New Cars: The Number One Wealth Killer Nobody Talks About

What is the number one wealth killer?
Ah, yeah,
new cars, car payments in general.
So I made this video last year
about the number one wealth killer that nobody talks about.
In my opinion, I don’t think anybody should ever buy a new car.
If you’re trying to be financially savvy,
never buy new. Because buying a new car
is basically just throwing your money away to depreciation
most of the time.
And how much are you losing once you drive the car off the lot?
Yeah, off the lot.
Depending on the model, 15%,
20%, right off the top there.
And then in the first three years,
you typically lose 40% of the car’s value.
That’s typical appreciation curves.
Obviously for some sports model cars,
it could be a lot higher. For some cars that hold their value well,
like I think a RAV4 holds their value really well,
it might be lower, but on average about 40%.
So I’m assuming that you should buy used.
You should also never lease a car.
I’m assuming leasing a car could be good depending on who you are,
but you should almost try to always buy a car that’s three years used.
I found that that’s the sweet spot,
because if it’s three years used,
it’s still feels new. It probably has less than 30,000 miles on it.
Hopefully. And honestly,
the models don’t change that often,
so people will just look at you and they’re like, oh,
he’s driving A new car. And it’ll save you so much money.
So if you are gonna buy a new car,
make sure it’s three years used,
four years used, maybe certified pre owned.
And you’ll save a bunch of money that way.