<prompt> Human: Sometimes I overanalyze things and miss something elementary. Any feedback or corrections to my logic is appreciated.Im in a position where I feel Its time for a new car. My current car is 13 years old and showing its age. I have some looming maintenance items ahead that are going to easily cost more than the car itself. The maintenance would total less than the annual cost of a new car of course, but I feel like I would need to go 2-3 years more in this car to get my value out of the work. Any accident, or other unforseen breakdown means losing that value or having to go in further. Of course we can argue the merits of this belief, but the other piece is at 13 years, Ive gotten my value and would enjoy a having a new vehicle.I intend to buy used, and I am comfortable with my current financial situation that a car note is not the concern though Ill miss the years of not paying for one!.My actual question is on how to purchase the vehicle. I could move some money out of investments and buy the vehicle outright, or I could secure a loan and pay it off over time. My belief is that I am better off with the latter. Right now, the economy is doing well. If i consider a low interest car loan, coupled with inflation, and the losses are less than the growth of my investments, I am better off continuing to invest my extra income rather than paying off the loan faster.If my other investments drop in performance caused by an economic downturn, I would then shift money I am currently using to invest and instead work to pay the loan off faster. When market conditions improve, I would shift my money back to investing.Obviously i cant predict the market, but I can make decisions off of returns vs. losses.Is there something I am blatantly missing with this approach or am I just overthinking it?...is my lack of business intelligence showing itself yet?EDIT: looks like I didnt miss anything based on comments below. I appreciate everyones input!  <response>: Unless youre buying a very expensive car and financing for a very long time, the stakes here are quite low, so dont tie yourself in knots. Expected spread between the interest rate on the loan and returns in the market is what, about 2 to 2.5? For a loan of 20K repaid over four years, thats a few hundred dollars. If youd rather have more in your investments and have a car loan, do that; if you like not having a car payment, cash out what you need to and pay cash.Also, why would you stop investing if the market goes down? Buy low. 