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this post was submitted on 06 Aug 2025
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Asklemmy
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Cars. Cars are stupidly called an asset, and I guess they retain some value, but not really. It loses 50% of it's value the second you drive it off a lot and continues depreciating the longer you own it. It requires maintenance and gas, tags, insurance. It's a liability. If you need one, then purchase it knowing that you are purchasing an item. A car is never an investment.
Bruh I wished cars lost 50% of their value when they drove off the lot. Have you tried to buy a used car recently?
I still wouldn’t call a car an “investment” or anything, but 100% agreed. The whole “cars lose 50% of their value when you drive off the lot” thing might have been true before the Cash for Clunkers program, but it isn’t anymore. Or maybe it’s true if you’re trying to trade-in the vehicle.
If I wanted to buy the (fairly popular) car I’ve been driving for over 6 years with the same mileage, it’d cost me over 2/3rds what it cost new When I bought it, new cars were less expensive than used cars (i.e., like less than two years old with less than 25k miles) thanks to how much better the interest rates were on the loans. A couple years later, I was getting offers for more than I paid for it. And none of that is a unique experience.
I went with a friend to look at used cars at CarMax. They had a 1 year old Subaru that was going for only $1k less than a brand new one.
I know CarMax is shitty and expensive. But that was even more ridiculous than I was expecting.
The trick is to buy a 25 year old car in good condition, and then store it in a dry place under a tarp for at least 10 more years.
I think it's okay to spend money on a card but not to delude yourself into thinking it's an investment. I think you can be right, maximizing your value, I also think you can spend 80k on a car, as long as you know that you're spending 80k to drive, not expecting to ever make any of that money back.
The patern on easy money tends to be - buy something that 15yo boys lusted after when its 15 years old and hold it for 10 years then watch the values climb over the next 10 before they plateau and then drop.
Middle age is a bitch.
I bought a 2015 Mitsubishi in 2018 for like 12k USD and it’s worth more now than when I got it.
That’s not usual though, it’s because of COVID. And the fact that somehow it’s fully loaded and low mileage for that price—I think that might have been a mistake.
Assets and investments are not the same. End thread
And I argue that they should be considered neither
Is your argument that an asset doesn't (or shouldn't) depreciate?
My argument is that something that only depreciates shouldn't be considered an asset
Maybe if you buy a Kia. Most cars barely depreciate in the first 3 years. Once leases turn in they drop a bit, but still not to 50% of their value. Shit during the pandemic my 3 year old car was worth more than what I bought it for. Things have improved, but they’re not to pre pandemic pricing.
Kia’s and Hyundais also aren’t depreciating as badly as they used to. But they’re still pretty bad, only being rivaled by the high end luxury cars.
Fine maybe not 50% immediately. I just ran the numbers and a Ford F150 purchased 2 years ago for 42k would today be worth (max) 30k. I wouldn't exactly call that an investment, or an asset even. I would definitely call the loss of 12k in value depreciation.
I see a crapton of Kias in northern Maine. No idea if that is even slightly relevant.
Generally true, but sometimes you get lucky: I bought a fully loaded Camry in mid 2021, heavily discounted, because it was one of the last previous year model cars they had in the country and at 0% apr for the duration of the 3 year loan. This was right before shortages started and inflation skyrocketed. As a result its value on the used market stayed over what I paid for 3 years and even now it's lost only about 10-15% of the purchase price.
Still lost value though. Investments and assets can gain or lose value. Cars only lose value.
Most cars only lose value.
A very tiny minority of mostly exotics become collectors items and are worth many times their original value, even after considering inflation.
Yeah I thought about adding that in, but then people think "Like my car!" Pretty much only if you're buying a literal junker knowing you're going to refurbish and rebuild the entire thing into mint condition - and you know it's a high value car, then you'll probably make a profit. (Even then though, what's the value of the time and money there)
100% true for the kind of cars you buy to drive.
This is my logic too. I own my house but have been leasing a new car every year for over ten years now.
I was kind of skeptical at first but for now I think it works out for us.
I think it's fine to own, but not as an asset but more of a cost to drive. "I am paying $30k (plus interest) to be able to drive for the next 10 years". To me, that is a realistic expectation