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					Originally Posted by Giantone  I buy the wife a new one,she drives 4 miles to work and four miles back after 5/6 years when it is paid off I take that car and she gets a new one ,again.  Happy wife ,happy life. Seriously I get a car with 40/45 thousand on it and then turn them in when it's time to get another .I don't take a penny of my own for a down payment.(my ride is 49 mi each way every day 6 days a week) 
   I just traded my old Camry 03 with 240,000 on it and in "fair" condition for 3200 on a a new Santa Fe. | 
	
 OK well you're not buying and replacing the same car every five years.  You're buying and replacing every 10 years.  You guys buy a new one, she keeps it 5 years, you get it for the next five years, but you're not trading it back in until it reaches 10-12 years old.  That makes great financial sense.
That's much different from what my father in law does.  He buys a car for himself, then after 5 years of owning and putting 50K miles on it, he trades it in and buys a new one.  He does the same thing with his wife's car.  So they buy 2 new cars every five years.  It's way cheaper to just continually lease than to do what he does.