sell the car or keep it

[rtrnow]

Curious to hear other thoughts on whether to sell or keep my car. I suspect I know what most will say but we'll see. I have a 2012 model car bought new one year ago for 25K cash. I average 25-26 MPG. I like the car, but I'm considering selling for something that's cheaper and gets better mileage. From my looking, I can probably sell the car for 20K and buy another car that meets my needs for 10K. Aside from the immediate savings, I estimate about $300 per yr in gas savings and $150-$200 per year in insurance savings. So, sell it or drive it forever?

[Prof Penny Pincher]

Sell it this second.

At the moment it is still new enough that it has a good amount left to depreciate in the next few years which would be wasted cash.

Your plan is spot on. Spend the 10k like you suggested, and save 10k in wasted depreciation, then run the 10k car till it fails like a boss.

[rtrnow]

It's only been a few days, but there has been no interest in my car using autotrader. I haven't gotten one call or email. I checked with a couple of places on trade-in but both said 17K. That's almost 9K (35%) less than I paid one year ago. I know you usually come out ahead selling yourself and I always have but was hoping the offset of sales tax might make trading a good idea. I'll leave it listed and see what happens. I understand sunk costs, but is it worth 7K back in my pocket to also end up with a car 5 years older with 50K more miles?

[prima]

As i see it, car is the works investment ever. It loses it value faster than you think. Sell it and get something for 10k, and invest the other 10K.