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Maybe you don’t, but Horselady knows exactly when and what kind, and what year the car he just bought is. I detect some obsession.
That’s you that’s assuming a new car is a form of being flashy, not me. I’m saying the less income you make the more reliable and predictable you should attempt to keep your transportation expense. You are not going to get wealthy just because you drive a car for 20 years. And no that’s not how Buffet got wealthy either.
I never said a car explodes out of warranty. My car is out of warrant my right now. How long you keep your car is your business, but you do need to replace it. If you’re just driving it once a week to Walgreens, keep it forever. If you’re driving your kids across the country twice s year to grandma in the winter, maybe you should be a better parent and keep a little something more up to date. Dad’s transmission rebuild skills are going to be pretty much useless in the middle of Nebraska in the dead of winter on the side of the highway.
Ok - try your best to make sure your car is reliable. We get it. We’ve said it. What’s your point?
Perhaps you have found utopia? Ever consider writing any books or anything? Perhaps we all need to know more so we can emulate your life?
Why are there only two options in your mind: perpetual new car payment or 400k mile junker?
You do know there’s many vehicles being driven/bought in between those choices right?
Saving your car payment allows any of those options to become available. Buy a new one after your last payment or save that money and out more cash down later. Sell what you got and take your savings and buy a unicycle and spend the rest on gambling. I don’t care.
Saving your car payment allows any of those options to become available. Buy a new one after your last payment or save that money and out more cash down later. Sell what you got and take your savings and buy a unicycle and spend the rest on gambling. I don’t care.
Is continuing to drive your car after it’s paid for an option? Where’s the mileage cut off for when you should stop driving it? 50k, 75k, 100k, 150k?
Is continuing to drive your car after it’s paid for an option? Where’s the mileage cut off for when you should stop driving it? 50k, 75k, 100k, 150k?
Depends on the car and what you plan to use it for. Is it a collectors car that just goes to car shows, a revenue earning fleet vehicle, or a car you frequently expect to take across country? I personally try to keep it under 100k for a daily driver. It’s under warranty most of its life, the odds of a major repair is low and it still has value. The time it takes to get to 100k is usually so long I want or need something else by then anyway.
My old workhorse Ram has 160k and still purrs like a kitten. May not look like its worth anything, but to me it's worth keeping roadworthy for as long as I can barring a blown engine or trans. On a side note, this Ram has only cost me a pair of rear shocks (60 bucks) this year. Take care of your vehicles and they'll take care of you.
Now see, someone like Ziggy would maintain that regardless of how reliable you believe those vehicles to be, you should’ve simply traded them in for something newer once the manufacturer’s warranty period was up. Ya know, keep the car payment going.
I’m not sure that he’s saying that exactly. He’s saying that eventually the costs will outpace the savings on a used car. And in most cases eventually it does. Hey I refuse to drive a jalopy just to save a few bucks. If a vehicle becomes unreliable I’ll dump it. I’ve done it before I’ll do it again. I’m not against buying a new or different vehicle IF the vehicle you have is a mechanical nightmare. Especially on a daily driver. Having dealt with two of those types of cars my only regret was not dumping them faster than I did.
AFAIC to me a vehicle mist meet my needs. For example. I drive about 62 miles one way. So 125 miles a day. Every day five days a week. I was driving a diesel to work. Expensive. About $800 a month in fuel costs. I bought a cheap little 4 banger. Then I e4y I saved by driving it even with the purchase saved me about $6000 dollars the first year. This year it’s gonna save me about 12,000. I bought it with 100,000 and I expect to get 100,000 out of it. At 200,000 I should be able to still sell it for 1-1500 bucks and apply that to a newer model to drive. Granted if at 200,000 it still runs well I’ll keep driving it till it breaks and it’s too expensive to repair. I’ll give it away at that point. I don’t care.
While buying a car cash and making payments to yourself seems like a strange thing to some it’s more beneficial than buying on credit. At least to me it is.
First of all I have said this before, not everyone will qualify for the 0-1% loan rates. Sure some will. I know I will but most wont. The average loan rate is 5%. Obviously your credit score will make a huge impact and some can pay upwards of 19%. That’s a HUGE amount of money spent over 60/72 months.
When you pay cash you basically get rid of all the hocus pocus mumbo jumbo seller loan magic. You know exactly what you’re paying for that car.
You also get the added benefit of being able to invest that money or put it in a account where you are the one getting interest instead of paying it.
You can use that money for other tithings in a emergency or look at the cost benefit of having the money to fix a transmission rather than buying a new car. In some cases it makes sense to repair rather than replace.
Buying a car cash really tends to make you a lot more frugal in your purchase than when you’re buying on loan and it’s just another $30 a month more for the upgraded upper tier 2 tech package.
I personally dont care what people do with their finances. I know what works for me.
Depends on the car and what you plan to use it for. Is it a collectors car that just goes to car shows, a revenue earning fleet vehicle, or a car you frequently expect to take across country? I personally try to keep it under 100k for a daily driver. It’s under warranty most of its life, the odds of a major repair is low and it still has value. The time it takes to get to 100k is usually so long I want or need something else by then anyway.
Well great - now you’ve put a number on it - 100k. Now can you see why many people may “personally” be comfortable with a different mileage cutoff? For some it may be 150k or 200k or maybe no mileage cutoff and they wait until repairing becomes too frequent and/or a repair cost more than the car is worth? Very simple.
I don’t need a ranch either. You got your own $5 in a candy store, it’s just not spent on cars.
Actually, my husband figured out that not only was it less expensive to buy me acreage and a house in the country than to live in Central Austin and board my horses, it was cheaper than just living in Central Austin, because we actually use the land for its intended purposes and the taxes are dramatically lower if you do that. Plus, when our daughter was a teenager we knew where she and all of her friends were (messing with the horses) and that's a lot cheaper than psychiatrist bills! When you add in the rental income from the house in town that we eventually rented out, and the appreciation on both places, that decision dramatically improved our net worth and bottom line. Both places are paid off (did I mention we don't like debt?), in part because when we had a chunk of money come in unexpectedly, our financial advisor told us to use it to pay off the house in town. As he said, "If I could think of a better place to put it financially, I'd tell you, but there isn't one."
The REAL trick is to not have any unnecessary debt. Buying used vehicles of reliable makes and models for cash and taking care of them rather than insisting on car payments as being "necessary" is part of that.
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When you add in the rental income from the house in town that we eventually rented out, and the appreciation on both places, that decision dramatically improved our net worth and bottom line. Both places are paid off (did I mention we don't like debt?), in part because when we had a chunk of money come in unexpectedly, our financial advisor told us to use it to pay off the house in town. As he said, "If I could think of a better place to put it financially, I'd tell you, but there isn't one." 
