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I probably spent an average of a few hundred a year on repairs (not counting oil changes), and I went 8 years without a car payment, and without needing anything but liability for car insurance.
Makes perfect sense to me, Ocnjgirl . . .
Another significant point . . . in most states, the cost of the License Plate Renewal drops each year as the vehicle matures.
Example: just last month here in Arizona, the FIVE YEAR RENEWAL FEE for my Jeep CJ-7 was a whopping $65.75. Not only a huge financial savings but the convenience of the five year tag plus no more annual emission testing is a BIGGEE.
Another significant point . . . in most states, the cost of the License Plate Renewal drops each year as the vehicle matures.
Example: just last month here in Arizona, the FIVE YEAR RENEWAL FEE for my Jeep CJ-7 was a whopping $65.75. Not only a huge financial savings but the convenience of the five year tag plus no more annual emission testing is a BIGGEE.
Only wish it was so in here in California... the tags for my Model A that I have owned for 30 years are $110 each year...
Also, I still have to smog my 1976 cars... the smog mechanics are fascinated by carburetors...
Registration is fairly cheap in NJ. My fee for yearly registration was $46.50 every year, it never changed. I did have a weird thing happen in that the check engine light was on for most of the past several years or so, but magically would go out for a day or two, and it always happened when I was due for inspection! One year it didn't so my brother did something to make it go out, but in any case I passed every year!
Funny enough, that's exactly what I'm doing... I'm on a surplus enterprise level Dell that is still an all metal body that just about can't be overheated right now. It was $200 2 years ago and I've accidentally thrown it off of 5' high hotel dresser while it was running. No issues.
I've actually purchased a fleet of about 10 of them for myself and others. Fantastic machines for streaming and general other screwing around and the docks are like $20/ea so moving them from TV to TV is painless. Only problem is that I bought so many for people who were in a hurry to get them (and therefore paid too much, IMO) that eBay prices have still not recovered on the model I like. I may have to diversify...
The ones I've purchased do, which is my preference (and also have the COA on the bottom still). I don't have a hard loathe of 10, but I'm not a big fan...
The ones I've purchased do, which is my preference (and also have the COA on the bottom still). I don't have a hard loathe of 10, but I'm not a big fan...
This is what many who hate car payments or believe in car payments at all dont seem to realize owning a older car. A old car needing a transmission costing $3-4000, suspension work of $1000, new brakes and rotors $500, Tires $400-800, random failures like fuel pumps or other components running a minimum of $300-500 to get fixed that can all come back to back if a car wasnt maintained properly or has crossed the 150-200k mile in which things has passed their usable lifespan.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ocnjgirl
I never had all those expenses.it.
I have. Every single one of those thing on a project car of mine (so a lot of the issues were elective expenses I accepted as part of the fun), hence why I'm a firm believer that if you are going to have an older car you should probably invest some resources in learning to do your own work and select a model that is easy to service.
ex. The fuel pump in one of the Escorts was just noisy when I bought it and it made me nervous... I knew going in that there is an access panel under the rear seat to replace it. It was a 2 hour job and I installed the highest quality name brand parts I could find for about $50. I'm not planning to ever need to worry about it again. On a different vehicle, that could very easily be an all day job and hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, if you paid a pro to do it.
I've also had to do a fuel pump in one the S10s... All day job and a big PITA... I probably should have just taken the bed off instead of dropping the tank. So... that's not a job you want to pay a pro to do on that platform... Research pays.
I had a truck with a 350 V8 and got 11 mpg with 330 horsepower. Now the current F150 has a little 2.7 V6 that gets 18-23 mpg, with 325 horsepower, goes 0-60 in 5.7 seconds.
Improvements, yes. Advancements, no.
Stuffing a small engine with with a turbo is a bad deal on a gasoline engine. REALLY shortens the life of gas engines.
I have. Every single one of those thing on a project car of mine (so a lot of the issues were elective expenses I accepted as part of the fun), hence why I'm a firm believer that if you are going to have an older car you should probably invest some resources in learning to do your own work and select a model that is easy to service.
ex. The fuel pump in one of the Escorts was just noisy when I bought it and it made me nervous... I knew going in that there is an access panel under the rear seat to replace it. It was a 2 hour job and I installed the highest quality name brand parts I could find for about $50. I'm not planning to ever need to worry about it again. On a different vehicle, that could very easily be an all day job and hundreds of dollars, if not thousands, if you paid a pro to do it.
I've also had to do a fuel pump in one the S10s... All day job and a big PITA... I probably should have just taken the bed off instead of dropping the tank. So... that's not a job you want to pay a pro to do on that platform... Research pays.
My car was in awesome condition when I bought it though. It had 33,000 miles and I bought it at a lease clearinghouse type dealership (Auto Lenders) which only sells clean cars. I also bought an extended warranty for it. It was a beater when I finished with it, but really was a great car for many, many years.
I don't think OP was talking about "project cars" or buying a car when it already has high miles. He meant IMO buying a car and keeping it for many years, putting the miles on yourself. When you do that, you can make sure it's taken care of all that time. I know my car was maintained before I bought it because it was someone's lease, and once I had it I was pristine with the maintenance schedule, only used Mobil One, and had a mechanic I trusted.
I can check the oil, change an air filter, but not too much beyond that. That was my point, regular people don't need to be mechanics to keep a car for a long time. If you buy the right car (research first) and maintain it well, anyone at all can keep a car for many years and save thousands of dollars in doing so.
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beater laptops... what a concept!
