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First off dropping full coverage isn’t saving money, it’s just taking on more risk. You could easily say the same about dumping health insurance. You’re also assuming that your car is not requiring major maintenance or repair.
Statistically the average person is involved in 8 minor accidents(swapping paint) over the course of their driving careers and 0.3 major ones. so it's not as much of a risk as the insurance lobby would have you believe.
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Ok, so now you have $40k for a new car. Now you need to start thinking about your next car because you just handed over your $40k (and you dropped full coverage). The way you got that $40k was saving your payment over a period of time. You’re still reserving money for another car either way.
Someone saves $40k and when his/her car finally gives up the ghost he/she buys another used car for $2K thats $38k he was able to do other things with for that 4, 6, 7 or 8 years.
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The more broke you are, the more it makes sense to have reliable transportation, full coverage, a warranty, and predictable operating expenses. Only wealthy people can afford an old busted car.
Funny you mention that, I was watching a video on gold diggers and how they can't spot wealth as well as they think they can, and they brought on a guy who did a study on actual millionaires and something like 80% of millionaires are over 45, male,single, shop second hand for non-work related clothes, live in smaller older paid off homes, and drive personal vehicles over 15 years old and tend to have incomes in the high 5 figures - low 6 figures(their criteria for millionaire were people with one million or more liquid as in not tied up in stocks, assets or property). It surprised me until I thought about it. if some guy is making $80K - $150K a year but living as if he is making $20K a year for 20+ years I guess that would add up.
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Originally Posted by Vision67
Why do women prefer a newer car?
Safety, security and reliability.
If you are a typical guy and your car leaves you stranded, you'll likely just be pissed and inconvenienced. You likely won't be worried about being assaulted or raped.
But young women are worried about that.
Also, they are less likely to be able to repair their own cars. If you have a failing car and you must pay the mechanic's shop rate of $130 per hour to get the car fixed, you'll quickly run out of money.
That's why I think the general advice to always just pay cash for a cheap car is bad advice.
Furthermore, newer cars have much better safety systems: multiple air bags, anti-skid control, automatic braking, cross traffic alert, and automatic cruise control.
I guess I've been lucky, I've only been stranded 4 times in the whole time I've been driving from 1986-2018 and one of those times was in a new car(2 months later a part got recalled on that model the fuel pump if I remember correctly), Usually I can jury rig or do a workaround to get it home.
And also most newer cars are not drive-able after even a minor accident.
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Originally Posted by Ziggy100
The 98 year old teacher has a 24 year old car because she only drives like 20 miles a year.
lol yep that 24 year old car may have fewer miles than most cars still under warranty lol.
Oh, please. Guys are definitely the ones who are more prone to driving "status symbol" types of cars.
A woman who buys a newer Hyundai Elantra or Honda Civic isn't doing it to show off. She's doing it to make sure she doesn't get stranded on the side of the road.
This. I drive a 2006 Toyota purely for reliability. (Oh, and it has to fit the Great Danes comfortably as well). I've had it four years and only had to put an alternator, battery, and brakes on. I've been very satisfied.
My wife, who is a simple and natural type of person, drives an older Subie - 2008, back when they were very small (station wagon size - in fact, small wagon). She never wants to upgrade and will go nuts when the time comes since she won't be able to easily find something similar to that (maybe a VW Alltrack?)
I've got a 2007 Outback- still runs great, have put maybe $500 into it beyond normal maintenance, and still feels very safe and secure. Since it's been in Florida all its life, it's got zero rust. I can't justify trading it in when it runs so well with so little effort on my part, but when it's time, it will probably be another Outback. I really like the look of the Crosstrek better- it's just so cute, especially in orange. But the current Outback is just quantifiably better in a good number of ways compared to a Crosstrek and can be found for not that much more wen you compare vehicles with similar features.
The current Crosstrek is actually a pretty similar size to the 3rd generation (includes 07 and 08) Outbacks. I still love my little adventure wagon while admitting to a bit of envy about how much Subaru has improved engine power and cabin comfort in the past decade.
So data point- me, female, a household that buys new cars we really like and then hold them until they start having mechanical issues we just don't want to deal with anymore. Which, given how my Outback is from after the head gasket era and before complaints about how some Subies burn oil, means I'm probably going to have it another five years until it feel unreliable.
Statistically the average person is involved in 8 minor accidents(swapping paint) over the course of their driving careers and 0.3 major ones. so it's not as much of a risk as the insurance lobby would have you believe.
Someone saves $40k and when his/her car finally gives up the ghost he/she buys another used car for $2K thats $38k he was able to do other things with for that 4, 6, 7 or 8 years.
Funny you mention that, I was watching a video on gold diggers and how they can't spot wealth as well as they think they can, and they brought on a guy who did a study on actual millionaires and something like 80% of millionaires are over 45, male,single, shop second hand for non-work related clothes, live in smaller older paid off homes, and drive personal vehicles over 15 years old and tend to have incomes in the high 5 figures - low 6 figures(their criteria for millionaire were people with one million or more liquid as in not tied up in stocks, assets or property). It surprised me until I thought about it. if some guy is making $80K - $150K a year but living as if he is making $20K a year for 20+ years I guess that would add up.
I guess I've been lucky, I've only been stranded 4 times in the whole time I've been driving from 1986-2018 and one of those times was in a new car(2 months later a part got recalled on that model the fuel pump if I remember correctly), Usually I can jury rig or do a workaround to get it home.
And also most newer cars are not drive-able after even a minor accident.
lol yep that 24 year old car may have fewer miles than most cars still under warranty lol.
It’s still a risk. I’ve seen people who didn’t have much to begin with get totally hosed when their car blew a head gasket or got wrecked, and they couldn’t make it to work then everything went down from there. You gotta have the means if you want to drive busted cars.
Buying a $2k used car instead of a new car isn’t apples to apples. A $2k car is pretty much used and ready for the junk pile. That’s like wearing somebody’s old shoes trying to squeeze a couple more months out of them.
I personally have no interest in making $150k a year and living like I make $20k. That’s probably why they’re 45 years old and still single.
If a person keeps their car in good shape it seems to me that it's a bit tricky to tell what year is. The styles don't seem to change that much. I don't be hard pressed to tell a 2008 from a 2018 in many cases.
First off dropping full coverage isn’t saving money, it’s just taking on more risk. You could easily say the same about dumping health insurance. You’re also assuming that your car is not requiring major maintenance or repair.
Ok, so now you have $40k for a new car. Now you need to start thinking about your next car because you just handed over your $40k (and you dropped full coverage). The way you got that $40k was saving your payment over a period of time. You’re still reserving money for another car either way.
The more broke you are, the more it makes sense to have reliable transportation, full coverage, a warranty, and predictable operating expenses. Only wealthy people can afford an old busted car.
Not really much of a risk to only have liability on a car worth $10k. By that point you’ve saved enough money by driving the older car to pay cash for another in similar condition (or put the money toward another new car). There’s a tiny gamble that your car gets totaled and you lose a little money (but you’ve still saved overall) between what you owe and what the car is the worth. But as another poster pointed out, the odds of a accident happening resulting in a totaled car are rare. You could NOT say the same about health insurance as the cost are not at a fixed limit.
I’m at a loss for your financial mathematics that have the money saved by not making a payment all being spent later, thus cancelling out the burden of the payment you would’ve otherwise made every month for life.
The more broke you are, the more it makes sense to make a car payment and all the associated costs? Lord bless his little heart.
I’m not a math teacher so I’m not working for free here, lol. Somebody step in and tag me out............
Statistically the average person is involved in 8 minor accidents(swapping paint) over the course of their driving careers and 0.3 major ones. so it's not as much of a risk as the insurance lobby would have you believe.
Yes. Another advantage of going below your means and saving money is that the money saved acts as a safety net allowing you to gamble on the odds being in your favor. 0.3 major accidents in a lifetime and I’m going to worry about my $10k cars (I’ll drop full coverage when the value drops to that point) enough to pay for full coverage insurance all my life? NO THANK YOU. Yeah, I may do that and somehow have 4 or 5 major accidents but even then I still come out ahead. If I have a 6th major accident I’ll turn my license in voluntarily if they aren’t lawfully removed.
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Someone saves $40k and when his/her car finally gives up the ghost he/she buys another used car for $2K thats $38k he was able to do other things with for that 4, 6, 7 or 8 years.
This is definitely an option. And options are what you have when you save a little money (within reason; no we aren’t talking dumpster diving here). Temperance is a virtue. The importance of the money saved has some statistical correlation to one’s net worth. Having access to $38k cash is of more importance to one with a net worth of $20k than it is to one with a net worth of $1M.
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Funny you mention that, I was watching a video on gold diggers and how they can't spot wealth as well as they think they can, and they brought on a guy who did a study on actual millionaires and something like 80% of millionaires are over 45, male,single, shop second hand for non-work related clothes, live in smaller older paid off homes, and drive personal vehicles over 15 years old and tend to have incomes in the high 5 figures - low 6 figures(their criteria for millionaire were people with one million or more liquid as in not tied up in stocks, assets or property). It surprised me until I thought about it. if some guy is making $80K - $150K a year but living as if he is making $20K a year for 20+ years I guess that would add up.
Oh yes. Those without money seem to have no idea how a lot of people with money actually spend it....and definitely not those that become undercover millionaires making somewhat modest incomes. Most people making similar incomes could do the same but they blow money on useless trinkets (a car commonly being the biggest) or blow it using bad financial math (constant car payment costing about the same as having no car payment).
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I guess I've been lucky, I've only been stranded 4 times in the whole time I've been driving from 1986-2018 and one of those times was in a new car(2 months later a part got recalled on that model the fuel pump if I remember correctly), Usually I can jury rig or do a workaround to get it home.
I haven’t driven as long but being stranded for something that wasn’t my fault has also been a rare event. Run out of gas - yeah. Lock keys in car - oh yeah. Flat tire - yup. I once had a Trans Am with 70k and the slave cylinder went out ($200-300) and an inverter failure on a Prius that was fixed for free under warranty by Toyota (150k miles on car). So basically 1 “breakdown” that had to be fixed out of pocket. Edit: maybe 2 other times where a car wouldn’t start but I was already parked in the driveway so I wasn’t broke down in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road (it was a cheap to fix alternator and then a cheap to fix water pump years later).
Last edited by eddiehaskell; 10-13-2018 at 05:41 PM..
If a person keeps their car in good shape it seems to me that it's a bit tricky to tell what year is. The styles don't seem to change that much. I don't be hard pressed to tell a 2008 from a 2018 in many cases.
Yes. If you’re one that cares what others think, you are mostly in good shape with a 10-12 year old car that is maintained well appearance wise.
Women tend to get better grades in school than men. They can afford nicer cars and don't have to drive beaters.
It can't be that hard to get an A in underwater basketweaving or an A in spending their significant others money.
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