Used vs New Car Analyzer

Cars lose 20-30% of their value in the first 2-3 years. See exactly how much a slightly-used car saves over the holding period — purchase, financing, insurance, maintenance, and resale all in one comparison.

📖 About this tool

What it does

Compares buying a brand-new car vs a slightly-used (1-5 year old) example of the same model, over a holding period. Models loan APR, insurance, maintenance differences, depreciation, resale, and the wealth from investing the upfront difference.

Who this helps

Anyone facing a 'should I buy new or used?' decision. The 'cars lose 30% in the first 3 years' rule of thumb gets quantified into a concrete dollar amount across all four cost streams.

How to use it

  1. Enter the new car's price, loan terms, insurance, and maintenance.
  2. Set the used car's age (auto-fills suggested price using depreciation curve), loan terms, insurance, maintenance.
  3. Set holding period (default 7 years), annual depreciation %, and your investment return on savings.
  4. Read the cumulative cost chart, the value chart, and the wealth-from-investing chart.

What it doesn't do

Doesn't account for warranty differences (new typically has 3-5 year bumper-to-bumper, used CPO varies). Doesn't model reliability tail risk for older used vehicles.

Inputs

The New Car

The Used Car (same model, a few years old)

Default used price auto-fills using new × (1 − depreciation)age. Override with the actual asking price you've found.

Used cars typically run higher maintenance (often out of warranty) and higher loan APR (1-2% above new-car rates). Insurance is usually slightly lower (cheaper to replace).

Holding Period & Market

Real-world car depreciation is front-loaded (~20% in year 1, ~10%/yr after). A single average rate is good enough for a side-by-side comparison since both scenarios use the same rate. Investment return models the opportunity cost of the cash gap between new and used.

New vs Used Comparison

Cumulative Out-of-Pocket Cost
Vehicle Value Over Time
Wealth from Investing the Savings
Year-by-Year
Year New: Annual Cost New: Value Used: Annual Cost Used: Value Annual Savings Cumulative Savings