I am thinking about selling

As opposed to say, saving $500 a month perpetually to spend on your next car ?

 

Nope. As opposed to $500 a month saving minus the used value of your 5 year old vehicle. Or even better, over 6 years at $417 or 7 years at $357 a month minus whatever value is remaining assuming a $30k vehicle cost. The longer you can amortize it, the better. 3 years just breaks even as OP proved.

 

That is a separate issue, and it depends on arbitrage.

OP takes on a 5 year loan and drives about 200k miles over that time. While a Prius can usually be kept for longer than 200k miles if the owner takes on the cost of repairs, car downtime in the shop, and risk of the car having problems in the middle of a trip, I don't think any of us really recommend that approach for people who use their cars as their business far away from home. DC acted rationally and got a great deal.

We tend to keep our cars for much longer. The Subaru was swapped out for a new car last year after I decided to not track down the reason for an engine check light that was preventing the car from passing emissions. It was 18 years old. However, it had been quite a few years already that the car had been relegated to about-town duty. The couple times it broke down during errands was not a big headache -- my wife simply walked home

On the other hand, the car I use to drive to work has much less than 200k miles on the engine. I want a close to zero percent chance of problems for those trips.

 

i go every 4-5. i like knowing that some lucky bugger is getting a really clean, well maintained, low mile car that was driven by an ol' lady for a great price.

 

I used to drive 35k miles a year as a medical courier so I know what it means to have a reliable car far away from home. You definitely do not want an unreliable car. No doubt, OP acted rationally and has chosen the safer more reliable route. I can say that because it is an opinion. However, I was speaking to cost. And exchanging cars every 3 years is likely more expensive than changing cars every 5 in spite of maintenance and repairs. He did not choose the lower cost route. That is not an opinion. You do not have zero percent chance of problems when you purchase new. Likewise, you do not have 100% chance of problems when you own an older vehicle. Pursuing newer vehicles for safety and reliability is a rational choice. Prolonging your Prius ownership beyond 200k miles is also a rational choice. It all depends on your priorities.

 

Congratulations on the new car...and best wishes!

 

It is, and it is likely wrong.

Her payments did not change; so while she swapped cars after only a couple of years, the equivalent purchase would have been to a person who buys a new car and runs it for 200k miles before sending it to the graveyard and buying another. That is financially wise car ownership even before accounting for the other benefits she enjoys.

I'm surprised by her success too; good for her.

 

If you don't believe it then we'll just disagree. It is not equivalent purchase for what OP did to swap at 70k miles as it is for someone swapping every 200k miles. If you think it is then, . OP's payments did not stay the same. I'm not surprised or surprised by OP's success. There's not enough information to form an opinion. What I do know is that OP made the right decision.

 

That is factually correct, but she bought a higher trim model which accounts for the higher payment. I give her the benefit of the doubt that she was not roped into the higher trim by the sales critter, and actually would have bought that trim in the other scenario as well.