Every situation is different. In my case my car was paid off, but it was also 6 years old with 76,000 miles and an accident on carfax. I didn’t want to get into payments again, but I also didn’t want to get stuck with a 100,000 mile vehicle that I wouldn’t be able to sell. The fact that Carmax was willing to pay as much as they did was a no brainer. The used car market may not stay this way for long and I doubt I would get anywhere near what I got for it.I don't disagree on new vs. used and what you are willing to accept but I stand by my statement - if I go from owning my car to having to buy a new one again, I'll take what I have as long as the repairs etc. are up to standard. To your point, my car was bought new and I keep my cars a long time so I accept the small defects etc. of that decision as time marches on with my ownership. As someone said above, my car is also modified so that factors in too. Payments or not absolutely weighs in here though IMHO.