As I mentioned earlier, we paid $10,200 for a 5 yr old Camry that originally stickered for around $25k. So that's what, around 40%? And it's a Toyota that generally holds better resale value than other cars. While I think 30% for a 4 yr old car is pushing it, it's not that far off. CarMax isn't exactly the best place to go looking for good deals either.

My expenses:

Depreciation: $2000
Insurance: $750
Gas: $1100
Tires and Maintenance: $500

I'm under $4500.

So exactly how are you supposed to calculate depreciation? When I figured up my cost per year I just spread the cost of the vehicle over the time I owned it, but that still doesn't take into account what I'd get for the vehicle when I sold it. But I don't see how you could accurately calculate depreciation without knowing what you'd get for it either.

Depreciation on my last vehicle was around $600 per year. If you buy new and drive it for a long time the depreciation doesn't hurt you that badly.

And if you buy a few years old and drive it for a long time, it hurts you even less badly. The numbers R8ers posted may be whack but the strategy isn't.

I paid around $20K for the car I bought last fall and will drive it for at least 10 years. If it has zero value at the end of that time period, it works out to $2000 per year.

For my last vehicle, I bought a brand new stripped down F-150 for under $11K in 1994. I drove it for 18 years and sold it for $500. That works out to about $600 of depreciation per year.

LMAO I couldn't imagine driving the same vehicle for 18 yrs. That's incredible.

You probably can't... Especially when you see cars with 200k on Craigslist for over half of their original cost.

You can think of it like this though

New 30k CAR

Payments 400 per
Insurance Bump say 50-100 per month more
Depreciation - at least 100 bucks a week for the first 4 years


That new car cost is around 900 bucks a month not including maintenance
Only way to determine the actual depreciation is by how long you drive it after the payment book is empty. Trade it before it's paid off at fair market value and you just took a high hard one in

If you're talking trade-in values then I'd believe that 70% over 4 yrs.

Yup.................. Private sale is always a different beast... Suckers can be found everyday.

Something is worth what someone is willing to pay for it but I be damned if I will buy a 2008 pickup on CL with 180k for 50% of the original sticker...

Oh they like to say "Highway Miles" **** that... People get ripped everyday

Best deal I have gotten is the 1994 Mazda I have

I bought it with 148k on it for 1000 dollars 6 or 7 years ago, I drive it to work and to haul mulch and stuff... It has almost 204k on it now and still driving it to work and back round trip of 60 miles most days.