How to buy a Car and get the most for your money

[JimBowie1958]

My Dad was an auto mechanic, among his other hats he wore, and he told me this when I was about 13 years old, back in the old black and white TV days, but it is still true today.

Buying a new car is the biggest loss of value you will ever experience in your life almost, if you dont play the stock market. The vehicle loses as much as 20% of what you paid for it as soon as you sign the papers because it is not worth the cost of the dealer costs that they hit you with up front.

After three years, the average car has lost 40% of its value and the depreciation tends to taper toward a tableau.

But if you can get the car at 3 years with less than 40k miles on it, it has no signs of problems, and an active manufacturers warrantee, you can buy it and get any issues fixed before the costs fall on you. Also, if it has had no accidents and one owner who took care of it and you are looking at a real nice bargain typically.

So the 3 year old car with low mileage, one owner and no accidents is the best bang for the buck.

Also, pay attention to the trim of the vehicle model. Sometimes the trim is booked wrong by the banks database (my Dad did not tell me this part) and you can get a higher value trim for less, but it still counts for when you trade it in if you do. My last one got totaled, a 2007 Buick Lucerne, that insurance paid me $7400 for with only 75,000 miles on it. Blue Book was around $3500 for it.

It really does pay to take care of your car.

My current vehicle is a 2016 Buick Enclave Premium I got for $21000 with only 45k miles. She sure is sweet. They booked her wrong on the banker database as a Leather trim instead of premium. I noticed this when I was looking at the pics of the car. I probably should have paid $31k for this car.

Doing your homework also pays off well with cars.

But hell, if you are rich enough to lease, then do that and dont worry about nothin at all anyway lol

 

[JimBowie1958]

Another strategy I call the 'POS approach' for car use is to buy the cheapest piece of crap you can find that still runs and has 4 tires that hold air, and just run it till the wheels fall off it, dont even change the oil, just top it off and use minimal gas. No point in lettin highwaymen empty alot of gasoline from your POS tank while it sits on the side of the road.

I have done that too when I got out of the Army back in the day. Fortunately my wife never saw me in that old POS Fiesta.

 

[Ringel05]

My Dad was an auto mechanic, among his other hats he wore, and he told me this when I was about 13 years old, back in the old black and white TV days, but it is still true today.

Buying a new car is the biggest loss of value you will ever experience in your life almost, if you dont play the stock market. The vehicle loses as much as 20% of what you paid for it as soon as you sign the papers because it is not worth the cost of the dealer costs that they hit you with up front.

After three years, the average car has lost 40% of its value and the depreciation tends to taper toward a tableau.

View attachment 292149​

But if you can get the car at 3 years with less than 40k miles on it, it has no signs of problems, and an active manufacturers warrantee, you can buy it and get any issues fixed before the costs fall on you. Also, if it has had no accidents and one owner who took care of it and you are looking at a real nice bargain typically.

So the 3 year old car with low mileage, one owner and no accidents is the best bang for the buck.

Also, pay attention to the trim of the vehicle model. Sometimes the trim is booked wrong by the banks database (my Dad did not tell me this part) and you can get a higher value trim for less, but it still counts for when you trade it in if you do. My last one got totaled, a 2007 Buick Lucerne, that insurance paid me $7400 for with only 75,000 miles on it. Blue Book was around $3500 for it.

It really does pay to take care of your car.

My current vehicle is a 2016 Buick Enclave Premium I got for $21000 with only 45k miles. She sure is sweet. They booked her wrong on the banker database as a Leather trim instead of premium. I noticed this when I was looking at the pics of the car. I probably should have paid $31k for this car.

Doing your homework also pays off well with cars.

But hell, if you are rich enough to lease, then do that and dont worry about nothin at all anyway lol

I've never bought a new vehicle in my life except one and have had great luck with all but two.
The one new one was an F150 I picked up "used" for $8K from a Dodge dealership back when Dodge introduced it's new, reworked Rams. They had a Ford and Chevy on their showroom floor next to their loaded Ram then sold the Ford and Chevy as used. They wanted $12k for the Ford, told them all I had was $8, they wouldn't budge until I started to walk....... They took the $8.........

 

[Sunni Man]

All I have ever purchased is several year old used cars with super low miles (less than 40 thousand miles) for around 5 to 10% of what it sold for new. I pay cash for the car and purchase only liability insurance which is super cheap.

Also, I only buy cars from individuals. Never from a dealership or used car lot. Usually the car is at the persons house. My logic is that if the house and yard are well kept, then most likely the car has been well maintained. If I pull to the house and it looks like a rat trap, I don't even stop to look at the car. ...