Do you buy new, used, or very well used cars?

[Pea-n-Me]

I'm hoping my next car will be self-driving. But I think things have slowed down on that front.

Idk, there are some unbelievable innovations happening, like this one!

https://www.carscoops.com/2023/02/your-future-ford-might-drive-away-if-youre-late-on-your-payments/

 

[Colleen27]

I am looking to buy a new to me vehicle before next winter and given that the prices on 1 to 2 year old Subaru Outbacks (which is what I'm looking at) are only like $2-$3k lower than just ordering a brand new one I think I'm going to go that route this time.

That's how it worked out for me last summer. I could have saved about $2500 if I'd bought my Jeep used, 1-2 years old with low mileage. For that money, I went with the better warranty and perks of buying new and not having to compromise even on frivolous things like color. I'll likely have the car for at least 15 years, based on my driving habits and previous cars' lifespans, and over that length of time the tiny premium for buying new just doesn't seem like much of a price to pay.

 

[mrodgers]

That's why we ended up with a brand new Honda Odyssey this time. It was only $5000 more than the used one we were going to buy. It had 6 miles on it when we drove it off the lot instead of 30,000 like the used one.

What the heck do you do for work that $5000 more is no big deal to spend on a car? Sheesh. That's a massive difference. Almost $100/month, probably is today with interest rates.

 

[tvguy]

What the heck do you do for work that $5000 more is no big deal to spend on a car? Sheesh. That's a massive difference. Almost $100/month, probably is today with interest rates.

The average car payment today is $700. One of the auto vlogs I follows keeps pulling up a statistic that 20% of the people who buy a Ford today has a car payment of over $1,000 a month. In that context, $5,000 is TINY difference.

 

[mrodgers]

The average car payment today is $700. One of the auto vlogs I follows keeps pulling up a statistic that 20% of the people who buy a Ford today has a car payment of over $1,000 a month. In that context, $5,000 is TINY difference.

It's also 435 hours of work at median wage. It's a lot of money. Granted there's a lot of not so smart people making median wage driving around in $700/month Ford F150's. I'm dang near homeless because that's what I can afford for a house and houses went from $700 to $1600/month since my youngest graduated HS almost a year ago and these people I work with making $10-14/hour less than me are driving around in new F150's.

I don't know how people do it.

 

[DisneyHardin]

What the heck do you do for work that $5000 more is no big deal to spend on a car? Sheesh. That's a massive difference. Almost $100/month, probably is today with interest rates.

The used one was $32,000 and the new was $37,000. I also got 1.9% interest for buying new. When we were already spending that much, what was $5000 more to get it with 30,000 less miles.

I don't have a "fancy" job - I'm a teacher and my husband is a police officer.

 

[tvguy]

It's also 435 hours of work at median wage. It's a lot of money. Granted there's a lot of not so smart people making median wage driving around in $700/month Ford F150's. I'm dang near homeless because that's what I can afford for a house and houses went from $700 to $1600/month since my youngest graduated HS almost a year ago and these people I work with making $10-14/hour less than me are driving around in new F150's.

I don't know how people do it.

The vloggers I was quoting were talking about F150 payments typically being over $1,000

 

[disneyseniors]

We have bought 2 new cars which was great! Our last one, and favorite to me, was a Concorde. It lasted 15 years and NEVER needed anything fixed or replaced! I religiously took it in every 3000 miles for oil change and check up. I loved that car. But, as we got older it was more difficult to get out of those low lying doors, so we sold it and bought a Subaru Forester. It was 3 years old and had 15,000 actual miles on it. We have had it 10 years now and it runs like a new one. Love it. So, I guess we buy what the situation calls for when we need one. We have bought many one year old vehicles over the years and only had one lemon.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

What the heck do you do for work that $5000 more is no big deal to spend on a car? Sheesh. That's a massive difference. Almost $100/month, probably is today with interest rates.

It's also 435 hours of work at median wage. It's a lot of money. Granted there's a lot of not so smart people making median wage driving around in $700/month Ford F150's. I'm dang near homeless because that's what I can afford for a house and houses went from $700 to $1600/month since my youngest graduated HS almost a year ago and these people I work with making $10-14/hour less than me are driving around in new F150's.

I don't know how people do it.

Obviously if you can't afford it you shouldn't do it but I read the comment to mean a new car basically straight off the boat or train was a better deal over all to purchase in the long run given the used car's price and miles. Used car pricing is and has been high for a while now and so the math may need an additional consideration.

I don't think it's always fair to use your personal woes to judge others like that insinuating they must be rolling bank while you're nearly destitute.

 

[kymom99]

The average car payment today is $700. One of the auto vlogs I follows keeps pulling up a statistic that 20% of the people who buy a Ford today has a car payment of over $1,000 a month. In that context, $5,000 is TINY difference.

My house payment isn’t $700

 

[mrodgers]

The vloggers I was quoting were talking about F150 payments typically being over $1,000

Most people I know are in the $700-800 range because they traded their 140,000 mile trucks for $29,000 or so, which knocks the payment down. Still don't know how they do it, I know what they make an hour. $700-800 truck payments on $1700/month income. Add another $5k to the price and you're looking at $800-900.

The funny part is, I showed up for work in my new-to-me Audi and they all got on me with "look who's making the big bucks!" Meanwhile it was in the parking lot while they stood next to their $60,000 $700/month trucks and my Audi is the same payment my weak little econobox Mazda 3 was at $325 (because they did give me double what the piece of junk was worth.)

 

[kdonnel]

My house payment isn’t $700

My escrow portion of my house payment is over $700.

 

[kdonnel]

The funny part is, I showed up for work in my new-to-me Audi and they all got on me with "look who's making the big bucks!" Meanwhile it was in the parking lot while they stood next to their $60,000 $700/month trucks and my Audi is the same payment my weak little econobox Mazda 3 was at $325 (because they did give me double what the piece of junk was worth.)

Those are the same people who say the same thing to Tesla owners.

 

[tvguy]

Most people I know are in the $700-800 range because they traded their 140,000 mile trucks for $29,000 or so, which knocks the payment down. Still don't know how they do it, I know what they make an hour. $700-800 truck payments on $1700/month income. Add another $5k to the price and you're looking at $800-900.

The funny part is, I showed up for work in my new-to-me Audi and they all got on me with "look who's making the big bucks!" Meanwhile it was in the parking lot while they stood next to their $60,000 $700/month trucks and my Audi is the same payment my weak little econobox Mazda 3 was at $325 (because they did give me double what the piece of junk was worth.)

My Camry payment is $450 a month. 60 month loan at zero percent, $3,000 down, and a whopping $250 trade in......2000 Mercury Mountaineer with 150,000+ miles. Bought in July 2020, when dealers were dying to sell anything so they were dealing on new cars, and not giving anything on trade ins. If I waited a year, I bet they would have given me $2,500 trade in, but I would have paid $10,000 more for the Camry and not gotten a zero percent loan.
Yeah, looks can be deceiving. A friend bought a beautiful used Cadillac Limo. It had been used it's entire life by a limo company, and it was spotless. A lot of co-workers wondered where he got the money to buy it. They were shocked to discover he paid $5,000 for it, about one quarter to one third what most of them had paid for their cars. That Caddie was spotless, but had 300,000 miles on it.

 

[tvguy]

My escrow portion of my house payment is over $700.

That is crazy. Yet people like you find a way to pay it.

 

[Dan Murphy]

For those who mentioned Costco here, I tried that yesterday. Very easy. We're interested in a 2023 Honda Accord Touring model. After I sent in the info online, within 10 minutes I had several emails. Costco indicated no market adjustments allowed on any of their sales. The dealer in our area sent me emails within about 15 minutes. Price was 1% under MSRP. Certainly not the 10-12% less from several years ago, but no add-on. I called the rep, talked a bit. He said their current prices are generally $1,000 over MSRP. Wiat time on an ordered vehicle is 8-12 weeks. Good chance we will do business there.

Thanks to those here who mentioned Costco. I knew they had that at Costco, I've seen the cars in the warehouse for years, just did not think of it.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

For those who mentioned Costco here, I tried that yesterday. Very easy. We're interested in a 2023 Honda Accord Touring model. After I sent in the info online, within 10 minutes I had several emails. Costco indicated no market adjustments allowed on any of their sales. The dealer in our area sent me emails within about 15 minutes. Price was 1% under MSRP. Certainly not the 10-12% less from several years ago, but no add-on. I called the rep, talked a bit. He said their current prices are generally $1,000 over MSRP. Wiat time on an ordered vehicle is 8-12 weeks. Good chance we will do business there.

Thanks to those here who mentioned Costco. I knew they had that at Costco, I've seen the cars in the warehouse for years, just did not think of it.

I'm sure you've probably seen the tire center but they do tires and batteries as well. We've bought both before from Costco.

 

[kdonnel]

That is crazy. Yet people like you find a way to pay it.

And my property taxes are nothing compared to people who live in high property tax areas. I know my annual property tax bill is equal to a friends quarterly property tax payment in New Jersey.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I'm sure you've probably seen the tire center but they do tires and batteries as well. We've bought both before from Costco.

Have not purchased Costco batteries but have purchased their tires. Hard to beat Costco.

 

[tvguy]

And my property taxes are nothing compared to people who live in high property tax areas. I know my annual property tax bill is equal to a friends quarterly property tax payment in New Jersey.

$2,571 a year for me for a house Zillow says has a current market value of $509,000. But being in California my property taxes are fixed at 1% of the $101,000 I paid for the house, with a 2% increased allowed each year, plus any bonds voters approve.
I just don't understand why property owners in other states haven't revolted like we did here in California in 1978 and pass laws to cap property taxes.