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When I was on the road selling, I bought lightly used off-lease four cylinder 190E's for use.
People thought me insane! Why buy such cars? For piling on miles you need something with cheap parts!! Ha! Take my 1987 190E for example. I bought the car with low miles on it, and put TONS on. Over 100K-km's per year, sometimes WAY more. I hardly put any money into it. Nothing really wore out. On a cost per mile basis, those old 190E's were the cheapest driving I have ever had. They took little to keep them going, got pretty good fuel economy, and maintenance could be done by me. After putting 300K on it, I sold it and took a surprising small loss in depreciation. Even with over 400K-km's, they were suprisingly good cars.
When I landed in the office, I broke down and bought a new Mercedes. I had lost my mind! Nothing has cost more than that! The cost of operating the car have been low, but the depreciation has been immense! My car has cost me about $25,000 in five years in depreciation, and that's low compared to someone buying an E or S! So, with that heavy investment, I'm keeping this thing until my per-km cost comes down to a reasonable level. Since a 1994-95 C220 sells for about $15-16K (my 1998 retails for about $20-22K) I figure my depreciation curve is flattening out and this would be the worst time to sell it.
The only car I ever owned where the operating costs far exceeded the depreciation cost was my 911 Turbo. I actually sold the car for about the same as I paid for it, so take into account opportunity cost of capital and my depreciation charges were tiny compared to the thousands spent on maintaining and repairing the thing. In the scheme of life, it seemed like a stupid thing to have $60,000 tied up in a car, and that's why it was sold. I don't miss the car anymore, and I have the Hayabusa for times this summer when I feel like going fast...
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