When to Sell and Buy Another Car?

[Oversize]

Interested in people's theory on what's the most cost effective method to buy and sell a car as daily transport. Specifically do you hold onto a car until it's actually dead, or sell it sometime prior when it's still worth something? Do you buy a new car and write off the depreciation, or buy a car 5-10 years old? How many km do you consider as too many to begin your journey in something different? What's the most important aspect of a purchase; safety, reliability, comfort, performance, economy, or something else? Curious for members opinions....

 

[motec 6.9]

Normally I keep them for 5 years. And buy new. But I must say the KIA has impressed me with how the first 2 years have gone.

 

[c107]

Interested in people's theory on what's the most cost effective method to buy and sell a car as daily transport. Specifically do you hold onto a car until it's actually dead, or sell it sometime prior when it's still worth something? Do you buy a new car and write off the depreciation, or buy a car 5-10 years old? How many km do you consider as too many to begin your journey in something different? What's the most important aspect of a purchase; safety, reliability, comfort, performance, economy, or something else? Curious for members opinions....

For the main family car (that my wife primarily drives) we normally buy them at about 10 years old then the keep for about 5 years. She doesn't like to be too precious about the car dragging prams in and out, getting dings on it at shopping center parking lots and so on, so this fits our profile well. It also parks outside in the driveway. If we have to keep it for a shorter amount of time, then we can. I try to buy under 150,000 if possible.

The thing is though, that neither of us have the desire to have a new car, and would rather than have an investment than a new car. Not for everyone.

 

[Oversize]

Yes a new car is a luxury but the depreciation is a huge issue unless you can claim that on tax through a lease or something similar. Warranty is an advantage, but it's often the smaller things that go wrong anyway.

There must be a point where depreciation levels out, but before it's regarded as an 'old' car. Maybe that's 3-5 years, or near the end of the warranty?

 

[CraigS]

Admittedly, this story is probably not in the price range of everyone here, however the director of the company I work for wanted to update his 2014 Mercedes S350, for which he had paid $250,000 new. The car had travelled 14,000 km. He thought it would be nice to get a BMW 740L - list price $282,000. Trade in value was $160,000, and he was able to put $60,000 cash in to get the BMW.
Long story short - he hated the BMW and a few months later, asked me to get him a S350 or S400. I called the Mercedes dealer at Parramatta and asked him to send his valuer out. Trade in value ? $138,000 ! The BMW had 1,000 km on it at that stage. As a result, he is still driving the BMW and it has now done 2,000 km. Moral of the story ? Don't buy a new car.

 

[Oversize]

Ouch that hurts just reading that! My Ford's well past a decent trade-in value; it's done about 380k km on the original motor.... The roof lining is starting to droop and worst of all there's an annoying water leak into the right side of the boot that I can't trace. But I'll probably still hang onto it until it's completely dead (after a rebuilt motor ).

 

[Michel]

Like Craig said, unless you can write off lots of tax and depreciation through work, then the sweet spot is a 6-10 year old vehicle with low kms and books.
They are usually still modern, have most of the bells and whistles but are very reasonably priced.

But if you want excellent value and are not fussed about having an 'older' vehicle, then the best value is a 10-15 year old in good condition.
You can buy them for next to nothing if the original price and still ride in a relatively modern car.

Good luck in your endeavours!