Beaters Out Of Choice - Not Necessity (car payments, air bag, Japanese)

[Wyllyam]

I live in the great middle of flyover country, where all men are required to drive a truck more expensive than their house. I just don't get the need to pose for each other at stoplights, where 99% of the time you don't even know each other, yet pay five hundred a month or more just for the gas to get to work...(A guy I used to sit next to bought a four-door Jeep, financed a lift kit and installed 36-inch tires before taking delivery, because, and I quote, "it has to look tough". I'm not kidding. I guess if it makes you happy who am I to argue.)

My DD is a 2001 CR-V. It has it's original picnic table in the back and cassette radio and all, and only 75k miles. It's gone from new to boring to odd to now being "neat" in the eyes of the kids with it's little off-road tires and quirky styling. It has way more style than any CRV made since, but it's pretty unsure above 70 or so and some plastic parts are finally going (new radiator = $60 online plus an afternoon of swapping it out). It needs all new hoses and a timing belt soon. Yes, I'd like something fast when I need to get onto an onramp, but it still gets 25 mpg and just won't break. Plus, it carries almost anything, including five people, and as long as I don't put in a DVD/GPS or something there's no reason to break into it. Hail, door dings, it shrugs it off. I do protect the interior by venting the windows and using a sun shield, but it's just a happy little beast.

Do I care what they think of me? It's been said here before, they don't. I'm a rolling traffic cone for the giant mega-horsepower trucks to weave around.

[eddiehaskell]

Originally Posted by Caleb Longstreet

I drive a 99 Camry with 213,000 on it and going strong...believe me, you are spot on about affordable transportation.....it's just a car...most people should get over it....if it runs good, transmission is smooth and the AC works well, that's what you need.....I love not having a payment since 2002 and carrying only liability on it.....cheap to keep up too....14 inch tires costing $400 a set or less versus the obligatory 17, 18, 20, and 22 inches now found on some cars costing $800 or more a set....egads....26mpg average overall....good enough....


If this thing blew up tomorrow I would not be upset. I would simply smile and go find a clean, used one from someone in the 5-7K range and run THAT 10 years....I really want a hybrid but, I'm having trouble justifying the expense....I'd have to keep it 15 years to really, really get my money's worth just like this one....I might do it, just depends......or, find a clean used 2005-06 in that other price range and spend 10-15K over the next 10-15 years on "replacements".....

The older you get, the easier this becomes.....why spend 32K....plus interest.....when 32K, over 30-35 years will cover your transportation needs entirely???

We have a 2000 model bought new in the family with 240k now. At 225k or so we did the first major repair which was $700 for a new head gasket. Some may think it's crazy to spend $700 on a $1800 car, but the car has been running about a year now so that breaks down to about $58/month. I believe property tax is about $30/year and insurance runs about $40/month. Compared to a new car, the savings on property tax and insurance are enough to cover most repairs....one insurance claim for a ding or fender bender could have you paying a $500 deductible.

[Mandalorian]

Originally Posted by GypsyLady13

what you just posted is exactly what i did 10 years ago. i bought my car with a down payment, bought it brand new and here i am, 10 years later with a great car. i would not call my car a beater either, it's not.
so what would you call your brand new car 10 years down the road? it would be the same thing. no?
maybe i don't know what a beater really is. i am the original owner of my car, bought brand new and it is paid off, is this a beater?

Just because it's a little older doesn't make it a beater. 2004 is still pretty new in my mind. I think of beaters as more 1970s/1980s. Stuff you can buy for $800 or something like that.

[Malloric]

Not much interest.

I tend to drive a lot of miles (~35k/yr), so buying your typical beater isn't really going to work that well for me. Something with 150k miles on it already that's driven 35k/yr isn't going to last long without needing frequent repairs. It's as much the unreliable nature of beaters as it is the cost of repairs that's annoying. Mazda ('08) was bought new and ran to around 160k, sold for $6k.

Depends what you're buying, of course, and whether you can and are willing to do your own wrench. If you're just looking at economy cars, you really don't end up saving all that much.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by isles20

I mean sure cars are point a to b, but why can't they be fun? For all its faults the Beetle was fun. Cars should and should not be looked at as filing cabinets. Reliable fine, but boring no.

Beaters can be fun too!

[dbabyatskiy]

Originally Posted by eddiehaskell

Cheap insurance, VERY low property tax and no worries about dings/scratches/theft. They seem liberating to me. This is especially true if you're accident prone and make a lot of "boo boos"...backing into a pole, hitting curbs with your wheels, dropping/scraping something against the car in the garage. For me, it seems like no matter how careful I am, SOMETHING will happen to my car.

The first new car that I bought was the last one for all of these reasons that you listed, but also the instant depreciation.

[gardener34]

A lot of people who live in cities do this. Doesn't matter if the window gets smashed in a car that costed $1000. door dings. snow plows. potholes. all beat up a car too fast to have a nice one. As long as it runs = good enough for a grocery getter. Most people in cities commute using public transportation anyway.

[eddiehaskell]

Originally Posted by Mandalorian

Just because it's a little older doesn't make it a beater. 2004 is still pretty new in my mind. I think of beaters as more 1970s/1980s. Stuff you can buy for $800 or something like that.

An $800 car isn't really a beater either...more like like something with 2 wheels already in the junk yard. I would not recommend for anyone to buy an $800 car.

A good beater is a car that someone bought new or in good used shape and they continue happily driving it with no intentions of selling even when it has depreciated to a value of $1500-$5000 and has a few dings, debts and scratches. I guess you could say a good beater is a car that transitioned into a beater while you owned it and maintained it properly. If you told me to go find an $800 car that can be driven for the next 5 years - I wouldn't like my chances. The used car market has changed - now you're probably looking at $2k as the starting price for a decent beater. For example, I just had a family member that purchased a '99 Civic with 90k miles for $2500. It belonged to an attorney that drove it to work. I fully expect that car to last 5+ years.

Another example is my brothers '05 Corolla. He bought it brand new and over the course of the last 10 years it has been in a couple fender benders and the paint is kinda faded. With 150k miles, the car is probably worth $2200 at best. However, it runs well, rides well, AC works and it gets nearly 40mpg. It's the type of car a person can drive 5+ more years on the cheap without worrying about a buggy hitting it in the parking lot. It's like a well worn leather wallet.

[xjken]

I have three cars because I like cars. None of them are high dollar vehicles so it's not about status. One is 29 years old, the second is 15 (my daily driver) and the newest is 10 and none of them are beaters. In fact each one of them won an award at a car show this summer, what I am missing is a beater. I don't like to drive any of them in the rain, snow and salt of winter.

[hunterseat]

We haven't spent more than $3K for a vehicle in the the past few years, but, to be fair, 3 were island cars, the Hawaiian equivalent of beaters