car purchase advice
Out of context: Reply #12
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- vaxorcist0
@toodee offers good advice....
Also, check Edmund's Total Cost of Ownership calculator:
http://www.edmunds.com/tco.htmlok... so a huge issue is how much car-lust you're infected with, and how much you'd rather have a certain car, than a great deal.....
if you'd rather have a great deal, than a specific car, you might get last year's $40,000 hot car for $33,000 ....depends on how much you crave hipness....
The nanosecond after you drive a new car off the lot, it loses 10-20% of its value. Chumps who continally buy new cars every year or two subsidize the rest of us who buy a year or two old car....
If you've GOT TO HAVE this year's HOT CAR, you'll pay a premium unless you can go to a dealer in a place like idaho, where people might rather have something else and that "hot car" is just sitting on the lot, and the dealer may transfer it to a dealer in LA, but the cost of doing so is only barely worth it and you show up with cash in hand.....
Also, beware of depreciation and insurance... total cost to own is a HUGE deal, some cars are WAAAY cheaper...
If you plan to buy new, try to get a car with low depreciation if you plan to sell it in a few years, if you plan to buy used, you can more easily look at great deals among cars with higher depreciation, but beware that cars with higher depreciation are less hipster-esque...