Depressing Depreciation

We paid $28 for the Burb two years after the owner paid $52. I bought my jeep for $18750 two years after that owner paid $32. I'll never be rich enough to lose that kind of money and will never buy new. 2 years old saves a bundle. By the way both were financed at similar as new bank rates.

I found the savings in buying a 2-3 yr old truck to be minimal. Around 5k with about 60k miles. Not chump change but by going new I get exactly what I wanted, 0k on the odo, better finance rate, and I know how it's been treated and maintained. Also the new car smell hasent worn off

If you keep it until the wheels fall off, it doesn't really matter that much on a monthly basis if you buy new or pre-owned a year or two back. The pre-owned saving is up front, the buy new price hit tends to be more a life cycle cost. If you keep new long enough the difference between new and pre-owned can be as little as $50 a month (calculated at a cost differential of $10,000 between new and pre-owned over 15 years or 180 months). Lots of RV loans are for 180 months. What is new worth to a buyer? If you are only saving $5000 and it has 60,000 miles on it then the savings is more like $25 a month at a cost of already having 60,000 miles on the clock. Hardly worth it in my book.

At a rate of 15,000 miles a year it takes about 13 years to reach the 200,000 miles that some on this thread say is the mileage when they 'off' their truck. 60,000 miles on the clock reduces by four years the time of ownership or a little over 30 percent of the life of the truck assuming it has a lifespan of 200,000 miles. If the truck costs new $50,000 and you can save $5000 pre owned you are saving ten percent of the new cost at a lifespan reduction of thirty percent of the life of the vehicle. I don't see the value in that.

I found the savings in buying a 2-3 yr old truck to be minimal. Around 5k with about 60k miles. Not chump change but by going new I get exactly what I wanted, 0k on the odo, better finance rate, and I know how it's been treated and maintained. Also the new car smell hasent worn off ;)

I paid 40k for my new family van (check...I am in the process of paying 40k for my van). There was a used 2009 Town And Country that was the same color as mine for 14k.

But it wasn't what we wanted. We didn't buy a new van as an investment, we bought it as a tool, and we will use this thing till it's dead. The last thing I am worried about is depreciation.

I'll never Forget Robert Kiosaki's quote

"Assets pay you
Liabilities take money from you"

Pretty simple. Lol

Thanks!

Jeremiah

jmtandem wrote:

In many cases, depreciation(of the RV and/or TV) is the biggest single expense for RVing and the daily average depreciation is probably more than the campground fee, fuel, food, etc. Estimate the 8 year depreciation of any fairly expensive RV and divide by the number of nights one is likely to spend in it. Ouch!

If you like Rving never do the math! Most folks look at the payment but forget that the new depreciation will often be that much or more doubling the cost per month to own it. After five years it is worth half of new. Rving has a lot of family values that cannot be easily assigned a dollar value, but being inexpensive is not one of them when purchasing new.

Very well stated! :)

In many cases, depreciation(of the RV and/or TV) is the biggest single expense for RVing and the daily average depreciation is probably more than the campground fee, fuel, food, etc. Estimate the 8 year depreciation of any fairly expensive RV and divide by the number of nights one is likely to spend in it. Ouch!

If you like Rving never do the math! Most folks look at the payment but forget that the new depreciation will often be that much or more doubling the cost per month to own it. After five years it is worth half of new. Rving has a lot of family values that cannot be easily assigned a dollar value, but being inexpensive is not one of them when purchasing new.

I am picky about how I want my vehicle equipped. Most of them have a load of stuff I don't want, and often are missing the tow package I do want. Add in the fact that I've had horrible luck with the two used vehicles I've bought in my lifetime, and one can see why I buy new. But I usually get from 150,000 to 240,000 miles on each one before I get rid of it.

My next one will have a Mopar lifetime extended service contract, and I hope to drive it until it's darn near worthless.

If you keep your vehicles until the wheels fall off or become too expensive to maintain it really doesn't matter if you purchase new or used. You will get more usable years out of a new one so the initial higher depreciation is a wash.

I gave 30k for mine new and now it is worth maybe 8k.
So cost is under $150/month :)

My philosophy since I was a teenager in the 50’s has always been to work the window between the max depreciation and the big repair costs. In that era an engine lasted about 100k miles and an AT about 60k miles. So to get the most car for the money I bought a 2 yr old car and sold it when it was about 4 years old. For the cheapest total costs you bought new and kept it for at least 10 years.

I’ve since gotten away from the 2-4 year thing; I buy new and keep a vehicle until the wheels fall off or the repair costs get serious. My oldest vehicle is a ’73 Bronco and the newest a 2003 car. My TV is a 2001 and my TT an '89. So unless one keeps vehicles a long time I still think working the window is the way to go.