Car buying is never going back to normal

[COPO]

Originally Posted by muscle_collector

my dad always drilled it in my head that if you cant afford to pay cash for your cars you cant afford them. I know that certainly isn't the norm nowadays for most people

My Dad was the same way, but took it a step further and said never buy a car newer than 2-3 years old. I've only had one new car in my life and it was for my wife, but buying a late model 2-4 year old car with low miles as a daily driver for cash is sound advice, albeit lately it's been smarter to get brand new given the crazy Covid pricing of used cars. That seems to have turned now and late model used car prices seem to be rapidly coming back down to earth.

Quick side note, my daughter was in the market for a new daily driver about a year ago. After shopping for a few weeks, she found a 2020, or 2021 with about 10K miles was MORE than ordering a brand new 2022, but would have to wait 4-months for the build. She bought the new one. Crazy times that finally seem to be changing.

[dustinm]

Originally Posted by COPO

My Dad was the same way, but took it a step further and said never buy a car newer than 2-3 years old. I've only had one new car in my life and it was for my wife, but buying a late model 2-4 year old car with low miles as a daily driver for cash is sound advice, albeit lately it's been smarter to get brand new given the crazy Covid pricing of used cars. That seems to have turned now and late model used car prices seem to be rapidly coming back down to earth.

Quick side note, my daughter was in the market for a new daily driver about a year ago. After shopping for a few weeks, she found a 2020, or 2021 with about 10K miles was MORE than ordering a brand new 2022, but would have to wait 4-months for the build. She bought the new one. Crazy times that finally seem to be changing.

I've always been a frugal buyer for myself buying used 5 year old pickups, and keeping my wife and kids in a very low mile late model car some times new. In 2013 it was time to purchase a newer pickup for myself again. After spending some time looking over inventories I found that I could buy a 3 year old pickup with 90k miles for $27K or a brand new '13 with every option that I requested and zero fluff for $32k, basically an ordered pickup. That was the easiest decision ever made. On top of it I never had to worry what the PO did or neglected nor worry about a transmission going out during a cross country haul again. Now anytime GM has a substantial discount I usually jump into another new one.