OT: Making car payments vs making the repairs on a owned car
JuiceBox69
Fucking on Young N Dumb Chicken Heads
In the idea of cars in the $5,000-$15,000 range
If making payments going with the idea of only doing maintenance to keep the car going but never major repairs..just paying the car off and running into the ground before getting next car
Or
Buying a cheap car $3,000-$6,000 range...cashed out...no payments...doing all maintenance and major work when needed to stay in the vehicle
Witch method is actually the best option in turn of less headaches and less expenses or is that it...your just picking one over the other
Economic and headaches vs no headaches but higher yearly expense on cars
If making payments going with the idea of only doing maintenance to keep the car going but never major repairs..just paying the car off and running into the ground before getting next car
Or
Buying a cheap car $3,000-$6,000 range...cashed out...no payments...doing all maintenance and major work when needed to stay in the vehicle
Witch method is actually the best option in turn of less headaches and less expenses or is that it...your just picking one over the other
Economic and headaches vs no headaches but higher yearly expense on cars
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Do you actually like the beater you are considering?
Will you actually like the newer, lower mileage car you are considering?
If the answer to either of those is no, then you have your answer.
Generally beaters make more sense to keep running, up to a point. But you have the means not to, it is torture to drive a car that you hate (new or beater). If the beater is a pickup truck at the newer car is a Ford Festiva .. I'd probably do the beater truck. But if the beater something terrible like a used minivan and the newish car is something decent, I would go for the newish car with less headaches and predictible maintenance.
If you going newer ... read the manufacturers maintenance schedule, and stick to it and get this inspected and/or replaced when wore out. With today's cars penny pinching on maintenance is what kills them .. that and salt/rust up north. Part of getting a newer car (~50k and 3-5 years old) is you know the maintenance history, or you can be somewhat sure it hasn't yet been neglected.
A big red flag is: this car has been great. I'd literally done nothing to it except put gas in it, change the oil, and change the tires. Big red flag. (to me, at least).
The best beater on Craig's List is a car being sold by a millionaire / rich person who doesn't need it anymore and doesn't need the money. This person isn't looking for top dollar, probably had someone competent do ALL OF the SCHEDULED maintenance inspections, and replaced things ON TIME where things broke or wore out.
See the old days of "tune ups" and grease monkeys and cars only good to 100k miles are a thing of the past. Today's computer controlled cars will last for a very long time if the maintenance schedule & inspections are followed. My $0.02.
With a beat, IMO and IME, you either need to be able to fix it (mostly) yourself, or have a good trusted shop on the cheap that does decent work. Plus you need a "guy" who just "has a business card" who fixes things on the side. These guys are lifesavers to things that are tedious or a PITA to do without lots of exp, tools, patience, a second set up hands, etc. Sometimes $40 + parts (from a junk yeard) to that guy will save my whole weekend, literally.
It's a time-value-money question. In raw dollars though the beater wins almost every time, unless you have a long commute or you can just bill extra time (like a doctor or lawyer can). Those guys should buy newer everytime, because the time saved can be funneled into billable hours (for the most part).
I still stand by the statement, that if you go beater, you should buy a beater that you like and one that is easily services (no Chyslers, unless it's a Viper, or a something with a Hemi V-8 in it, or a RAM truck, for example).
It also makes sense sometimes to have 2 cars. One daily driver, and one utility vehicle or toy. A beater truck is nice (120K -140K mi) is you only need it 3-4K mi a year while something else gets you to work. Plus the truck or the toy can be used in a pinch when your daily driver is down for maintenance, etc. Because if you only put 3-4K mi on it a year, a 140K truck will last a long time before it dies, versus something you put 12K mi a year on driving back and forth to work.
Also for trips, I recommend renting a car. The maintenance costs work out in the end in favor of a rental for trips (I learned this the hard way).
Peace and God bless.
My F150 has 175,000miles and is 6 years old I plan to keep it until 250,000+-.
Once the body mounts start to loosen up the repairs become not cost effective and I turn it into a beater.
Just wanting to make sure I'm getting my money's worth
Can I lower this ? Am I spending to much or am I doing better than I understand ?
^^^ This. If you buy a used car. You need to be certain it was MAINTAINED.
I've recently traded in an got a 2 yo CPO car (I couldn't swing a new one that this was far less than new, had manual transmission, etc) and all of the service records. I'm going to maintain it and drive it for 250,000 mi like twenty five suggests. I also did a 48 month loan (I refused to do longer, otherwise I might have gone new). All of the factory warranty transfers as it was a CPO with verified maintenance at the dealer.
The first owner probably took a bath on trading it in, so like the guys above say, the costs only really work out if you drive it for a while and keep up on the maintenance.
For me the car + beater truck is cheaper than newer SUV or newer truck by itself, and I get 2 vehicles. There was just no way I could swing a newish or newer truck purchase wise, some day that will change.
This is the first time I've bought a car that was newer than 5-18 years old. So it's a leap for me. :)
Subaru makes AWD cars and the price isn't bad, if you need AWD. Sometimes people think you need truck or SUV to get 4WD. I just throw that out there. They also make hatchbacks (imprezza) and stick shifts, if you want a manual.
You might message justme62. I think he has an older Ford. So you might be able to get his opinion, too.
I drive 10,000 miles a year give or take going to work, home, casino, follies and so on.
I really kill cars in general
Since I've got cash I'm almost wanting to go with less headaches and just buying a new car in the $3,000-$6,000 range to last only 18 months than switch up...doing no repairs or maintenance to them. Just str8 run that bitch into the dirt
Is this being to caress with my cash ?
Seriously though...not wise some times and I'm learning as I go...I've lived the majority of my life broke as fuck
Now that I have some change...I'm wanting to do well with it
Thanks for ever one helping me trouble shoot this
When you drive less than 8K a year, or even a lot less, the beaters can start to make more sense (since it takes a lot longer to get to 250,000 mi). But also, I wouldn't discount a new car either. Because a new/newish car will last a LONG time with less than 8K mi a year. And If I'm going to be in a car for 10+ years, I'd rather it be one I like, and one I've done and know the maintenance history one.
Like the calculations others did above, new cars can work out well (total dollars per year) if you drive them for a long time. (and if you following the mfg maintenance schedule).
Since I've got cash I'm almost wanting to go with less headaches and just buying a new car in the $3,000-$6,000 range to last only 18 months than switch up...doing no repairs or maintenance to them. Just str8 run that bitch into the dirt
Is this being to caress with my cash ?
Seriously though...not wise some times and I'm learning as I go...I've lived the majority of my life broke as fuck
Now that I have some change...I'm wanting to do well with it
I know you can't REALLY be certain when buying used, even with car fax.
PROTIP: you can bribe the porter at the dealer's carwash to give you a gallon of their upholstery shampoo, if you bring a container. It makes your car smell like new car scent when use it in your rug shampooer! I've been doing that since I was a teenager.
You say to make a $5,000 last 4-5 years and at best I can only get them to last 2-3 years
I can generally get 10 good years with minimal repairs out of a good foreign SUV and plenty of people do the same with good Honda or Toyota sedans. It's all about keeping up with the routine maintenance. You should be able to get over 200k relatively stress free miles out of a good Honda or Toyota and several years without car payments or serious repairs after the first 4 years. My current SUV is 8 years old and has over 170k miles and the worst repair I've had was a radiator, which cost about $300 to replace. Unless I have a serious problem with the car, I'll probably keep driving it until I'm finished paying off my wife's car. Rinse, repeat.
I'm getting to a spot to get my credit in order..soon we'll be doing a bank credit card with some of my own money up to get into one..gotta start at the bottom and build up.
A car like this would help as well...nice to know that 4K would get me in a new car
http://cdn.bmwblog.com/wp-content/upload…
Anyway, I'll leave it there and good luck.
Jack LMFAO
If this was '96 when Shailynn and I graduated H.S. then $5-6K would buy an OK used car. I don't think this does it in today's used car market (cars running longer, people's budget's stretched, people keeping cars longer, etc). Plus a lot of the people that DO maintain them, are going what 25, TT, rick, and me all do. We basically keep them until they die or become basket cases. So these well maintained cars are not put back on the market.
The $8K range ($7-10K) is going to give me a much better used car, with maybe 1-3 prior owners. Also expect a poorly maintenance car to probably need A LOT of work at 170-180K mi mark. Maybe that radiator was replaced. But was the timing belt, water pump, thermostat .. + anything else attached to the belt or was anything else near service replacement also checked and replaced? Sometimes you can save labor and time repairing other items that are nearly worn out when the car is apart. If a radiator is replaced at 170K, but the water pump, belt, etc only have 10K mi left on them, you might as well do all of them. That's the mentality you need when I say a WELL MAINTAINED car. People go cheap there, and you just inherit headaches. Why pay for labor twice and fuilds twice, if already have it apart. See what I mean?
Ditto when you do the brakes. Check the other brake hardware and check the wheel bearings, etc. When things are already apart. If something else is getting worn out, do it then. If not, just check on it every 15K, 30K, mi that the maintenance schedule says you should. But don't replace stuff needlessly. That will just make you broke faster and not give you a more reliable car.
If you can't spot this yourself (I"ve learned to out of necessity) then find a guy locally, you does good cheap work, and you can trust to not BS you.
Ideally you would aim for $16K. This would buy you a Toyota Corolla or similar what you could run, with predictable maintenance, on schedule, for a very long time. But $8K like Shailynn said gives you a better pool of cars. I could compare $5K today to the cars we used to buy for $1200 20 years ago. It's a car that's 2 years and one major repair away from the junk yard. And since there aren't a lot of decent cars in the $1-2K range these days, it's not $5K. I would compare a $1-2K car today to something I bought for $100-200 23 years ago.
With car loans, sometimes it gets hard to get a loan for something over 100K mi, too. A lot of banks and credit unions won't do it. I bought a 5 year old honda accord for $9k in '04, with 63K mi, drove it for 7 years and sold it to someone with 275,000 mi on it in 2011 and he was happy to get it. I wanted to switch to a SUV, which I did. I also hated that it was an automatic transmission. Maintenance costs and repairs were very low and very predictable. Only the radiator and emissions charcoal canister failed ($150 part, repaired myself) prematurely, due to road salt / rust. Brake caliper (like $90 item, repair myself) and one point a windshield chip. I did everything else on the maintenance schedule. Which is why I think the next guy really wanted to buy it.
With horrific credit, I would stick with shorter loans, like 4 years. That is what I do. My credit is bad, too, because sometimes I slow pay things as I have lean months or months where I run short of money. I'd bring at least $1K down payment, and pay the sales tax (8% of $8000, so tax is about $640?) and doc fee ($300). So if you can walk in with $1940 cash (1000+640+300), that helps with the loan % you get. Every little bit helps.
I think you might get 7 years out of a sub 100K mi car for $8K (ish). Loan for 4 years, then 3 years without payments to help cover extra maintenance items you need to replace on schedule or wear plus lets you save the down payment for the next car.
You fix up an old car, you've got something which will continue to look better each year, because they don't make em that way anymore.
SJG
WTF dude?
You are spending all kinds of jack on poker games and in strip clubs and you can't afford a car more than $3,000 to $6,000?
Seriously dude, you have issues... like cheap issues...
I like to factor all costs into a decision about what car to own. You can buy a bad new or almost new car or a great old car or visa versa. My prior car was #2 on a list of worst reliable cars in the US and I blew a ton of money on repairs to keep it running. I think I spent an extra 5000 per year the last 3 years I owned it just for maintenance repairs.
25000/8 years - 5500 sell price or roughly 2440 per year depreciation
First 3 year routine maintenance 75*3. Or 225
Next 2 years 2000 * 2 or 4000
Next 3 years. 5000 * 3 or 15000 or roughly 20000/8 = 2500 a year
So that car cost roughly 5k a year in depreciation and repairs. If it wasn't fun to drive and looked fantastic, I would be regretting wasting so much money.
Shark I'm the same but I'm just now learning all the variables to calculate in and your comments have given me these tools to start using as I gather my information to take the best gamble I can with my vehicles.
Warhaek lol you comment cracked me up...some explaining for myself is I'm just now in life living financially deep as in personal savings and a job with that gives me 3 times the income I'm used to having lol...I'm like a cave man right now sent the future trying to figure it all out and just doing what worked when I was broke as fuck lol
Now because of poker I have developed a very analytical brain and analysis of all life choices the way I would play a poker hand
I've learned to compile intelligent 's and gamble or make moves best on optimal theory
An idea I google gave me a calculator to add in variables to measure out how valuable a car is to me in relation to my income..I was told as long as I spent at or less than 15% of my after tax net income per year I was doing well with my expense with transportation
I'm mature alot and grown a bunch since I first joined tuscl 6 years ago.
Thank you to every one that has helped make this thread so rich in helpful information
The other option is troll the advertising for 2-3 year old vehicles that still have a few months warranty on them. That way you can figure out if any repairs will need to be covered.
I've done both of the above options, and the first one is by far less expensive but you get a good car that lasts, except your birches won't be impressed. The second option is more expensive but you can be somewhat impressive. The old cars always will win out in value.
I'm I doing this OK ?
Or
Am I fucking this up some how ?
Radiator, alternator, transmission, exhaust. Exhaust is a wear item, in my mind at the 10 yr mark. Check the belts and hoses. If those are still new, it's likely the prior owners didn't change much. It might be worth the $200 to have a mechanic look over the car for you "as if you were going to buy it today." He or she can give you a run down of the shape and what's likely to go in the next year or two. Do an engine compression test. Look at the CV boots.
You need to know how likely this car is to last long term. Some cars can make it to 250,000. Do you or your mechanic really this this Saturn is a car that will?
I think if you put this car up for sale. The only people looking to buy it will be the dregs of society. Think about it. And they will likely maintain it with cheap under the table labor and junkyard / savage parts. I would, if I were in their shoes. Is this the car you want?
I'd get something else, it is was me. Something with a reliable foundation. And follow the maintenance schedule.
If you do keep this car long term. It's not the hard knock life. It's the junk yard life. (now I have that song from Anne in my head). Meaning get used to going to the junk yard every couple months for parts to put on this car.
If you plan on paying full retail prices at a garage to fix things. I would not.
I'd spend a couple days car shopping. Have some fun with it and see what's out there in your price range. have some fun with it.