and 80,000 miles with nothing more than oil changes and gas. Sold it for $10K.
Circa 2008, bought a 2006 Infiniti G35x from a dealer. Fully loaded, paid $24.5k. Window sticker in the glovebox was $42.5k. Had 19k miles, currently has 122k miles on it. Oil changes and regular maintainence. Had a few issues covered under warranty, but since them very reliable. Paid off...and still driving it as it runs and drives like new. Might sell it soon in the $9-10k range and go pick up a 2010 g37x now.
I am good with cars, so all the maintainence and any repairs are done by me in my garage. Not really much I can't do, and is an engineer so I can usually figure stuff out quite well. I've never needed a mechanic.
I do have a 2012 Benz I bought new....but different story and circumstances there.
I agree with others....you're not crazy -- as along as you understand what your doing, and accept the positive and negative -- those being your enjoyment of the car and peace of mind about its reliability -- versus the likeiihood it may cost you more money in the long run.
I'm from the "buy new -- and drive it until the doors fall off" school of thought. But, I don't get bored with a car I love. Partly, I think, because I don't buy it in the first place unless I love it and would drive it for well over a decade (accidents not withstanding.)
as along as you understand what your doing, and accept the positive and negative --
those being your enjoyment of the car and peace of mind about its reliability
(within the limits of vehicle costs vs assets/income)
don't forget the absolutes and the objective along with the subjective
I buy new and drive it until the wheels drive off. A car will last a very long time of it gets correct routine maintenance. My current vehicle has over 310,000 miles on it and still runs like a champ.
I had to replace the driver's seat and other than that, it has had routine maintenance, except the steering wheel lock broke a couple of months ago and had to be replaced.
The whole point of "new" is that the car gets the correct care every mile of its life. If I buy used, I don't know how it was treated.
I have always bought new, generally around invoice price w/ end of year rebates. I.e. an 06 Explorer MSRP $31K for $24K. I do appreciate a full warranty and new brakes, tires, etc.
But, the last car I bought was a used 2010 Taurus SHO with 19K miles fully loaded. Still had 17K on the bumper to bumper warranty. Saved about 15K off MSRP and have been quite happy with the car and the deal. I would buy another low mileage used car again without question.
When it comes to cars I've done both. I went new in 04 and got a Civic but for a variety of reasons ended up passing that on to one of my kids last year and then I turned around and bought myself a 05 Accord. Both cars had about 70k miles on them and I'm enjoying the extra elbow room of the bigger car. I don't drive much so I expect it can last me 10 years assuming nothing terrible happens to it.
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