Best Approaches for Low-Mileage Ownership

[Flacht3]

I've been talking to some friends and colleagues about this and everyone seems to have their opinion but I'm curious what you folks think.

I put maybe 2,000-3,000 miles a year on my cars. I don't use them to commute (I take the bus, train, etc.) and really just use them for leisure, weekend trips, etc.

My approach has always been buying, not leasing, since even most low-mileage leases don't make much sense in this regard. Typically I put about 50% down to get the monthly payments extremely low and finance over 5 years, again, to keep payments low and at today's interest rates you're not losing much. And then 3-4 years later the car is about 80% paid off and I'm ready to roll it over into a new one. Usually an upgrade

I'll probably hold onto my M4 for another 3 years but already starting to wonder if there's a better approach for the next time around. Anyone else a low-mileage driver and have better tips, tricks or experience for maximizing the financial tricks of low-mileage ownership?

[DeeteeM]

Consider buying a car (new or used) that holds value rock hard. Ex: Raptor, GT4, GT3, Z8, 993, 458, 1M, etc.

[GottWhat]

Since you are losing more value from age rather than mileage I would recommend buying a slightly used car (2-3 years old) with low mileage to avoid the new car depreciation.

I agree that leasing would not make much sense with such low mileage but if you were to drive ~10,000 per year it could be ideal.

[KansasWaldo]

I take the same approach regardless if it is a low-mileage ownership or daily commuter.

Basically, I negotiate the best deal possible and lock in a competitive interest rate. Like you, I also put a decent amount down and finance the rest. If I decide to keep the car after financing, awesome. If not, I trade it in and accompany that trade-in with another down payment. Negative equity is never an issue due to length of ownership and down payment.

I've never been a fan of leases, but I understand the appeal for some.

[Gamb1t]

No point letting a good car sit and waste away. You should check out turo.com and make some money with it.

Think airbnb for car owners.

[KansasWaldo]

Originally Posted by Gamb1t

No point letting a good car sit and waste away. You should check out turo.com and make some money with it.

Think airbnb for car owners.

I have a co-worker that uses a similar service and has no complaints. Personally, I'd be paranoid since I definitely drive rental cars harder than I do my own vehicles.

[Flacht3]

Originally Posted by Gamb1t

No point letting a good car sit and waste away. You should check out turo.com and make some money with it.

Think airbnb for car owners.

I'm sure many people like this option but it's not for me. Not worth the money and I'm too anal about my cars. I'm sure there's a market for it...but I'm not it.

[eluded]

I think your approach might work best. I've been lucky that two of my cars appreciate in value whether they're driven or not. Another poster suggested that might be worth looking into. Example, Ford GT cost 125k four years ago. Now it's worth double even if you put 10,000 miles a year on it.

.... but before you sell your next car with really really low miles? Send me a PM :-)

[ppointer]

My strategy is:

I buy a used car, normally on CPO and about 18 months old. The last one BMW offered a 0.9% interest rate, and I took it and bought a 335i.

Then, I have a second car that is a beater, but plenty fun to drive. It is a 2000 323it with a manual trans. I probably spend $1k per year on maintenance for it, but it gets the bulk of the mileage in the house. If it gets a door ding, who cares? It is 17 years old, and I have had it for 12 years.

[wjones14]

Originally Posted by ppointer

My strategy is:

I buy a used car, normally on CPO and about 18 months old. The last one BMW offered a 0.9% interest rate, and I took it and bought a 335i.

Then, I have a second car that is a beater, but plenty fun to drive. It is a 2000 323it with a manual trans. I probably spend $1k per year on maintenance for it, but it gets the bulk of the mileage in the house. If it gets a door ding, who cares? It is 17 years old, and I have had it for 12 years.

This is similar to my strategy, except that my "nice" car is the 2015 M235i and was bought new, and the beater is a 2003 Mini with 102K miles.

I do drive for my work commute, but it is only 6 miles one way. I drive the Mini to work 90% of the time. The other 10% is split between the BMW and bike. Between all my vehicles, I'm driving 8000 miles per year. 4500 on the Mini, 3000 on the BMW, and 500 on the bike.

But I'm starting to rethink the strategy. It seems a shame to spend $50K on a car that's super fun and luxurious to drive, but 75% of the time I'm in the $5000 old technology Mini. The Mini is fun for sure, and yes, it's no big deal if it gets dirty or scratched. But it's dated and worn.

What I'm thinking is - replace the Mini and the BMW, and get a Focus RS. I'd only have to insure and maintain 1 car. Wouldn't lose much (if any) performance. Would gain practicality with 4 doors and a hatch. And would be able to get AWD to drive in the winter AND keep the manual transmission.

I wouldn't do this right now since I still have more than 2 years of warranty remaining, but am definitely thinking long and hard about it.

[wdb]

Buying new and putting low mileage on only makes financial sense to me if a) you're going to keep it forever, or 2) if it is that unicorn vehicle that increases in value from day one.

If I was only using a car for pleasure purposes I think I'd be looking to buy cool cars that are on the way down, if not at the bottom, of their value arc, and poised to rise in value. Think E60 M5. Not so old that you can't get it serviced, not so new that you will lose much just due to it aging, dripping with potential to put smiles on your face.

[PoorLurker]

Why put down 50%? New car rates are ridiculously inexpensive. That ~$40k could be better used somewhere else. Then again, maybe the money made off of that $40k is nothing to you. But then again again again, if it is, why does this thread exist?

Do you feel the need to have the brand new and most current model? Like others said, used cars that are more rare would be your best bet.

[GottWhat]

Originally Posted by PoorLurker

Why put down 50%? New car rates are ridiculously inexpensive. That ~$40k could be better used somewhere else. Then again, maybe the money made off of that $40k is nothing to you. But then again again again, if it is, why does this thread exist?

Do you feel the need to have the brand new and most current model? Like others said, used cars that are more rare would be your best bet.

This is true. You would be better off paying the low interest and investing the money in anything else.

[Alfisti]

Slightly used, buy, no money down unless interest rate is lower than a LOC.

Done.

[David70]

If you are buying a new M4, keeping it for 3-4 years and selling it with 9k miles I think if you do the math you would find that the cost per mile is really high. I would probably with buy the M3/M4 used and save a lot of money or buy a used 911, Cayman GT4, GT3, etc. or something along these lines and with the miles you are putting on it the depreciation hit would actually probably be cheaper and maintenance and repair on a rarely driven used car is also minimal. Bigger problems happen (depreciation, maintenance, repair) when putting a lot of miles on a really expensive used car.

People say the Z4M can be high for maintenance and repair but when I drive it 2k miles a year it costs very little.