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General rules and observations...... Posted by Mike Lynch [Email] (#81) [Profile/Gallery] (more from Mike Lynch) on Fri, 21 Sep 2007 19:37:58 In Reply to: cheapest way to own car? Not a lease?, qt, Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:03:12 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
1. 12 years is very arbitrary. The right car will last longer. The wrong car will get sold/traded sooner. Owning a car for 12 years is probably the least expensive overall for the 12 years or whatever.
2. 3 year old cars......The first 3 years of depreciation, years 1,2 & 3, is roughly equal to the 2nd 3 years, years 4, 5 & 6. You pay/lease a $30k car down to $16k trade in value the first 3 years, the dealer resells it for $18k and the $18k cars goes down to $3-5k after the 6th year. While not totally accurate every time in every case, you can see the pattern. The second 3 years is as expensive as the first 3 years, which for me negates the perceived advantage of a CPO. Leasing a new one is the same by the month, has a finite end, and it's NEW! A CPO financed for 5 years will be roughly the same payment as the lease on a new one, but you'll wind up making the last payments on an 8 year old car!
3. Saab skews the lease equation from time to time so that sometimes it's cheaper to lease a Saab for the first 24-42 mos or the term de Jour and then buy it at the end of the lease, or not. See that's the beauty of a lease, you can buy it or not. Buy it if it gives good vibes and you chose well. Move on if you didn't.
So the depreciation doesn't really slow down until the 6th year, so you should buy a 6 year old car and drive it 6 more years. So buy a $30k car with 90k miles for $5-10k and drive it till it drops. Lately some cars are still very state of the art even after 6 years. A Saab 9-5 is a good example.
But it ain't really about the money, you can always make more money. Being happy with your car is, to some of us anyway, priceless. Are you gonna' be happy with an old car? There's a lot to be said about leasing a new car every 24-36 months: free maintenance or low maintenance, fresh tires and brakes, roadside assistance, modern safety and convenience devices, and a NEW car every 2-4 years, life is good!
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