When people praise their own brilliant choice of vehicles, they will sometimes point out that the car they are driving will go 400,000 miles. Gold 500,000 miles. Or some other number only of interest to employees of the Guinness corporation. The book, not the beer.

While the possibility of certain vehicles continuing to run long after others have been lamented and forgotten is clearly indicative of a superior car, what does it really mean to you? To put it another way, do you care how many miles you drive after you’ve left it behind? How is that girlfriend of yours from high school today? You do not know Exactly.

The effect of depreciation on a car sale cannot and should not be ignored, but the numbers of days or weeks will. not produce a clever! moment, since each situation is completely unique. We can only decide what is best for our family at the time of purchase, use our best information and instincts to make our decisions, then move on and enjoy the car. A thousand dollars in 60 months is less than twenty dollars a month. Don’t let that relatively insignificant amount drive you crazy!

One way to overcome depreciation is to look for cars that have an unfair and unrealistic depreciation rate. A brand like Hyundai, which struggled with quality issues for many years but has been making decent cars for some time, may not exceed its reputation in years, so these cars can be good bargains. The Audi A6 is the whole car than the Mercedes E-Class, BMW 5 Series and Lexus ES, but there is a little less demand, a little less flash … perhaps it can be said that the depreciation rate is often simply the confluence of demand and prestige.

If you plan to buy a new car, you are agreeing to let the depreciation eat you alive. Your only defensive position is to buy a car that depreciates more slowly than your competition, assuming they are priced the same to begin with. While many of us try to drive our vehicles to the end, very few do.

One way to make depreciation really work for you is to buy a vehicle that is about 2½ to 3 years old and 30,000 miles. After this point, the price will not drop as fast as before and the vehicle will start to show some signs of aging. And, as it is for all of us, it’s all downhill from there!

So … let’s be more concerned about the next 40,000 miles, buy a car that we will love, pay whatever we can afford, and then celebrate by opening a short Guinness. The beer, not the book!