Keeping car vs buying new

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

Edmunds says a 2007 A3 Wagon with the 2.0T in clean condition with 45,000 miles is worth just $14,151 private party sale and just $12,869 trade in.

No way someone will pay $20K for it.

Yes, we already established several times that I was using ROUND NUMBERS for easy math.
My car also had every option possible at the time. If you click the boxes on edmunds it adds another $4k to those numbers.

[d2mini]

Originally Posted by MeInDenudinFL

That's because you are putting out mutually exclusive requirement: 1) Luxury, 2) Great MPG and 3) Reliable, and get this 4) there is no other car in the market yet that entice you like the one you have, the A3.

Simplify your requirement and it will be easy decision

This thread was not about which car to get.
All it was about was asking if my math was correct in the very first post.

[Strate L O S S]

And many answered and said it was incorrect.

Your hypothetical numbers don't add up, being "worth "$20k" now and "$14k" later is a big $6,000 drop, but your car is really "worth $14k" in private sale with your current mileage and will only be worth a little less with double the mileage.

If you think dealers offer what these websites quote too you are mistaken, they only pay what the car goes for at auction.

Keeping your Audi is by far your best bet financially as even if it is worth $0 comes 3 years that's still a lot less loss then you buying a car and depreciating it with 30k miles annually.

Buy a new car if you want but it won't be cheaper or equal to the cost of keeping your current car.

From mu experience, take the lowest trade amount those websites project and subtract 20% from that and there lies an actual trade in value any dealer will offer you for your ride.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by d2mini

Actually, a friend was telling me recently they got a 40k miles/yr lease.
I might have to look into that.

You can set up a lease with as many miles as you wish to consume. The more miles, the higher the payment.

Or you can sign an open-ended lease. In this case the lessee, not the leasing company, takes all the financial risks, which is not so much a problem for a business, since the cost can be expensed. In open-end leases, you are responsible for paying any difference between the estimated lease-end value (the residual) and the actual market value at the end of the lease. This could amount to a significant sum of money if the market value of your vehicle has dropped or you drive many more miles than expected. Often, the residual for an open-end lease is set much lower than for a non-business closed-end lease, which reduces the lease-end risk, but can significantly increase the monthly payment amount.

If I lease a car for a driver who drives 50-60k miles per year, I generally pay about 3.5% of the capitalized cost each month plus interest. That is substantially more than the consumer leases where you are only paying for 10-12 k miles.

[jksj]

Keep the car and run it to the ground. Yes, it'll cost you in repairs after the warranty expires but it won't break the bank over the long haul. 02 A4 that's my wifes car. 120K miles later and still running strong. Oil changes and now on our 5th set of tires (she's aggressive). Only thing that lit up the pocket book was putting all new shocks in as they were clearly worn and the timing belt. Chasing a gremlin now w/ the charging system but believe it's a bad cell in the battery. Aside from that the car is flawless and have no intentions of getting rid of it until we hit 250-300K or another 10 yrs...which ever comes 1st. Sometimes I think the dealership messes w/ the car so we can bring it back as they just can't believe the condition of the car. I secretly believe it's sabatoge so we can sell it as plenty of workers at the shop have offered over the yrs. LOL

I'd love a newer A4 but I'm not paying the price for one. The old one is just fine.

[joe moving]

sounds like you are trying to justify buying a new car.

keep the old car, save the money and buy your next car outright. you will very likely never spend less money buying a new car.

[Gemdiver]

Originally Posted by d2mini

I've had my Audi A3 for almost 5 years so it's almost paid off. Woot!
It only has around 45k miles and I love the car so I was planning to just keep driving and sock away the "payment" each month, saving for an eventual new car.
But now we are moving and my commute is about to triple. I'm expecting to put a solid 30k miles per year on it. IMO, this will cause the equity to drop like a rock. I know a vehicle is not an investment, but I've always been able to sell my cars at their sweet spot of equity, allowing for an upgrade on the next car, keeping payments about the same. This is the first time in my life I will be paying off a car and the first time I like a car enough to want to keep driving it. So i started doing some simple math. Hear me out and then let me know what you think.

Let's use round numbers and just say my car right now would be worth $20k with 45k miles. That's $20k towards the downpayment of another car.

Now let's say I continue to drive it for another two years. The car will have over 105k miles. Let's say it's now worth what???? $13k? Meanwhile, by saving my monthly payment I've saved a total of $10k, but lets remove $1k for some repairs out of warranty. So $9k. Add that to the $13k and I've got $22k for a downpayment on another car.

So if my guesstimations are any where near correct, I'm not coming out ahead by much by holding on to the car. I suppose if I really drive it into the ground I would continue to inch up that saved amount, but being a late model german car (also modified to Stage 2)... not sure how long I can realistically see it lasting before running into major problems.

So overall, would you say that in my case, putting on a lot of miles, I don't have much of an argument either way in keeping vs selling?
Or is there something I'm not thinking about or not calculating correctly?

Something a bit more fuel efficient might make the hassle of getting something new worth it.

TIA.

It doesn't make any financial sense driving a $20k car or a new car into the ground. In this situation you come out losing in the end.

I say sell the car for 20K, get an 8k car that you don't mind being driven into the ground. Here I found this in your area, ♫ 2004 Toyota Corolla 97 K miles ♫ (http://houston.craigslist.org/ctd/2854695766.html - broken link)