Reply to Buying a used car in 2024 is stupid

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Don't know why anyone would buy a used car, the only cars that depreciate a lot now are the ones with really bad issues/high maintenance like Range Rovers. The cars with good reliability and cheap upkeep barely depreciate. Want a 7 year old used Toyota RAV4 with 100k+ miles? That'll be $20,000. For only 50% more you can get the same car brand new with a lot more life left in it before big repairs start coming due.

The only people who buy used cars are those who cannot afford new, it's no longer the people who have high incomes but are frugal.[/quote]

This is a very affluent attitude.

For many, likely more than half the country, the $10K difference might as well be $100K because they don't have an extra $10K or can't afford to spend the extra per month on their car payment.[/quote]

Yeah that was my point, it’s no longer savvy to buy a used car. It’s now only the folks with no other options, or the old people who haven’t been keeping up and doing research on the market.[/quote]

But there’s a lot to be said for not borrowing money, especially at a higher rate of interest.

We pay cash for used cars. The last one we bought was going to be junked and we paid our neighbor just a few hundred for it. It cost a bunch to fix up but it’s in pretty good shape.

Of course what makes all this possible for us is that we don’t drive very far at all. That’s a savvy move, but one that is more difficult as housing gets more out of reach. We bought at the end of the last financial crisis over 10 years ago.[/quote]

What makes that possible for you is that you are either willing to drive clunkers or you are well-off enough to have tens of thousands of dollars saved up for a vehicle.  The difference in cost between a reliable used car with good life left in it and new is not anywhere near what it used to be, and you tend to get better dealer incentives and rates with new.  Someone who cannot afford to pay cash for a $45,000 (average new car price) new car is also unlikely to have $38,000 (average used car price) in the bank.  I have hit the point in my life where I am no longer willing to drive a 10-year-old car with 100K miles on it and manual roll-up windows like I was when I was a kid paying three summer's worth of savings for my first car.[/quote]

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