> it will likely retain almost no value as time goes on.

If you're buying a car as an investment I have bad news for you...

Workaccount2 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

Sure, but you can buy one for $12k and get almost nothing back, or buy a more modern EV for $25k and maybe get $13k back. In both cases you are losing $12k in a few years, but in one of the cases you get a more modern car.

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LeifCarrotson 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

Get almost nothing back from your $12k used car? Nonsense, you get a larger fraction back, the annual depreciation continuously slows down.

If a 6-year-old Bolt is still worth $14.5k, then an 8- or, say, 12-year-old Bolt isn't worth $0. Most of that depreciation happened in the first year, it's still going to be worth $12k or $9k.

For example, Jeff's 2023 Leaf originally sold for about $30k. Now, just TWO YEARS later, he probably paid $15k to $19k for it. That's a steal! Given he drives his vehicles into the ground, it probably doesn't matter, but if he wanted to sell it in a few years he could still get $10 to $15k from it.

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geerlingguy 4 days ago | parent [-]

$15k, plus end of year $4k used EV rebate :)

	▲	culopatin 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Isn’t that ending soon?

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IshKebab 4 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Nah, the newer a car is the faster it deprecates.

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bryanlarsen 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

Scrap value of a car is several thousand dollars these days. The OP's $12K car is likely going to last > 10 years. A $25k will likely depreciate more $12K in 10 years.

	▲	inerte 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		Plus insurance + registration

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devnullbrain 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

If you're buying a car as an investment then you're only marginly more foolish than if you're buying a car without considering varying levels of depreciation as part of the running costs.