There have been a lot of threads lately which end up just being FW'ers ganging up on the poor OP, telling them not to buy a new car:

http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/629611/
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/631082/
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/631720/
http://www.fatwallet.com/t/52/623479

If it were up to us, I think everyone in the world would be driving 10-year-old beaters that we bought off eBay . So, my question is, is there EVER a valid FINANCIAL reason to buy a brand new car? Some possibilities:

* Any business reasons?
* Any legal reasons?
* Any investment reasons?
* Warranty?
* Financial incentives such as GM/Ford's employee pricing promotion?

Edit by Mod- This thread has been placed under moderation for going off topic.

It comes down to personal preference. For example, I bought a new 2006 Mustang. I wanted the newer style and yes, there are used Mustangs out there that were cheaper. However, with the factory discounts I was getting, my new Mustang was only $500 than a used Mustang. Why? Because the demand for used Mustangs was so great that the price on them was close to buying a new Mustang. So yes I spent $500 or so more when I went with the new Mustang, but I have a new vehicle that doesnt have 10000+ miles in the first year.

Now if the savings of going used were well in the thousands, I would be getting a used vehicle in a second.

Great question, as I usually buy new cars, and always feel a little stupid becasue I know its a loser financially. Im hoping to hear valid reasons so I can feel OK about my next one!

my pops is a fan of buying used, but when he was looking for his most recent car, a saturn, he was able to get 0% financing for 5 years on it, so he couldnt help but go new. he probably would have paid in full otherwise, but with the 0% financing he felt pretty good about using it elsewhere in the mean time which brought the car at least down to a used price.

Bry said:is there EVER a valid FINANCIAL reason to buy a brand new car?

Yes.

When your wife says it's a new car or a divorce.

0% financing.

Possible advantages to buying a new car:

If you are a conservative driver who practices common-sense tips to minimize wear-and-tear, you are likely to get more trouble-free miles of driving from a brand-new car than a pre-owned car.

With a pre-owned car, there is a possibility you are buying something driven by a driver (or drivers) who put more wear-and-tear on the car than is evident from the odometer reading. Let's face it: unless you are buying from a personal acquaintance whose driving habits you are well-acquainted with, a pre-owned car could well have been used by a driver (or drivers) are much more aggressive at lane-changes, jack-rabbit starts, jam-on-the-brakes stops, etc. Bad habits create premature wear and tear on the car's suspension, struts, steering, transmission, etc. in ways not always readily detectable (particularly if the car has, say, 30,000 miles or less on it. You can end up with some surprisingly steep repair bills.

With a brand-new car, you should have no risk of a "laundered" vehicle title. Not all states participate in Carfax, each of the 50 states has different registration and title systems, there are still a lot of flood-damaged and insurance-totalled vehicles which end up being unscrupulously restored and resurrected with a fraudulent title and brought onto the used car marketplace. Most of the time, these frauds are astonishingly well done..until a few months down the road, when an accident happens and you find the air bags don't deploy or the car's frame had pre-existing, hidden structural damage.

With a brand-new car, you generally have a sharp rate of depreciation. This cost may be somewhat reduced if you are an aggressive price shopper.

With a used car, if you don't do your homework on the true marketplace values, you can end up over-paying even more than with a used car. Car dealers generally make much fatter profit margins on used cars than new cars, particularly since used-car buyers are more likely to purchase over-priced "warranty protection" schemes which may largely eat up the "savings" of buying a used vehicle!

With a brand-new car, you'll generally pay higher insurance costs, particularly if you finance the purchase.

With a used car, you may have lower insurance costs than a new car. However, you must be very careful to avoid long-term financing since you will have some routine maintenance and repair items on your used car (i.e. on most cars, the timing belt replacement must be performed every 60,000 miles and is a fairly labor-intensive procedure).

Your Mileage May Vary. There are many good arguments for buying used cars, but one thing cannot be overlooked: a huge number of used cars are "dumped" from rental-car and corporate fleets with about 30,000 to 40,000 miles, for a reason. Those used cars get much heavier wear-and-tear than a single-owner, single-driver used car from someone you know in your local community.

Tax deductions.
You hit the lotto and feel like splurging.
You have lived a long and prosperous FW life and feel like being a skinny wallet for once.
Seriously though, a non-collectible car is a depreciating asset.

skwiggey said:
You have lived a long and prosperous FW life and feel like being a skinny wallet for once.


http://www.thinwallet.com/

slimcustomer said: 13 year old vehicles exude thriftyness. 15 year old ones just scream CHEAP. Don't become another UKS!

I'll have you know I had them replace that bad power steering pump. So it's stopped screaming. For now.

Besides, do you realize how easy it is to merge into traffic when you're driving a car whose body work openly shows you see driving as a contact sport?

Try that with your new hybrid.