Purchased to keep vs. Purchased to sell

I voted drive it till it croaks. I bought almost new, 6600 miles. It is a 2WD single cab so not exactly something popular, but it fills all my needs for now as well as the foreseeable future.

IMO I hate having a payment on vehicles, the only way it really makes sense to me is keep the vehicle at least double the years you finance. I financed for 5 years and am on 8 years now total..at 113K I would like to see it hit 200K.

 

This is something that bugs me when some says they will never buy a new car and only buy used. On something like the Tacoma with high resale, it makes more sense to buy new because the interest rates that Toyota can offer over 5 or 6 years. Interest charges on a 2% 5 year loan (new) vs 5% 5 year loan(used) add up to 3k on a 35-40k truck. Makes buying new really appealing on something like a Tacoma.

 

I used to keep vehicles roughly a year..but they were 8-10 years old or more. I could buy cheap at auctions, do some basic work myself, and usually get my money back (purchase and maintainence, maybe a little more) selling them. Pretty much the vehicle broke even except for operating expenses.

Accurate. My 2006 Colorado I bought new and put on 80K I paid about $18K and got $6.5K trade in. Could have made a little more myself but I wanted it out of my life after the engine blew.

I can see it if someone lives alone and doesn't have the second vehicle there in the house if theirs is not working perhaps. Or in the case of my mom, she leased a new Honda CRV because she needed AWD very quickly and drives about 5K miles a year.

We almost always have A car payment, but we try to keep them for 10 years or more. We also stagger it so we can do our best to avoid it. Only exception was 2008 when her 96 Tacoma was bought back, my truck was $300 and we added another $175 or so to that with hers. That said, 3 years of that payment for a 3 year old Rav4....

I bought used but I got 0.9 percent from Toyota so no complaints, but using your numbers I don't disagree with your logic of course.

 

You reach a point financially where it makes sense to sell and move on. Exactly when you do that is not an exact science. If buying new I'd say a minimum of 5 years and closer to 10 is probably better. I've found that at about 10 years you'll get 1/2 of your investment back in trade value and will most likely never have to pay for a major repair. With that much to apply as a down payment you won't have to borrow a lot of money and with today's low interest rates will pay less in interest on that small loan than you'd pay a mechanic to keep it running.

If you're smart you make a small payment for 5 years, then no payment for about 5 years. During the 5 years with no payment putting $100/month or so aside will give you another $6000 when it comes time to buy the next one. I'd never advise trading if you're going to end upside down on the value of the new truck. Keep it until you have it paid off at a minimum.

If you wait too long you risk paying out for expensive repairs, your current truck will only go down in value, and new ones just get more expensive every year. Driving till the wheels fall off means no payment for a longer period of time, but bigger payments when you do plus bigger repair bills.

On the other hand an argument can be made for keeping one 15-20 years than completely rebuilding it. New paint, new engine, interior etc. It can be done for less than the cost of buying new. Especially if you can do most of the work yourself.

 

I’m not saying it’s bad for everyone. It’s just a different mindset that’s all. I chose no debt ever. Home, cars etc all paid for in cash and making less than you’d think, cause I wasn’t busy with money in money out. So instead of retiring at 65 like most I chose 15 years sooner, do and buy what I want when it went and never blink an eye. But like said it’s just two different mindsets. Although my way I will admit takes a lot more discipline.

 

To answer you question:
I purchased my '96 Tacoma new because I needed a 4WD delivery truck for my auto parts stores. Well 24 years and 414,000 trouble-free miles latter I still have it. Actually, just came in from a drive.

I have no plans of ever selling it or my 2018.

 

Buy it to keep for ever. Never buy new and expect to make some sort of profit. I have had my '85 since I was 16 (20 years) and I will never sell it. I bought my '18 pro new off the lot and never plan on selling. Buy, Beat, Build, Batter, and Build.

 

i bought the truck to keep until it doesnt make sense but with every intention of driving past 200k if someone doesnt hit me in Atlanta traffic.

 

I plan to keep it for as long as possible. In the event that it out lasts me, then Im gonna get buried in my Tacoma.

 

Amen brah

 

With the amount of blood, sweat, tears, and money I've put into my truck, you better believe I'm running it into the ground.

 

I see a Back To The Future influence perhaps...

 

Mine is a couple thousand from being paid off. My kid will learn to drive on it in 8 years.

 

I leased mine at a steal to save up money to get a house. I had intended after getting settled into the house to buy a Tundra, but now that I've had it almost 2 years, I'm sad to give it up! They're great trucks, and after getting the seat risers, it's much more comfortable too.

 

I don't buy vehicles very often and I get rid of them even less frequently, so I like mine to last. I don't like worrying about resale value, I want to think about what's valuable to me. If the truck does what I want it to do, if I like it, and if it'll last a long time, then that's the truck for me. It's why I bought my 1990 4x4 Toyota pickup and it's why I bought my Tacoma. Honestly I'd probably still be daily driving the '90 if it had AC (and my wife hadn't wanted airbags).

 

I bought to keep for its entire life.

However, the resale value helped me decide between new or used in a roundabout way.

When I was truck hunting used 2018-2019’s we’re going for 32-34k with 10-15,000mi. A 2020 was listed at 36k. I figured the additional money was worth the brand new truck and full warranty.

Ultimately wrote a check for 34k and some change for a brand new truck.

 

Driving it. Got sellers remorse after letting my 1st gen go. Not gonna happen this time.

 

I'll resell eventually when something better compels me away. It's what's keeping me from chopping the truck for a new bumper.

 

This, too. I'm at the point where my truck will be paid off in a little around a year's time now, and the damn thing has yet to give me a major issue. Although, I will probably push both mine to learn on the ol' '96 Civic when the time comes....unfortunately it's the only vehicle we have anymore with a manual trans, and I want them to learn on that first, as I did.

 

I had a manual when my daughter was learning to drive years ago. I badly wanted her to learn it, but she just was not able to catch on. She seems to have never looked back on this one.