This time of year many people’s fancy turns to owning a new shiny car during the upcoming New Year. Dealers will need to liquidate their current year inventories to clear space for the new models.They will be pulling out all the stops including colorful free brochures, demonstrations, and pitches by beautiful ladies telling you all about the New Year models. Be careful not to get sucked into these sweet offers. A new automobile is one of the biggest wealth drains for you and your family. However, that being said, a car is very close to mandatory to survive and thrive in most areas of the country. Let’s talk about some tips on how to save a fortune on every car you ever own over your lifetime. Many families own at least two cars, which means you are getting robbed twice as fast. Use these simple yet powerful tips to take control of this expensive item.
Buy the car you want but only after it is at least two years old, and three years old would be better. When you choose this option you automatically will save yourself hundreds of thousands of dollars over your lifetime.A very real life example of this comes from my own life.When I was 23 years old I decided I wanted to buy a nice 4 door sedan and I was drawn to the Cadillac STS model and began doing some research.The brand new model year of that car was stickered at over $50,000 and with any kind of little extras the sticker was almost $55,000.I was very fortunate to be doing very well financially at a young age but I was not doing that well to blow 50 grand on a new car.I was thumbing through my local paper (yes this was before the internet changed everything) and saw an ad for a 2 ½ year old Cadillac STS for $19,500.The car had less than 40,000 miles on it and came with an extended warranty to 90,000 miles.It was gorgeous, shiny, and just serviced.Of course it seemed too good to be true but then someone shared with me the secrets of buying automobiles.The largest depreciation losses on cars occur in the first three years.According to Edmunds.com the average car will lose 11% of its value the second you roll it off the lot and additional 15 to 20% the first year you own the vehicle. That makes your first year loss of value 30%!The second year depreciation (loss) is another 15% for a total first two year loss of at least 45%!
