<prompt> Human: Hey folks, so I just sold my old truck and got a new one. I was really surprised with how well the old truck retained its value.Back when I was growing up, I remember seeing prices on 1-2 year-old cars and it always seemed like the sweet spot -- getting something lightly used. In the past 10 years or so though give or take, Ive seen a big shift in how well vehicles retain their values.Numbers time! I bought a 2009 F-150 in 2009 for around 28k, and just sold it a few days ago for 16.5k. I only put around 50k miles on the truck, and had no major repairs during the 6.5 years just a battery and tires. With a combined cost of 28k - 16.5k 1k batterytires 600 interest, over the course of 6.5 years, that comes out to around 168month for the truck itself.I left out gas and insurance since I think the differences in those for another vehicle would have been negligible for me.Anyway, that was much cheaper in the long run than I thought it would be, so I wanted to share with everyone here.Edit: So guys, just a little clarification... I see some folks making assumptions about what Im claiming implying here. Please dont take this post as buying new vs used is a great financial decision, or buying a truck vs car is a great financial decision. Literally all I wanted to do was show a real single example of how buying a new vehicle can be much cheaper than most people tend to think myself included. I see posts every so often that say buying new vehicles is objectively a bad decision, which definitely isnt the case.  <response>: You are going against the buy a 2000 car mindset that is pervasive here but you are absolutely correct. A lot of people get hung up on the idea that a car depreciates so much its first year but they always miss 2 things.1 A car is not an investment it is a tool and as such depreciates no more than most other things you buy2 After the first big drop most modern cars hold their value very well, not all, there are always some that are just junk but by and large they hold up well.One of the few things we can say that has consistently improved in quality is cars. I am old enough to remember when you wouldnt ever buy a car with over 100,000 miles on it even 60,000 was dicey. Now you can get a 5 year loan on a car with 60k. Also a high percentage of cars had rust on them and seeing mufflers on the side of the road was pretty common. 