<prompt> Human: When I bought my last vehicle, a 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee, I had to roll in negative equity into the loan from a previous terrible purchase. I rolled in almost 9,000 in debt into this 2.9 auto loan and just took my punishment. We needed a new, safer vehicle for our newborn child.Anyways, fast forward to today and I owe 16,692 in total. The Jeep is worth about 24,000 in a simple dealer trade-in, good condition which it is. Not sure why my car is the best investment Ive ever made besides buying Ford stock in late 2008 but the obvious here is... Ive erased that 9,000 Albatross of negative equity and Im still up by a healthy amount. My loan is a 2.9 APR and the payment is 664month. Stating the obvious... cars depreciate quickly as the mileage grows, should I get out now and trade in for a new car, lower payment, etc?  <response>: Depreciation slows as the car gets older, in absolute terms. The fastest depreciation is always in the first years.Cars are not investments. If you want to minimize depreciation, buy a 10 year old car. 