It just makes me so sad to see all the money that people waste on cars.

DH gets bored and wants a new (second hand) car every 6 months and we buy them all off private sellers/the internet. We've yet to have an issue and we managed to sell the car we bought on ebay for the same as we paid.

I guess the key issue is that cars are like houses, really - you never get back what you actually paid for it
Big difference - a house will appreciate in line with the CPI and sometimes far more. Even though the house itself might lose value as it ages the land will pretty much hold its own. Not that there aren't falls in housing prices but the overall trend despite corrections is upwards.

ETA - Bath, how much of the depreciation can you claim on tax?