Break Out Another Thousand....

Jayco-noslide wrote:
Someone said that used cost about as much as new. Nope, not the way I would do it. By "used" I mean used enough to cost half or less of a new one. In our case we purchased a 9 year old unit that cost around $80000 new for $23000. Only 20000 miles. In other words it had depreciated over $50000. We've spent plenty on it but no where near $50000. More like $10000 in 7 years. And don't forget "new' becomes "used" as soon as you sign the papers. Don't over rate the warranty.

I bought a new king ranch diesel 1 ton in 2011. I replaced it in 2016 with a new Platinum and in 2017 I sold the '16 and bought my current truck. I could sell my current truck truck today for $7000 less than what I paid for it. So since 2011 I've always been driving a fairly new fully loaded truck and the total amount I've spent on depreciation and repairs since January 2011 is $30,000. I likely could have bought a nice 2001 diesel back in 2011 for $20000 and today that truck would have another 160,000 miles on it and be worth maybe $5k. Assuming I could have got away with $1000 per year on repairs my total cost of depreciation and repairs driving an old truck for the past 9 years could have been $23000 instead of the $30,000 it has cost me to be driving a new truck. The other big cost of driving a new vehicle has been the opportunity cost of the extra money that I've had tied up in a truck. So maybe that has cost me another $25000. So I guess if I had saved my pennies and drove an old beater instead of driving splashy new trucks for the past 9 years I could be about $32000 wealthier today.