So you buy a new car every year and think everyone else should do the same. If so who would buy your old one?

It's your choice: you pay an incredible amount for depreciation, because the loss of value is extremely steep from new to 3 years. Then it starts leveling off. How much do you pay for a new one and how much do they give you for a trade in? You might be looking at a $8000 hit every time. That's hardly a bargain.

On the other extreme is the car that has 10 or more years and much more than 100K miles on it. Your purchase price may be low, but you have to figure in some major repairs.

To me it seems best to buy a 3 to 4 year old car with about 60K miles on it, take care of it and drive it until about 160K or expensive repairs are required. Your average annual cost for the vehicle (depreciation + repairs/ years of ownership) may run as high as $2000 or as low as $1000. A well chosen vehicle with more than 100K miles can make a lot of sense in particular if a person is not very flush with cash.

To the commenter above. Studies have shown that if you were to buy a new car and keep it for 15 years, repairing things as they break, you are saving thousands and thousands of dollars over leasing a car every year or two.

Buying a new car and returning it soon after (leasing) has got to be one of the worst investments, short of throwing your money away. Its like renting a car and returning it a year later.

I don't know how you can stand making car payments every month of every year of your life. I like to purchase a car, and drive it for a considerable amount of time in order to get my money's worth.

I have a 1991 Taurus LX with I think every possible option. The 3.8 motor flaw has cursed me, and now I don't know what to do because I really love the car. You don't get leather on the door panels of cars without paying big bucks. I bought the car in 2002, and have never had any problems except a power steering pump, and the now blown head gasket issue. The comment by someone that they purchase a new car annually is so misguided. Most automobiles lose money by leaps and bounds.

We drive OLD SAABs and Volvos. The Taurus was my first domestic vehicle since 1979, and I was very happy with it. The interior is still flawless and EVERYTHING still works.

I plan to fix it and keep it for as long as it can live.

It just doesn't make sense/cents to crush it. For the cost of one year of payments for something else, I can restore my Taurus back to new.