I was recently heard a conversation about a new vehicle sales person telling a customer that buying some $50,000+ pick up truck was an investment, and laughing at the stupidity.
That got me thinking, could any vehicle ever be an investment? If someone did buy that truck and stored it away for 10 or 20 years with all the necessary storage maintenance, what would the result be?
If someone had a very low mileage showroom condition diesel pick up truck from the early to mid 1990s, what would it be worth? Some of the value would be due to emissions regulations changes and the lack of availability of a comparable product today.
How do exotic sports cars hold value when stored?
edit: Emphasis is on new vehicles for this discussion.
If it is as a collector car, very carefully with an eye to generational values and not using rent money. Timing is everything. We are most interested in the cars we saw as kids.
Now if it is a piece of business equipment, it needs to add more value or capacity to the business than not making the purchase. If you need a truck to expand or conduct business, it is ā ā ā ā ā ā not to do it. And vica versa.
Holy cow, as a kid the wife would get her mouth washed out with soap for using the S word. Just blacked out here. Who knew?
The problem is tastes and trends change. What could be perceived as a valuable collector car now might not be looked at the same way in 20 years. Then youāre stuck holding the empty bag.
Dabbling in vehicles as an investment is risky business.
If the value lost from it being used instead of stored exceeds the storage cost then it does. It could still be a bad investment whether it is stored or used though.
If it enables you to MAKE money, Iād consider it an investment.
A hard NO on that. Investment vehicles are a crapshoot. Even very expensive and rare offerings from established manufacturers can be seen as a good or a bad investment. Rarely is it apparent which that might be.
There is an auction site called Bring A Trailer that has auctioned unbelievably low mile, perfectly preserved cars from the 60s, 70s or 80s. Most every one I have seen listed has sold for cheap money. A 1976 Oldsmobile Starfire that sold for $4800 back in the day went for $11,400 or so. That $4800 in 1976 dollars is worth about $29,000 today. So it lost 67% of its value. Pretty typical.
Likely barely the original cost. So discounted for the 248% inflation from 1990 to 2025 that would be a significant loss.
Depends again on the rarity of the model and its desirability. A 1995 McLaren F1 with 240 original miles sitting on the original TIRES sold for $24 Million a year or so ago. When new it sold for $1.3 Million or so but they only made 68 roadgoing versions. But that car IS an investment because the prior sale from 3 or so years ago sold for $22 Million.
I think some people are intellectually dishonest about this scenario.
Say you bought a brand new Corvette ZR1 today for $100,000, and stored it for 20 years.
Unless you happen to be the proprietor of a self storage business, youāre going to have to pay monthly to store the car. Letās say $100/month for 20 years.
Youāre going to have to do some minimal maintenance on the car, just to keep things running and in shape. Letās say an annual oil change of $100. Perhaps some fresh gas every so often. Might need a new set of tires from time to time if the current ones flatten out.
What about insurance? Iād want some kind of coverage even if sitting in storage, since this is an āinvestmentā. What about registration? Youāve got to drive it some on the public streets.
So by my math, youāre going to be into this at least $130,000 or so over 20 years. Will the car still be desirable then? Will gasoline still be available as an engine fuel? What if a meteor strikes the self-storage place and the car is trashed in year 19?
My take isā¦. automobiles are consumables meant to be used. You can pamper and āloveā them now as much as you like. But you wouldnāt buy a young racehorse and keep him stabled his entire life, ājust in caseā thereās a big race one day.
This is just a silly idea to me. But your mileage may vary.
Of course, buying a vehicle can be an investment. As long as you are a business, and the vehicle will be used for company business. For example, if you are a contractor buying a work truck, thatās an investment. If you are a consumer, vehicles are an expense, not an investment.
Or live in a house with at least a garage, I stored a vehicle for over 20 years for FREEā¦
Vehicles are found in barns that were stored for 20-30-50+ years with NO chargeā¦
Lots of places a vehicle can be stored if you have the room for itā¦ I know where a late 70ās Power Wagon is right now that has been in storage for almost 30 years, I can name many more examplesā¦
But if youāre like me, youāve only got room for 2, maybe 3 cars in your garage. Are you going to park one of your daily drivers in the driveway? Thereās a cost there.
Additionally, those ābarn findsā like youāre describing were likely not ever intended to be āinvestmentsā 50 years later or whatever.
My point beingā¦ if youāre going to buy a brand new car as an āinvestmentāā¦I at least would want to keep it in top shape for the eventual āsaleā in the glorious future. Itās one thing to park an old Mustang in the barn and forget about it for 40 years. Itās entirely something different, in my mind, to buy brand new with the intent to preserve.
If a business buys a truck, that is most certainly an investment. Just like when I buy tools and equipment to be able to do my job more efficiently. And if I earned enough to exceed the standard deduction, I could write them off on my taxes just like a business can. More importantly, although a business depreciates a work truck over a period of five years, or immediately if itās over a certain GVWR, itās expected to last for 10 years or more. For example, my work truck is a 2014 model, with 91,000 miles on it, and before that I had a 2001 with nearly 200,000 miles on it.
Apparently the Porsche 911 prices are going up. So, that would be a good excuse to buy one, enjoy it on the weekends and then sell it. But you have to maintain it and as mentioned even the garage has a rent attached to it.
I think, unless you are very lucky, you will never have a better performance than an index fund. The index fund does not need insurance, storage or repairs/maintenance.
Yes, my fun car has been kept in a garage since I bought it in 1987 except for 2 years when I was 1st helping my parents (care giver) when the daily drivers and others sat outsideā¦
Funny, dad used to ask me why my oldest car is garage kept and the nice cars are kept outsideā¦ lol
I have never had an issue parking my newer drivers outside, but I donāt live in the northern salted roads of rust either, vehicles just donāt rust as bad down hereā¦
Now will my fun car be worth a lot one day, probably not, but if I had a bought that 'Cuda 35 years ago and treated it like my fun car has been treated, then yes I would be sitting on some money right now, or that 69 Charger RT SE 440 car from many years past, or that etc etc lol
Some of these cars do not have to be in prime shape to be worth money, but it helpsā¦
If a business needs a truck to do its business then itās an investment. Donāt confuse ādepreciatingā with āwastingā. For the purpose of tax accounting depreciation is a benefit.