ACCOUNTANT EXPLAINS: How to Avoid Overpaying for a Car 

What do you use to edit your youtube videos? They are well made and well edited. Great content. Thanks.

Yes, that's pretty good advice. I also keep my cars for a long time and if you take care of them, they shouldn't have any problems.

You are right on keeping cars, BUT: If your car depreciates fast, it also means, that you could have waited a few years and could have bought the same car for way less. So you lost money, becouse you bought it at full price or before depreciation

​@@fabcardx4036 > and could have bought the same car for way less Oh, yeah I see you all out there buying VW Beetles for 200 dollars each. ;) Get practical please. Let's see a REAL example. Three years ago a friend of mine bought a used car, a 2019 model so it was new-ish. It is a good family size SUV and he paid X amount of money because it was in top condition. Last year I bought a new car. Same brand, the smaller model, but with all the improvements and nice stuff that came out since 2019 and I paid the same X amount of money. Sure, he bought the car "cheaper" as you say compared with the price the car had in 2019, but with the SAME money, he could have bought a NEW one (smaller car, yes, but still a solid family car as well). Even if we play by the "I wanna resell my car one day", I am still ahead, because his will be "a used 2019 car with one extra previous owner" on the market and mine will be "a 2023 car with no previous owners". Which has more value? Also, smaller cars retain more value because they burn less fuel and are more suitable for inner city use (which is where most of the demand for used cars). So, even on the used spectrum of things, buying new initially is still better :) On waiting now: What you are talking about is like the good old tech fallacy back in the nineties. A CD drive cost 100 dollars when it was emerging tech, it made sense to wait for it to become widely available. Now it costs 20 dollars, but DVD drives are out. Oh, boy, do I buy a CD drive or do I wait for the awesome DVD drives to get to 20 bucks? DVD drives get to 20 bucks finally, but now BLURay is coming along and that drive is 100 bucks. And then BLURay is 20 bucks and suddenly all optical drives were obsolete because SSD came along. In all this process you were waiting out and never bought any of those, so you didn't enjoy the positives of the tech at the time. And now you are not buying all that used stuff because they are obsolete. Waiting is a double edged sword. Sometimes it pans out, sometimes you miss out on good opportunities. Have a nice day!

I tried to buy used Toyota rav 4, 3 years old, at all Toyota dealers in MN…. It was only 20% less the new ones!!!! So I bought a brand new one and I have been driving it for 11 years, and many to come.

Thanks, I wished someone said this. This concept alone will make our choice of car different, than the one you were actually going for, (with the assumption you'd use it for 4 to 5 years max) I have an SUV that's around 30 years old and now not road-legal and a motorcycle I used for 18 years. I was looking for a new car and maybe I should think of using beyond 2035 instead of 2029. I'd choose one that makes sense even then, and maybe something I can handle even at an old age

Exactly what I was thinking 😊. I missed the choice of car brand! I usually buy a second hand Toyota or Lexus. Almost no repairs. Just normal maintenance. Now I have owned BMW, Volvo etc and these almost always had extra repairs every year.

Toyota is boss. You don't have to buy the new one. Secondhand Toyota is best buy

I always choose Lexus, the best buy, truly✌️

@@danielchripko5204 Love my GS450h 😀

Agree! I bought a 4 year old, low mileage, one owner Lexus RX350 in the US. Traded-in a high maintenance car, then paid cash for the balance. I'll probably keep it until it dies. Lexus / Toyota are one in the same. My Lexus is now 8+ years old and still very much like new. NO regrets...

Yes, this would be an interesting one.

Why would you not pay for them? School isn't free and you signed for it.

​@@bodybongThey are not talking about not paying their student loans but whether paying more than the monthly payment makes sense to try to pay it early. Some loan companies will apply any over payment to interest first unless you specify to apply to principal. It's good to find out this info rather than paying extra, thinking you are paying down the principal and saving on interest when that may not be the case.

​@@viiiiivi Not free in the UK but it does not make sense to pay them back early. The payments are more like additional tax for the 30 after course end date. Think it's USA which has the big issues with student loans.

@@bodybongthink you're misunderstanding the question. I think they're asking whether to pay off sooner or invest. Students loans gets taken out of pay in uk and only after earning a certain amount. Also gets written off after 30 years I believe? Some people daily never earn enough to pay them off in 30 years

insurance: make sure you have someone with you who talks "insurancy" or "banky". I have seen smily, nice people who got insurance with £3k/y premium for plain regular family car, because smiling and saying "yes" to every add-on insurer mentions does not do the business.

Hello, great advice. How does one find a dealership-certified local garage.. does the dealership provide this info, or do you search online for local garage (what is the search tag)? Cheers!

@@Shakashack2022 I have "picky" relatives, as soon as they find something of good value/quality - I go there too. So, good local garage gets whole family :D Garage, we used for servicing, just upgraded to "automakers-certified". Business went well, so they invested in training and certificates. Obviously, you can not ask them to use 2nd-hand or aftermarket parts, that's where 2nd garage comes in :)

It depends. You can buy brand new and keep it for 300 400k and it's still worth it.

Hello, do you mean paying the full cost out of your own money?

No one has money for that! Have you researched the average salary in the US? I traded in my 11 year old car (needed serious work and no one could do it) for a 3 year old CPO. My 11 year old car with 106k miles is going for 11k. That is not a reasonable amount of money for someone to pay in cash for the average person. Most people don’t have $500 in savings in the US. My 3 year old Certified Pre-Owned was $25,500. I guess I was supposed to have that to pay in cash?? WTH??

I hope the clutch lasted more than a year! Seriously though, I'm astonished that anyone uses a main dealer once their new car is out of warranty.

Hey! Sure - can go into in more detail in a future property video (it's dependent on the Council and there are quite a few requirements to meet). Found an example of one for Ealing in the meantime: www.ealing.gov.uk/info/201086/housing_and_council_tax/2299/renting_your_property

@@nischa Hey Nischa, thanks for taking the time to reply. I think it will make for an interesting video where you talk about how it works, your experience and pros and cons. Of course, experience will vary depending on the Council. Have a great Sunday!

Electric cars are overpriced when buying and worth nothing after 5 years and are loaded by insurance companies and are the dearest form of transport for low mileage drivers. Don't buy under any circumstances.

Spot on.

It’s not a saving- the car is worth less due to age and mileage

That makes no sense at all. Would you apply that logic to buying a phone, laptop or shoes? In fact a lightweight vehicle should be better on fuel, in some countries lower registration and be better engineered. Heavy vehicles are the result of lazy manufacturers and legislators.

I'm just making a reference from the book 'The Millionaire Next Door' and how they compared prices of various makes and models. Weight was just one factor, other factors where performance, overall price, and of course customer satisfaction surveys. @@gregf4170

Yep, thanks for clarifying - they need to drive it over 50% of the time (i.e. be the main driver)