Book Value Of Used Cars

Q.Im curious what everyone thinks on this issue. Is it more frugal to buy a new car..... and drive it till its wheels fall off..... get 300k miles on it. Or is it actually better to trade up every few years and keep up on the new-ness "curve"? Opinions? Advice?

A.Since 1982, I had very good luck buying used hondas (manual transmission) with 100K miles on them, that were preciously dealer-maintained for life by their naive owners. Each went another 100-150K with no major maintenance, though struts would have been a good idea! At or around 250K, the engines won't pass CA smog check without a rebuild. My last 225K honda had an unfortunate meeting with the bumper of a luxury sedan, and was not insured for collision, so I accepted the gift of the family's quite used toyota. In three years, and 60,000 miles, it has had $1800 worth of scheduled maintenance (including new struts!), which is not quite as cheap as I would expect, but $600/year for a daily driver is not unreasonable. Mileage is getting worse each month, down from 27 to 22 mpg, with A/C - but still better than most of my peers' brand new cars with their 2.5-4.0 liter engines. Advice? Buy very used, maintained, and run them into the ground. Do not compromise, however, on safety: be sure that brakes, tires, and suspension are up to date. Also make sure car is not rusting through - not a problem in California, but certainly is snowy states.

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