Car ownership is now a luxury

[Anonymous]

We have two paid off American cars, 20 and 10 years old.

Most years we spend very little on repairs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was actually shocked at how cheap used cars are now. Our 7 year old car recently was in a small accident and was declared a total loss because its value was only $16,000. It was a perfectly good car that ran fine with zero maintenance costs and was electric so no gas costs or oil changes either. I was really tempted to just replace it with exactly the same year/model.

Repairs are ridiculously expensive since everything breaks at the slightest impact — not like the old days when you’d get a small dent and hammer it out. And insurance, as a result, is also ridiculous.

But given how much inflation has been over my lifetime, I’m actually surprised cars are as cheap as they are. $1 in 1998 is worth $2 today but I don’t think car prices have doubled since 1998. (I just looked up a Chrysler minivan and it was 26-35 thousand then and 40-48 now.).

I’ve actually never had a car loan as I bought old used ones until I had the money to buy new. I still take buses or metro most places rather than driving. I agree that for many people, taking public transportation and the occasional rental/uber is cheaper than car ownership — that’s what I did all through my 20s. But of course that depends on where your job is. I finally broke down and got a car when I had a job 40 miles out into the boonies.

Vehicle prices have far outstripped inflation. And your vehicle was worth nothing because it was electric.

[Anonymous]

"You will own nothing. You will rent everything."
- WEF slogan for the future of western civilization.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"You will own nothing. You will rent everything."
- WEF slogan for the future of western civilization.

That's already been the case. Very few work towards paying cash for their vehicles. And it's not that difficult. Just purchase a car you can payoff in 3-4 years (anything longer and you cannot afford it so find something cheaper). Then drive it for 8-10 years, but don't stop "making car payments"---pay yourself the $400/month you were paying for the car loan. Save it in MM/CD--that is almost $5K per year, and in 6 years you have $30K.
If car is still going strong at 10 years, then consider keeping it another few years. Otherwise, take your $30K+ (compounded interest and possible investing), sell your 10+ yo car (our 13 yo 100K CRV got $12K at carmax recently), and that is $35-40K+ for a new car. You can get a new CRV with leather and most options for that price.
Now for the next 10 years, continue saving the $5K yearly and you have $50K+ and another $10-12K when you sell the car.

So once you have paid off student loans (ideally in 3-4 years after graduation if you are employed), you start this with your car(s).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"You will own nothing. You will rent everything."
- WEF slogan for the future of western civilization.

This. I remember when I was trying to have a solar roof. I wanted to buy the damn thing not leave. I eventually gave up, none of the companies are talk to will tell me the price to own it from the get to
No, all of them wanted me to leave. Hey Johny I don't care if it cost me a million I just want to buy it, can you tell me the price? No, ridiculous

[Anonymous]

Lease* not leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is worse in my opinion is the normalization of $500+/month car payment. I don't care how much you make a month, $500/month just for the car note is wild.

Not nearly as wild as $1000/mo car insurance.

who pays $12K/year for car insurance for one car?!?!?!

For a family! Don’t be a dunce

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is worse in my opinion is the normalization of $500+/month car payment. I don't care how much you make a month, $500/month just for the car note is wild.

Not nearly as wild as $1000/mo car insurance.

who pays $12K/year for car insurance for one car?!?!?!

For a family! Don’t be a dunce

And how many cars? I live in a VHCOLA and with 4 cars we paid $8K with a teen and 20 yo (who had the car at college). And we drive nice cars

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be shocked that if one really did the math of owning a car vs. taking reasonable public transport/ubers/zip cars/Turo...that car ownership would lose for many/most people.

The issue is that rural areas are not well served by any of the alternatives above.

This is why as I get older I’d never move to a rural area and hopefully my kid won’t either as he grew up in a relatively urban environment (public transit, however poor, does exist, and there are multi story buildings and a grocery store is walkable as well as restaurants).

[Anonymous]

This thread is making me even more anxious about teaching my teen to drive! He is 15.5 now and I always wanted him to start as early as possible but I just can’t face all of this. He isn’t very excited about it either and it makes me worried that I’ll give in to being a slacker parent and ending up with a non driver in his 20s
I guess I need some lexapro!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't be shocked that if one really did the math of owning a car vs. taking reasonable public transport/ubers/zip cars/Turo...that car ownership would lose for many/most people.

The issue is that rural areas are not well served by any of the alternatives above.

This is why as I get older I’d never move to a rural area and hopefully my kid won’t either as he grew up in a relatively urban environment (public transit, however poor, does exist, and there are multi story buildings and a grocery store is walkable as well as restaurants).

We live in a city and have gone down to one car. We walk most places, and if not we uber (if dining out/going anywhere we will be drinking such as dining out or friends homes for dinner). Only drive to grocery store because while I can walk the 6-8 blocks, you cannot do a full shopping trip and carry it all home easily.

We also have a home in a more "rural area", but we made sure to buy a home that is within 1 mile of the small "downtown area", so we can walk there if we want (it's about a mile) So while we need a car there, in reality we walk about 50% of the time as well.

[Anonymous]

I bought a used car but got f$&$d. The car turned out to have so many issues I'm disgusted. I should have had an independent mechanic inspect the car first. I bought the car from the dealer. Suing them is going to be top expensive. Oh well lessons learned. I was trying to save money.

[Anonymous]

I am holding onto my 2012 Prius for as long as possible. Love that car, never had a major issue. No fancy features that actually distract me and makes the road feel more dangerous. I saw a fresh off the lot car stop dead once because the computer system just stopped working. Bring back analog cars!

[Anonymous]

Cars are really not that expensive if you don’t borrow money to buy one you can’t afford. My two cars only cost around $1,000 per month combined, including maintenance, taxes, liability only insurance, and fuel. Save money to buy it in cash and don’t take loans for cars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Cars are really not that expensive if you don’t borrow money to buy one you can’t afford. My two cars only cost around $1,000 per month combined, including maintenance, taxes, liability only insurance, and fuel. Save money to buy it in cash and don’t take loans for cars.

it's rather dumb to have liability only insurance if the car is worth $20K+ still

But yes, pay cash or work towards that. And never take a car loan for more than 3-4 years. You cannot afford the car if you can't do it that way