PSims

Cars are not an investment but a necessary expense. I buy Mercedes Benz because I can afford them. Nothing practical and I recognize it’s a vanity expense. Therefore, I keep the car in great condition and hold on to them for 10 years or more. It offsets the expense and helps me rationalize why I spent that much money in the first place!

ua549

I do the same. As far a vanity expense, I disagree. Each manufacturer and model has a unique feature or two that are exclusive. When I could no longer get by with a 2 seater, I bought the only diesel sedan available, a Mercedes 300D because of its reliability, range, economy and fuel availability (remember the oil embargo). I was commuting between Clearwater and Naples every day before the I-75 was complete. I drove the 300D for 11 years and ~500,000 miles with no major repairs - just oil changes, battery, brakes and tires. Today's market is different, but for quality/safety/feature reasons I will only buy a German car for personal use, though I buy Korean or German cars for others. I will not own a US, Canadian or Mexican built car even as a gift.

JTK44

You reasoning is very interesting: You start off by saying it is a vanity expense - which is impractical. Then you become practical by saying you keep the cars for 10 years. (not sure this is practical, considering maintenance after 5 years)

I stopped trying to rationalize getting a Mercedes. There is no way other than it is an overpriced luxury. But by definition luxury is overpriced.

I look at my wife's 2018 Ford Edge Sport, that cost me about $40K, with no service expenses except oil and new tires at 30K miles, which is now worth about $22K vs. my 2019 E450, cost about $64K plus extended warranty, $2200 and new tires because of bubbles which is worth about $26K. I ask myself "What is wrong with this picture?"

JTK44

Your forgot one very, very important thing: Up until the late 1980's Mercedes while costing more retained a substantial portion of their value. The depreciation was minimal compared to an American car.

There was a reason for all this: Mercedes were built like tanks, needed very few repairs, basically oil and filter and tires. On American cars new shocks every 25/30K miles. Mercedes 100K miles. Paint lasted. Interior lasted. Nothing broke.

My own and family experience bore this out:

1968 280 3.5 Coupe, delivery in Germany, $12,500. At that time a fully loaded Cadillac was $4500. Ten years traded in on a 1978 280 Coupe ( 2 door four passenger). Got $10K in trade and the new car was about $18,000.

1984 300D Turbo cost about $22,000 and sold it 7 years later for $17,000.

The 1978 280 Coupe was traded in 10 years later and brought $12K in trade.

I then had a 300 SDL and after five years got about 70% of its cost in trade.

A Steinway piano similarly holds it value.

Something went wrong along the way: Instead of being built like a tank, German cars now have reputation for being the most expensive cars to maintain and suffer some of the worst depreciation.

Just my $.02: sorry for the rant!

ua549

Wrong! What dictionary are you using? There are several definitions of luxury, but none of them include overpriced. Luxuries may be expensive, but expensive does not mean overpriced. One must also consider use requirements such as passenger accommodations, etc.

JTK44

BS!

Luxury is always overpriced. A $5000 Hermes women's pocket book? A $10K men's suit? A $20K Rolex watch. First Class airline tickets $12K, $4K bottles of wine, $1.3 million initiation fees to a golf club and thousands and thousands of other luxury items.

Which of the above luxury items do you feel are not overpriced?

L1Wolf

It's all relative. To someone worth billions, a $20K bottle of wine is nothing and might even be considered a bargain. It all depends on the value each person places on things. Overpriced is in the eye of the beholder.

ua549

Overpriced is strictly in the eye of the beholder. During the 80's and 90's I purchased one or two $10k airline tickets every month and never considered any of them to be overpriced. They got me to where I needed to be with enough room to work enroute. The first day on one job I was sent to a tailer to get a better suit because my new $2,500 business suit was not up to standards. The things you mentioned could amount to pocket change depending on one's point of view. It's like a life saving medical procedure; if you don't need it, it's expensive; if you need it, it's priceless.

1guitar

Prepaid maintenance is never worth it! The actual cost to the stealership is under $500. 4 years of prepaid maintenance consists of 4 oil changes and 2 air filter changes. The juice just isn’t worth the squeeze.