dartmouth01
New member
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2011
- Messages
- 84
- Points
- 0
I just went through the process of selling my 2005 G35, and buying a 2007 Silverado diesel and a 30 foot camper, so I had to do some thinking about what to do. Most things I would point out others have already done so, so I only have a couple other things to mention:
1) In MA at least, you can get your sales tax reduced if you trade in the car towards another car (or trailer, apparently). In my case, the rv dealer was willing to offer me close to what I reasonably expected on the open market after I included the tax reduction, so I planned to trade in the G35. As luck would have it though, someone was interested in the car the day before I was supposed to trade it in, so I sold it it to the private party for a few hundred more. However, I was very sure that the car would meet their expectations because I took very good care of it and was sure there were no problems. Even as a private seller, there are still lemon laws in MA I would have to contend with if something went wrong with the car soon after purchase, and I would rather not have that hassle over a few hundred bucks.
2) When possible, buy used. My first car out of college was new, and I may never ever buy a new car again. It hurts to know that your beautiful new car is worth so much less after the first year, and once the "new car feel" goes away, you're still stuck paying the bills. When I researched buying my second car (05 Toyota Highlander, which is for sale btw!), I looked at factory certified pre-owned, and I would highly recommend those programs to anyone. The cars are generally picked to be the best of the litter, they usually come with good warranties (usually honored at ANY factory dealer), and usually have other side benefits (the Silverado is a certified preowned and comes with 2 years of oil changes, which if you know diesels, means i get ALOT of oil free!)
3) If you do plan to sell a car, try to do so within 5 years of its year of manufacture. The reason I feel this is important is because banks usually only finance cars that are 5-6 years old. After that, you'll have to find someone who's got cash, and that generally means you will have to take less money (not too many people have $20k saved up, more people will be able to finance it though). I wish I had known that when selling the G35, because I probably would have tried harder to sell it last year, since I think I would have had more buyers interested in it.
4) Do your research on which cars will have the least amount of depreciation. You can cross reference with average residual values for leases, which is basically a number that dealers will use to calculate how much a a car will depreciate over time in a lease, hence figuring out how much to charge you for a lease. Most of the least depreciation cars can maintain around 50% of their original value in 5 years, but I think the worst deprection cars can lose up to 80%. Thats a huge chunk of money you can save if you buy the right vehicle to start.
Overall, unless your needs change or you feel the need to get a new car (I think changing into something new if your heart desires it is a perfectly fine reason!), keeping a used car that is running well is still better financially. But then again, if you don't do your own work and know you will have to pay for 3-4 big jobs in the near future (timing belt, tires, brakes, paint), it is not such a bad thing to look into a newer model vehicle.
1) In MA at least, you can get your sales tax reduced if you trade in the car towards another car (or trailer, apparently). In my case, the rv dealer was willing to offer me close to what I reasonably expected on the open market after I included the tax reduction, so I planned to trade in the G35. As luck would have it though, someone was interested in the car the day before I was supposed to trade it in, so I sold it it to the private party for a few hundred more. However, I was very sure that the car would meet their expectations because I took very good care of it and was sure there were no problems. Even as a private seller, there are still lemon laws in MA I would have to contend with if something went wrong with the car soon after purchase, and I would rather not have that hassle over a few hundred bucks.
2) When possible, buy used. My first car out of college was new, and I may never ever buy a new car again. It hurts to know that your beautiful new car is worth so much less after the first year, and once the "new car feel" goes away, you're still stuck paying the bills. When I researched buying my second car (05 Toyota Highlander, which is for sale btw!), I looked at factory certified pre-owned, and I would highly recommend those programs to anyone. The cars are generally picked to be the best of the litter, they usually come with good warranties (usually honored at ANY factory dealer), and usually have other side benefits (the Silverado is a certified preowned and comes with 2 years of oil changes, which if you know diesels, means i get ALOT of oil free!)
3) If you do plan to sell a car, try to do so within 5 years of its year of manufacture. The reason I feel this is important is because banks usually only finance cars that are 5-6 years old. After that, you'll have to find someone who's got cash, and that generally means you will have to take less money (not too many people have $20k saved up, more people will be able to finance it though). I wish I had known that when selling the G35, because I probably would have tried harder to sell it last year, since I think I would have had more buyers interested in it.
4) Do your research on which cars will have the least amount of depreciation. You can cross reference with average residual values for leases, which is basically a number that dealers will use to calculate how much a a car will depreciate over time in a lease, hence figuring out how much to charge you for a lease. Most of the least depreciation cars can maintain around 50% of their original value in 5 years, but I think the worst deprection cars can lose up to 80%. Thats a huge chunk of money you can save if you buy the right vehicle to start.
Overall, unless your needs change or you feel the need to get a new car (I think changing into something new if your heart desires it is a perfectly fine reason!), keeping a used car that is running well is still better financially. But then again, if you don't do your own work and know you will have to pay for 3-4 big jobs in the near future (timing belt, tires, brakes, paint), it is not such a bad thing to look into a newer model vehicle.
Last edited:
