Is it worth it to buy a new car?

Question

Where I live people usually put around 18k on a car in a year and car dealers want almost as much for a late model used car with low miles as a new one would cost, unless it's an SUV and they're desperate to unload it due to gas prices. I'm tired of throwing money into my '96 VW Golf and it's 223k. Even with depreciation and insurance, is it better to buy a brand new car for, say, $15,000 after rebates than buy a used model with 3 years and 50k on it or $12,000? I know the used car will depreciate, too, and probably not last as long or have a warranty...

Answer 1

yes

Answer 2

Yes. It is worth it to buy a new car.

Answer 3

if you don't know a brand new car loses a couple thousand dollars of value as soon as you drive it off the lot.  i always buy used just because of that reason.  plus its easier bargain down used cars.  say you bought that 15000$ brand new car, when you drive it off the lot it'll have the trade in value you get on blue book, somethin like 13750$.  Besides wait another year and that 08 car will depreciate anyways.

Answer 4

It's never better to buy a new car.  But, as you see, sometimes used cars are unrealistically priced.  In that case, it's not that the rule is wrong, but rather the sellers are crazy.

Here's my rule of thumb - 10 cents a mile is dirt cheap depreciation.  If you really think you can find an identical car that costs $3000 more and has 50,000 fewer miles, then that's 6 cents a mile.  You should buy the new one.  But only if you're serious, and only if the cars are really identical.  If it's not the same car, then the $3000 difference includes issues other than depreciation.

Answer 5

Buy new and keep it a long time - this will make depreciation essentially a non-issue.