The price of new cars

I am a big fan of people buying expensive cars. I won’t ever buy one myself but keep the economy moving with your expensive vehicle purchases, I say. Anf if its time for an oil change, its time for a new vehicle. :slight_smile:

7 Likes

I have never bought a new vehicle – car or truck – ever; I have always bought a used (“previously owned”) vehicle. Fortunately, I know a guy who owns a car lot, and whenever I need a vehicle he keeps an eye out for what I am interested in so I get early notice. And I usually get a good deal on what I am looking to purchase.

Prices for new vehicles – which depreciate by about a quarter to a third once you drive them off the lot – are simply insane.

3 Likes

Much of the “new car depreciation” is actually “bid ask spread”, since you can only buy new cars through a dealer (paying “ask price” or dealer retail). Most people sell used cars to the dealer (getting “bid price” or trade-in value). The spread between the these is quite large, unlike with heavily traded stocks.

3 Likes

I just spent around $30K on a new Subaru Forester with lost of bells and whistles and thought I was being waaay too indulgent. I was right. Not having a garage in Texas is a real gamble. It got pounded by hail when it only had 200 miles on it. It’s pretty sad looking and the repair shops are all backed up, so I’m bypassing that prideful feeling of driving a brand new car. It’s very nice and comfy inside so hopefully I’ll fall back in love with it after the eventual repair. We hadn’t gotten around to selling my 2012 Subaru Impreza and the insurance company totaled it. What a waste.

When I look at your link it lists the sticker price of that truck at $59k. Now that is a GMC, which is a step above and the 3500 is a beast. Not many people actually need that much truck unless you’re hauling big toys.

2 Likes

I am wondering whether we have smarter or more agile deer where I live. I was in a panic stop a couple of years ago. I figured that I could not stop in time but I was going to survive and the deer wasn’t. Then at the last minute the deer jumped out of the way and all were well. Last week I had to stop for a turkey, but it was on such a small road that stopping quickly was not a problem (I will not accuse our local turkeys of being smart).

I think that I have been lucky.

We have mostly noticed that the base models come with a lot more features than they used to. I think that you can still get a base model Subaru for less than $30,000.

Prices are edging upward in many places.

1 Like

Did you have venison for dinner afterward?

3 Likes

I was at Costco yesterday and they had a pick up truck in the lobby. My mother asked how much it was and I looked - $67k! It wasn’t like a Ford F-10, more of a ‘sporty’ pick up.

For that much you should be able to haul cattle.

4 Likes

He has a 5th wheeler. And lots of toys.

I see big fancy pickup trucks all the time here. They may not all cost $80k but more in the $60k range.

I put that link in there so I could price out how a truck could get to $80k. Because I can hardly believe it lol!

1 Like

So sorry to hear about your accident. Glad you are safe! I really like Subarus. I had one many years ago, and bought one for my son in 2015. When we were looking for his Impreza, there was not much difference between used and new prices, so we went ahead and got him a new one. He still has that car (and I’m afraid to ask if he’s ever changed the oil!)
Let us know what the insurance company says.

1 Like

Just look up Edmunds.com which is a tad more realistic. I hope.

We did not. I should have remembered to tell my neighbor. The poor deer took a long time to die. The sheriff would not shoot her. I was a little annoyed by that. Maybe she had expired by the time the sheriff got there. At least my neighbor would have shot her if he wanted the venison.

Ours are totally domesticated. They don’t react to much. Including cars. I can be within 10 feet of 3 deer laying in my backyard with the lawnmower running and they don’t even turn to watch me much less get up and move. On walks with the dog (who views the deer as big dogs with which she wants to play) we often have deer walking towards us. Dog sits there calmly until her head explodes and she starts acting the fool. At that point the deer move back. But they don’t run away. Sit there calmly for a couple minutes and they start to move back towards us.

We also have a lot of wooded areas with roads running through them. At least one of my wife’s encounters was with a deer running out of the woods. Not a lot of reaction time for either driver or deer. And the one on the highway had no chance. Crossing a 4 lane highway known for drivers exceeding the speed limit is a bad idea. May have an issue with lessons learned being difficult to pass down to others because the deer that learned the lesson is dead. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

My D pulls a horse trailer so has a truck. It’s an older Ford diesel that they have put a lot of money into. She would love something newer even if it’s used. Diesel trucks are expensive. Her first truck was a hand me down from a relative but it was a gas engine and the mileage was terrible.

I live in an area (NYC suburb) where many people (not me) have a lot of money and place a very high value on flashy things other people can see and covet (again, not me). So, plenty of maserati and porches in driveways. The price of these vehicles is mind-blowing.

I have yet to ever buy a brand new car in my life, and probably never will (choice). 2 years old and under 20k miles is kind of my jam. $30k is about the most I can see ever wanting to spend, but admittedly, I am not a car person, at all.

4 Likes

Even gasoline pickups have gotten less thirsty over the years:

There are also hybrid and electric pickups supposedly coming soon. Some of the appeal may be the ability to plug power tools directly into the truck, rather than needing a separate generator.

DH and I own a pair of Volvos, both bought new and both very well loved - he has a 2005 with 280,000 miles and I have a 2010 with 110,000. When we bought them, they were well above the average price of new cars but we knew we were going to keep them a while. I worry about the cost of replacing them but my parents have another Volvo (2015 with 25,000 miles) that I will get when they decide to stop driving.

3 Likes

The most expensive car we’ve purchased was about $15k, a 5 yo mint Mercedes with about 70k on it. And that was the only one we had a loan on. Otherwise we buy cash. We typically own cars for 5+ years. We just bought a 2008 diesel Jeep with 99k on it for $12k. On the expensive side, but we should easily get 200k out of it (Mercedes engine). I can’t imagine paying that kind of money for a new car.

2 Likes

We lost two cars to deer hits too :frowning:

2 Likes

Good luck getting parts to fix the car. A few months ago some bold thieves took a sawz-all to my truck and cut-out the catalytic converters. It would’ve been a month before my insurance could even place an order with Toyota for replacement parts and then who knows how long to get the parts. I had to go with aftermarket.

We sold my wife’s car last fall. The amount of interest was crazy and from people that weren’t close.

I’m thinking this is the new normal.

FYI…deer movement revolves around mating season in the fall (October) and birth in springtime (May). This is when does start to kick-out last year’s fawns from the house. Be careful.

1 Like