I know the conventional wisdom is to buy a used car and "let someone else pay the depreciation."

But in practice what I've found is that auto manufacturers are happy to make a few hundred bucks on a new car sale. But dealerships are looking to make a few thousand on a used car sale.

Last car I bought, I looked at getting a used one, thinking it would be cheaper. But all of the 2-3 year old versions of the car I was looking at were only a few hundred dollars cheaper.

Before that, I did buy a used minivan just because new ones were ridiculously expensive. In the end, I'm pretty sure the dealership made about $4K on that sale. There was nothing pleasant about that experience and the whole thing was a ripoff.