The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars



On Sep 20, 2:39 pm, Matt O'Toole <[email protected]> wrote:
> MSN points out why so many Americans are broke: they're spending too much
> on their cars:
>
> http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/TheReal...
>
> One more reason to ride a bike!

Or drive an old car. Mine was paid for 15 years ago and still passes
emissions testing with only 5% of allowed nasties. I can't believe the
amount of money people **** away on cars. I can understand wanting a
decent car that's pleasant and reliable--but you can find one of those
for pennies on the dollar used. What I find even crazier are people
that buy houses 40 minutes from work in this town to get 2x the square
footage--but a more miserable lifestyle and tons of pointless
emissions spewed while crawling on the freeway.
 
On Sep 20, 9:57 pm, landotter <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sep 20, 2:39 pm, Matt O'Toole <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > MSN points out why so many Americans are broke: they're spending too much
> > on their cars:
>
> > http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/TheReal...
>
> > One more reason to ride a bike!
>
> Or drive an old car. Mine was paid for 15 years ago and still passes
> emissions testing with only 5% of allowed nasties. I can't believe the
> amount of money people **** away on cars. I can understand wanting a
> decent car that's pleasant and reliable--but you can find one of those
> for pennies on the dollar used. What I find even crazier are people
> that buy houses 40 minutes from work in this town to get 2x the square
> footage--but a more miserable lifestyle and tons of pointless
> emissions spewed while crawling on the freeway.

There is definitely a "sweet spot" as far as value for money goes in
used cars. A good used car can be orders of magnitude cheaper to run
per distance than a new car. Even a crappy one is cheaper. And not all
old cars suck either.

More than the folks who commute "only" 40 minutes in a new car to some
suburb, I wonder about the folks who live in dangerous slums but chose
to **** away huge amounts of money on new cars with expensive
accesories presumably with a high interest credit-risk type loan.

Joseph
 
On Sep 20, 3:34 pm, "[email protected]"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> On Sep 20, 9:57 pm, landotter <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > On Sep 20, 2:39 pm, Matt O'Toole <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > MSN points out why so many Americans are broke: they're spending too much
> > > on their cars:
>
> > > http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/SavingandDebt/SaveonaCar/TheReal...
>
> > > One more reason to ride a bike!
>
> > Or drive an old car. Mine was paid for 15 years ago and still passes
> > emissions testing with only 5% of allowed nasties. I can't believe the
> > amount of money people **** away on cars. I can understand wanting a
> > decent car that's pleasant and reliable--but you can find one of those
> > for pennies on the dollar used. What I find even crazier are people
> > that buy houses 40 minutes from work in this town to get 2x the square
> > footage--but a more miserable lifestyle and tons of pointless
> > emissions spewed while crawling on the freeway.
>
> There is definitely a "sweet spot" as far as value for money goes in
> used cars. A good used car can be orders of magnitude cheaper to run
> per distance than a new car. Even a crappy one is cheaper. And not all
> old cars suck either.

My local craigslist has several German and Japanese cars for $2K that
look to have plenty of life left in them. $5K gets you a ten year old
luxury car. Have it detailed and install a satellite radio for less
than the price of a Kia.


>
> More than the folks who commute "only" 40 minutes in a new car to some
> suburb, I wonder about the folks who live in dangerous slums but chose
> to **** away huge amounts of money on new cars with expensive
> accessories presumably with a high interest credit-risk type loan.

While appalling, it's understandable to want a status object when
you've been living in poverty and a few more coppers his the coffer.
It's stupid, but not shocking. In my neighborhood, I'm known as that
crazy bike guy--because the rednecks think that spending more than
$100 on a Walmart Bike is something incomprehensible. "Who does he
think he IS!?"
 
How many times will $100 fill up the tanks on an F350?


The Featured Article didn't exactly show their work...
I mean to say they didn't break it down to what it cost to own a car
versus what it costs to drive and maintain it.

One of the numbers they bandied about was 15000 miles per year. I
don't have a clue as to an average MPG, maybe 20? 750 gallons per
year or around 15 per week - that kinda sounds in the ballpark doesn't
it,unless you're using a 3/4 ton truck to haul yer ass to the office.
Gas is going for a little under $3 right now, say $2.75 - that's about
$2k just for fuel. Your gonna need to change the oil three times over
that 15kmi, $150? A set of tires might go 60kmi and probably retail
for $80 a piece - four tires/four years how convenient, batteries,
wiper blades, belts... it looks like about 40% of their $7k a year was
spent making the thing go and a little more than half in just owning
it (amortized purchase, registration, insurance, did they include
storage?-)

Still, I can save enough in gasoline alone to buy a nice new bike
every year, and a bike will hold up better'n a car - my '72 LeTour is
still serviceable whereas my '87 Benz is on its last leg. If I could
just figure out how to get bicycle tires to last four years.
 
> > If I could
> > just figure out how to get bicycle tires to last four years.
>
> Use your car more? ;-)
>
yep, that'll do it - but cheap car tires are still more than twice
what expensive bike tires cost, and there's twice as many of 'em...

Or are there? If I were to switch to a trike would I get 50% more
flats or 33% better tread wear?
 
I live out in the suburbs and commute about 40 minutes... well it was
30 minutes to cover the same commute 10 years ago, but you can't
expect a guy my age to hold the pace that he did a decade ago.

I kinda figure that the amortized purchase price of a car, before
insurance, cost of opportunity, taxes, etc... is about $2k a year.
Those craigs list ads for $2-5k probably DO have some life in 'em,
sometimes there are some bargains but mostly you get what you pay
for... A new car for $20k doesn't sound unreasonable, and if you take
good care of it it will probably give you 10 years. If you can buy a
beater for $2k and it provides a year of service (without buying
parts) you're right on schedule.

I'm thinking that the fuel and the purchase price of the car are
probably a little more than half of the total outlay though, or so it
seems. If I bought a $2k bike and ate $2k worth of extra snickers
bars to fuel it every year I think I would come out ahead of the
motorist (Bike jerseys?, shoes? little elastic straps to keep my pants
leg outta the chain) I just can't imagine trying to east $2k worth of
snickers bars, I'm willing to give it a shot in the name of science
tho.. The biggest fly in this ointment would be my wife wanting me to
get rid of a bike every time I got new one and me wanting to keep 'em
till they were worn out.
 
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