Quote:
Originally Posted by Efthreeoh
This is what I just don't get, "depreciating asset". Why does everyone look at an automobile as a depreciating asset? A car is a transportation tool, not a financial investment vehicle. There are hundreds of other purchases a person makes that are depreciating assets, but no one every gets concerned over them.
The only financial aspect of a vehicle purchase is how many cents per mile it cost you to drive it for your transportation needs. The longer you own the vehicle and the father you drive it to amortize the cost of it over mile driven is the only metric that should be evaluated.
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+1
The whole depreciation aspect is tied to people that flip out of their vehicles into something new on a regular basis. When you develop this pattern, how much your "old" vehicle is worth when applied to the purchase of the new vehicle factors in majorly. I knew a coworker who had a perfectly fine Nissan Sentra. She hated it because it didn't project a certain image. Despite being upside down on that car, she was hell bent on buying a Lexus. So she did and rolled the negative equity into the new car purchase.
I've purchased one used car which turned out fine as I held on to it for about 15 years. All of my other car purchases have been new. But depreciation doesn't factor into any of those purchases because I hold on to them for a very long time.