Depressing Depreciation
In Alberta in 2011 my truck had a list price of just over $84,000. It could be bought for $70,000 cash. Now, three and a half years later with 62,000 miles on it I would be doing good to get $40k out ...
Forum Discussion
I took $27K out of the bank to buy the used one with 11K miles on it vs taking $54K out of the bank for a new one. That's worth looking at (especially with the stock market having done as well as it has over the last three years).
Bill
Bill,
Good post! There are those that like to pay cash and those that like to pay for the truck as they use it-- monthly. The monthly program typically involves some interest that is not present buying with cash. However, in your case I would have looked very hard at the monthly payment interest rate vs. the money that could be make in the stock market leaving the money to grow. If somebody can purchase a used vehicle for no down and 0 percent interest or nearly so then it might have been a choice to just make payments and let the stocks grow. It is all in the numbers and whether the stock market is growing or not. Personal preference is also involved as some just don't like payments. As I indicated prior, at the end of the day when the truck is worn out it really never mattered that much how it was paid for. $27,000 is $27,000 over the life of the truck regardless if it is paid up front or on a payment schedule. I like to pay cash as it makes us think about what it costs and is a better barometer than what payments we think we can handle. But, sometimes that just does not work.
