What time scale do you have when buying a car?

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I know a few people who buy a new car every three years because they feel they get a better trade-in value for the old one. To me that seems crazy. I'm a person that runs a car to the ground before considering buying. The one I have now is 15 years old and going strong, so no need for a new one (although this summer I had to have $700 of work done on it - sway bar and bushings). I know I won't get top trade-in value, but I've gotten my $15,000 out of it. Of what school of thought are you?
 

The last one was 13 years old when it started costing me more to own than a new one.

I'm trying to decide what to do with my current vehicle, I'm thinking 6-8 years should be about right to avoid any large maintenance items like tires, brakes, etc...

I'm thinking about switching to leasing every 2 or 3 years, it is more expensive for someone like me that only drives about 5,500 miles per year but I like the idea of having more or less worry free driving, we'll see.
 
My husband does all the maintenance work on our vehicles since we met, everything he can anyway. He also keeps a written record of things like when the oil and fluids were changed, new tires, new water pump, etc. He just replaced the radiator in our 1996 Jeep Cherokee, because it had a small crack in the seam that started leaking.

Our Dodge Cummins diesel truck is a 1992, both vehicles are in good shape and reliable on the road. We keep our vehicles for a long time. Our newest is an '07 Dodge Nitro that we don't drive much, the newer cars are harder to work on due to the way they design them, the computers, etc.....so that's a drawback when repairs need to be done. We had our Honda Accord for 19 years before we sold it, and it had low mileage like all of our vehicles. The guy that bought it couldn't believe what a nice car he was getting and that he had a dated recording of everything that was ever done to it since we bought it new.
 
Come to think of it, the main reason I ever got a new car was because the paint on the old one started looking so bad, even a good wax job didn't help. The worst was a red '80 Honda Civic. The paint only lasted about 5 years before it started to fade.
 
Buying new when the one we have is at the point of needing costly repair like a transmission or engine. Pay cash for whatever we decide to buy. Mileage doesn't get above 6500 miles a year, no salt or road clearing chemicals to damage the body & paint. Any car we by lasts a long time.

Cash plus trade in plus loyalty plus veterans discount on our most recent purchase and prime time to buy brought the price of new way down we had money left over for the cash [actually stock] purchase. Years ago we did like most, financed the purchase. Once that was paid I kept putting away the amount our financing cost. I bought a dividend reinvesting stock monthly. Between cost averaging & the dividend the stock account grew. Selling enough to pay cash and having a few hundred shares left over to begin again works for me. BUT at my age I think this will be our last new car purchase.
 
I heard the best time to buy a car was the week between Christmas and New Year. The dealers are anxious to sell their old year vehicles and many people are strapped for cash for the holidays, so aren't shopping for a car - demand is low.
 
Well, debodun, we are in the same boat. I have an 8 year old car. I only have 30,000 miles on it. It runs great. Outside of brakes & oil, I haven't put a dime into it. The problem we have is what's going to give out first. It's either the car or the driver. I'm 71 & disabled, it's anybody's guess how much longer I can continue to drive. The car is about the same as me. Otherwise, I keep a car as long as it doesn't start being in the shop.
Dealers must love the people who trade in a car every 2/3. They will be paying for a car the rest of their lives.
 
When I change cars it has been because my needs changed. I sold my pickup after we downsized to one car and we needed a 4 seater. When the Blazer began getting unreliable, we traded for the Xterra. After we sold our travel trailer we traded for a convertible, which we both enjoy.

For 20 years I drove company cars, so for me getting a new car was not a big deal. The company cars were replaced at 6,000 miles, so I got about 6 or 7 new cars a year.
 
I've only replaced my car when it starts costing about the same to maintain it as it would cost to replace it. I've only bought a new car twice, but never bought a used car that was more than a few years old.

I take very good care of my cars. I did a lot more driving in the past than I do now; to and from work, shopping, and so forth, but also more long distance driving, too. But I still keep it fit as always.
 
I only replace my car when it becomes too costly to maintain. Last year I replaced my 13 year old car because the transmission fell apart. I donated the corpse of the old car to a charity here in town that disposes of the vehicles and gives the proceeds to the local Humane Society -- they even went and got it and towed it away at no cost to me. :)
 
One person that I mentioned in my OP, I suggested a rental instead of buying because she trades in every 3 years. She said that that option did not appeal to hr because she'd be paying every month for it. I couldn't make her understand that she'd be paying more in the long run by purchasing. Sheesh!
 
I gave my 18-year-old Toyota Camry to my grandson, because he needed a car and I was sick of it. Nothing wrong with it, though, and it only had a little over 70,000 miles on it.

I like my new Suburu, but have mixed feelings about having spent so much on something that I didn't really need. (I decided that that Toyota would probably outlast me; no point in waiting for it to die.)
 
We had a 2003 SUV and a 2010 sedan, both paid with cash. Decided I wanted one last new car and was tired of always compromising. Ran the numbers to make sure we could afford a big purchase, checked with the tax advisor to be certain taking that large a distribution wouldn't cause a tax bill, then did a ton of research and test-driving.

Finally decided, went in and found we would need to do a factory order (which I had suspected was likely). Picked it up late May 2017 and the dealer was running both a rebate and financing special offer. They doubled our rebate (after already getting a club discount) and offered 0% financing for 60 months.

Even in a low-inflation environment, paying back a 0% loan with depreciated dollars is ALWAYS a good deal. We took it.

I do 98% of the driving and I love the new SUV. Great horsepower and torque, comfortable and quiet, fabulous handling/braking/acceleration. We just came back from 4 days in Sonoma County CA and every mile driven was a delight. The satellite GPS and voice-activated commands, front and rear cameras, and new safety features are worth every penny. So much better, safer, and more fun than our old cars!
 

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