Theres plenty of people who reach retirement age and dont have the money to celebrate with the motor of their dreams, and plenty of people who sadly dont reach retirement age at all, which will become more common as by the time im at retirement age it'll be 84 or something so i'd say go for it.

One way round depreciation is to buy a cheap used car, one which wont lose any more value, something which when it dies just trade it against something else to get a few quid off. Looking round auto trader its quite stunning what you can buy for a grand these days, even if it was even better a few years ago before they decided to scrap all the used cars to save the economy.

Mercedes C 180 BlueEFFICIENCY SE
On the Road Price £26,670.00
Customer Deposit £5,295.00
36 Monthly Payments of £299.00
Optional Purchase Payment £12,150.00

So, cost over 3 years is £16059, or £5353 per year.

New cars are just so much money to change every 3 years. I think you could pick up a 4 year old model for £5.5k ...

I wonder what the market is like for private purchases of new cars. Without any real incentives, considering the job market is so uncertain, aren't people staying with what they have?

. Still, I'm approaching the retirement age and the temptation to get new car to celebrate is very strong!

Pour a stiff drink and lie down till the feeling passes! Change if you don't like it any more or it keeps going wrong.

Since I got married 30yrs ago I have spent a total of less than £17,000 on just three cars for my personal transport [not wife/family].....and I've still got two of them. That's <£500 per annum depreciation, assuming they are still worth a few thou. Admittedly I do a low mileage but I do like fast comfortable reliable cars.

All the above posts make excellent sense financially - but fortunately people still do buy new cars (or there wouldn't be any used ones around....). And they aren't all idiots.

The main reasons for buying new are:

(a) you like new cars and can afford it;

(b) you need the (probable) reliability that you get from not being at the mercy of a previous owner who for all you know could have caned it - even for only a year - and you want the full extent of the maker's warranty.

I'm lucky enough for (a) and do a high enough mileage for (b). At about the time I got the previous Octavia, a colleague bought a 3-year-old Mercedes for about the same price as mine. He does only 6,000 miles a year - so we both made the right decision for our preferences and needs.

Edited by Avant on 13/09/2011 at 20:41