Cost of a car and HHI/NW

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do parents feel such an obligation to pay for college in other parts of the world? It strikes me as odd how often college money is the number 1 priority for a couple, even before their own retirement $$.

In other parts of the world, college is free or nearly free. We’re the only nation that allows are young and elderly to take out loans to afford $90k a year schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Car culture is depressing. We are rich because we have only ever purchased one car, it was paid off in one year, it's 14+ years old, cost us 13K, and it has fewer than 90K miles on it. We take the bus, walk or metro most places. Spending 50K a year every few years (not to mention the insurance for an expensive car and fuel) is killing most Americans and then don't even know it.

You are not rich because you drive a crap car that’s unsafe. If you were truly
Rich, you would value your time/convenience over saving a few bucks.

Technology makes modern cars so much safer for families. I’m not driving my kids around in a 15yr old beater.

You don’t need to buy a Mercedes, a new Toyota is just fine.

Your mindset is unhealt

[Anonymous]

We bought a $70K electric plug in hybrid SUV. I thought it was too expensive. We make $250l but had a windfall, and pandemic YOLO.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t care what I drove when I had access to good public transit. Sadly we no longer live in a walkable area - instead we have dirt roads, steep hills, snowy winters. So we have a small AWD wagon and a 3 row SUV. They are 7 and 5 years old and both were bought used. They are boring practical cars for our circumstances. And they are worth <20% of our HHI now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Before pandemic the rule of thumb is total car value less than 20% of your HHI. Obviously it varies a lot by individual situations.

I want to buy a car that would be satisfying this condition for sure, but my husband is having a serious freak out. He thinks it's foolish.

Mine too. Total HHI is over $400k and he is resistant to any car whose price starts with the number 5 (or higher.) Prior to Covid that number was 4, but even he had to concede that would be difficult. He also doesn’t like to purchase used, even though I would be willing to get what I want.

We just bought a new Hyundai Santa Fe for under $50k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Car culture is depressing. We are rich because we have only ever purchased one car, it was paid off in one year, it's 14+ years old, cost us 13K, and it has fewer than 90K miles on it. We take the bus, walk or metro most places. Spending 50K a year every few years (not to mention the insurance for an expensive car and fuel) is killing most Americans and then don't even know it.

That just means you value money more than you value time. You’re spending more time walking and taking the bus, or you just don’t leave the house. Many people enjoy going more than 6500 miles in a year outside the areas possible to travel by foot or bus.

And what's your point?

A used $14k Hyundai, Mazda, or Kia can do that as easily as a $50k Benz or BMW.

Cars are the stupidest waste of money on the planet.

Lol you can buy a 14k used bmw too. What on earth are you talking about? You can also buy a 50k hyundai.

You anti-car people are real nut jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why when you read average and median stats for 401k savings, they're shockingly low. Like half of all Americans have $0 saved for retirement.

Then you go read how the Ford F150 and all of these insanely expensive trucks are top selling cars. Go out and see all of the audis, BMWs, lexus, Teslas etc. on the roads. People in America spend, spend spend, have a debt fueled life, and save very little. Then they have to shell out even more for stupidly expensive repairs and maintenance.

We have a healthy income and drive a completely paid off Mazda that was less than $21k. We will need a new car soon, but I wouldn't feel comfortable buying anything more than a smallish Toyota.

I respectfully disagree. I think there are a lot of people who make enough money to drive luxury cars and still save for retirement and travel and do everything else they want to do. 7.6 million people in the U.S. make over $300K/year.

That’s a very small fraction of the U.S. population.

I know that, but it’s still a big number in absolute terms.

[Anonymous]

To those of you saying you need a big car because you don't live somewhere with good transit or that's walkable, you realize that's a choice too, right? With Maui on fire, flooding in Slovenia, intense heat in the western and southern US, fires raging in Canada for 3 months now, it's an indefensible choice. Your kids are going to remember the 3 rows and the suburban life you foisted on them and hate you for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those of you saying you need a big car because you don't live somewhere with good transit or that's walkable, you realize that's a choice too, right? With Maui on fire, flooding in Slovenia, intense heat in the western and southern US, fires raging in Canada for 3 months now, it's an indefensible choice. Your kids are going to remember the 3 rows and the suburban life you foisted on them and hate you for it.

Thanks for chiming in, climate alarmist. A discussion on the financial aspects of car ownership was incomplete without your fearmongering.

[Anonymous]

Well if we are going to talk about the cost of a car we should talk about the true costs of cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Car culture is depressing. We are rich because we have only ever purchased one car, it was paid off in one year, it's 14+ years old, cost us 13K, and it has fewer than 90K miles on it. We take the bus, walk or metro most places. Spending 50K a year every few years (not to mention the insurance for an expensive car and fuel) is killing most Americans and then don't even know it.

+1000

People don’t buy cars annually silly. If we spend $50k, keep it 8 years and it’s worth $10k at the end, that’s $5k a year before maintenance and ignoring the time value of money. We don’t live in an expensive urban area so cars are a necessity where we live. We’re rich too. Owning cars doesn’t prevent this.

[Anonymous]

I spent $25k for my used bmw. I’m car shopping and just saw a Mercedes SUV 2022 with ~8k miles for $40k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To those of you saying you need a big car because you don't live somewhere with good transit or that's walkable, you realize that's a choice too, right? With Maui on fire, flooding in Slovenia, intense heat in the western and southern US, fires raging in Canada for 3 months now, it's an indefensible choice. Your kids are going to remember the 3 rows and the suburban life you foisted on them and hate you for it.

Lol there’s no where in DC that has actually good transit or is walkable enough. You let me worry about my kids and I encourage you to f right off.

[Anonymous]

I live in DC - four person household, two teens. We drive <10,000 miles per year. In the past 20 years, we've bought/owned 3 used cars. Total purchase price for all 3? $45k. Current car is a 2017 model so we should have 5+ more years of driving it, plus my kids can learn to drive on it.

The other benefit of owning one car at a time and buying older models is that our insurance costs are pretty low - around $700/year for comprehensive coverage.

It's interesting to read threads like this because I realize how very far we are outside the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I live in DC - four person household, two teens. We drive <10,000 miles per year. In the past 20 years, we've bought/owned 3 used cars. Total purchase price for all 3? $45k. Current car is a 2017 model so we should have 5+ more years of driving it, plus my kids can learn to drive on it.

The other benefit of owning one car at a time and buying older models is that our insurance costs are pretty low - around $700/year for comprehensive coverage.

It's interesting to read threads like this because I realize how very far we are outside the norm.

I don't think you're outside the norm for people in comparable situations - live in an urban area, accessible to transit, walkable amenities, etc. When we lived in DC, we only had one car, and it was used primarily to get my kid to her charter school. But now that we're in the burbs, it isn't really an option (though WFH is making us rethink that).