<prompt> Human: only talking numbers here, is there ever a situation where buying a new car makes more financial sense than buying a used car? especially if the used car is certified pre-owned?  <response>: Yes, and Ive bought new because of it. I was looking at VW TDI wagons a couple years ago. At the time their depreciation was incredibly small. A three-year-old CPO with 30k miles was sometimes selling for just a few thousand less than a new one. Lets say it has a lifespan of 200k miles and the new price was 25k. Then lets say a used one with 30k miles was going for 22k. If you look at the cost per mile, the new one is .125 and the used one is .129. With CPO youre also giving up the best most reliable miles that the car will have. Of course, there are a bunch of other factors as well. New will often have lower interest rates if youre financing, youll hit some of the higher cost maintenance services sooner with the used car, things like tire replacement may be coming up soon, etc. Ignoring the financial factors, theres some peace of mind knowing that everything is covered under warranty for a few years. The real point is that you need to look at the individual situation and determine what makes more sense. 