buying a 2 year old vehicle is a great way to reduce depreciation. I buy new but I have kept all but one of my vehicles for at least 10 years. You don't have to worry about depreciation if you still own it, and by the time its ten years old, you have gotten full value from your purchase (and still have the vehicle)
The other way to prevent depreciation is to not pay too much in the first place.
You can get dealers to give you the lowest price upfront. - go shopping, but decide before you go that you will not bring a vehicle home that day. Find the model and options you want by test driving, then go home and do your research before you talk price. Edmunds.com is a great site for a getting a ballpark figure for the vehicle and the options you want. Once you know what you want, email every dealer in a 100 mile radius and ask them for their best price for the specific model and options you want. You'll get a better price if you broaden your options, for example "x model in either red or black" You'd be surprised at how quickly they will respond and how much less negotiation you will have to do at the dealership. How much is the dealership making on any vehicle is very hard to figure out. besides the published rebates and discounts, the dealerships also gets discounts and rebates depending on their volume. In that respect your best price may come from the biggest dealers.
Go to your bank and get pre-approved before you talk price with the dealership, that way you have something to bargain with. The dealership's financing can usually do better than your bank, and will try to beat your bank financing because the dealer is going ot benefit from steering you toward their preferred lenders. If they don't offer you better financing, you can always go with your bank
Never talk about a trade-in until you have negotiated the price you want to pay, and then know what the model is selling for in your area. Any difference between what they offer and what they are selling for is pure profit for them and should help you lower the final price a bit. Remember its all a shell game, a little more for your trade, a little less for the new car, sometimes works for you by reducing the taxes.
Last tip, Don't add anything to the deal unless you have done the research and are sure you want it and know what you should be paying for it. The dealerships will try to tack on fabric protection, paint protection, extended warranty and all sorts of other things. Don't buy it, just keep saying no, you'll be surprised how quickly they drop the price of that ext warranty. Just keeping saying no.
