Paul,

Great article, and for the most part I agree with you, even though I don't exactly follow your advice...

My wife and I bought a new car in October. I took us a long time to weigh the pros and cons of new vs. used, and while there are tons of pros to buying used, there is also a ton of research that should be done. We did look at lightly used cars, but after trying to negotiate on them, I realized I could get a new model cheaper. And thats what we did. I ended up getting a new model cheaper than the used we looked at, plus the full warranty and piece of mind.

Also, my wife and I are in the process of building a new house. We looked at old homes, but we couldn't get away from making lists of what we would need to do to them so we would like them. After weighing what we would need to live through, and the prices, we were able to build a brand new house in a newer development for the same price as the "used" one's we were looking at.

Obviously my examples are gross exceptions (I was amazed at the Car when I was able to pull it off), and a great deal of research went into both decisions, but otherwise, great article!

-Daniel
www.youngandfrugal.com