87 cars and trucks in 50 years. Most new. Second most expensive was 2012 Shelby GT500 ($53K list). Highest was 2015 Stingray ($59K list). No discomfort in spending the bucks for what I want to drive.
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How much money you comfortably spend on a veh?
- Thread starter ZZman
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Most I've spent was 12.5K on my fully loaded 96 3000GT SL. It was a bank repo with around 20K miles on it. NADA was right at $30K (or maybe a little more) so I think I stole it!!
I purchase new for my wife. About every 10-12 years. Works out very well, as it's the primary vehicle (F150)
However, we really need to understand cost per mile (in total, at the time of a car's removal from use) to debate the purchase price of a vehicle. Cost per mile is probably the best way to look at it.
My 2009 F150 was 33K. It currently has 110,000 miles. So that's about 30 cents per mile so far. If I sell it today, I can then recover some of that cost per mile and 20 cents per mile might be a good guess.
Gas, insurance, repairs, tires, accidents are also part of the cost per mile. The truck has consumed $24,000 in gas over the last 110,000 miles. Used $2000 worth of tires. Insurance $12,000. Etc. That's another $38,000 in expenses.
Total cost per mile so far if I sell it today = 55 cents per mile. Or if I keep it, 65 cents per mile. Remember if I keep it another 100K miles, my capital cost per mile goes down to about 16 cents per mile.
NOTICE that the cost of the vehicle is lower than the total operating costs only 8 years in.
However, we really need to understand cost per mile (in total, at the time of a car's removal from use) to debate the purchase price of a vehicle. Cost per mile is probably the best way to look at it.
My 2009 F150 was 33K. It currently has 110,000 miles. So that's about 30 cents per mile so far. If I sell it today, I can then recover some of that cost per mile and 20 cents per mile might be a good guess.
Gas, insurance, repairs, tires, accidents are also part of the cost per mile. The truck has consumed $24,000 in gas over the last 110,000 miles. Used $2000 worth of tires. Insurance $12,000. Etc. That's another $38,000 in expenses.
Total cost per mile so far if I sell it today = 55 cents per mile. Or if I keep it, 65 cents per mile. Remember if I keep it another 100K miles, my capital cost per mile goes down to about 16 cents per mile.
NOTICE that the cost of the vehicle is lower than the total operating costs only 8 years in.
Originally Posted By: SilverSnake
87 cars and trucks in 50 years. Most new. Second most expensive was 2012 Shelby GT500 ($53K list). Highest was 2015 Stingray ($59K list). No discomfort in spending the bucks for what I want to drive.
You're not the typical person in America to buy all those vehicles.
87 cars and trucks in 50 years. Most new. Second most expensive was 2012 Shelby GT500 ($53K list). Highest was 2015 Stingray ($59K list). No discomfort in spending the bucks for what I want to drive.
You're not the typical person in America to buy all those vehicles.
We love to get wrapped around the axle about purchase (capital) costs. Giving only token notice to the actual operational costs of a vehicle. Expensive repairs can drive costs way up.
It's the class of vehicle that drives total cost of ownership. Often cheap vehicles like the Hyundai Accent are more expensive to own over five, or even 10 years than considerably higher quality cars. This can be due to insurance rates, fuel consumption, depreciation, repairs and so on.
It's almost a solid bet that Honda and Toyota cars lead each class in lowest cost of ownership.
It's the class of vehicle that drives total cost of ownership. Often cheap vehicles like the Hyundai Accent are more expensive to own over five, or even 10 years than considerably higher quality cars. This can be due to insurance rates, fuel consumption, depreciation, repairs and so on.
It's almost a solid bet that Honda and Toyota cars lead each class in lowest cost of ownership.
Originally Posted By: ZZman
The rust belt is rough on vehicles.
Exactly.
I'd have a hard time spending 50k+ on a vehicle knowing it would likely have rust before I finished the payments. So far buying really nice condition used vehicles with cash, and taking excellent care of them has paid off for me.
The rust belt is rough on vehicles.
Exactly.
I'd have a hard time spending 50k+ on a vehicle knowing it would likely have rust before I finished the payments. So far buying really nice condition used vehicles with cash, and taking excellent care of them has paid off for me.
Income matters. It is far easier for someone to buy a 36K Audi when they make six figures than someone buying a 36K Toyota Tundra on a 65K a year income.
Went I was poor, $3500-$6000, either cash or bank of Dad. Now that I'm comfortable working class, $0-$36000. When my wife went back to work after raising kids she wanted a car with all the new safety features (36k). I plan to but a used LS460 for $20000 for my next commuter. I'm currently driving a gifted 94 Crown Vic and I love it!
I can't live with something like lifetime car payments like so many here at work do. I struggled through the first couple of cars paying cash but soon the idea of making payments to myself until I could afford the next car became a way of life.
I'm good at keeping a car in good shape with my own work and I take advantage of that. My purchased new 1984 Civic wagon is still here and runs great.
It's that first step that hurts. It's something that you have to want to do. The easy path is to look at the shiny new car and sign up for the payments. There's a smiling salesperson holding out the pen with everything ready. He makes his living off the process you pay for.
I'm good at keeping a car in good shape with my own work and I take advantage of that. My purchased new 1984 Civic wagon is still here and runs great.
It's that first step that hurts. It's something that you have to want to do. The easy path is to look at the shiny new car and sign up for the payments. There's a smiling salesperson holding out the pen with everything ready. He makes his living off the process you pay for.
Selection of car matters.
That was a great generation of Civic and we had two '86 Wagons, one of which I parted with at 145K in '99 when we bought a new Accord but the other of which remained with us for seventeen years and a bit over 200K.
In this case, luck played a major role since I wouldn't have guessed in 1986 that this lightweight, inexpensive car would prove as durable and reliable as it did.
That was a great generation of Civic and we had two '86 Wagons, one of which I parted with at 145K in '99 when we bought a new Accord but the other of which remained with us for seventeen years and a bit over 200K.
In this case, luck played a major role since I wouldn't have guessed in 1986 that this lightweight, inexpensive car would prove as durable and reliable as it did.
I seldom pay over $1,000 for any vehicle. The Volvo cost me $500, of course it's cost 3 times that now...that's why I paid $500.
I spend $30,000 CDN ($23,000 USD) or less and drive them until the wheels fall off.
I use them to make money at my job so I need something reliable and dependable.
I use them to make money at my job so I need something reliable and dependable.
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Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Originally Posted By: SilverSnake
87 cars and trucks in 50 years. Most new. Second most expensive was 2012 Shelby GT500 ($53K list). Highest was 2015 Stingray ($59K list). No discomfort in spending the bucks for what I want to drive.
You're not the typical person in America to buy all those vehicles.
In my 70+ years on earth, I have never been accused of being typical.
Originally Posted By: SilverSnake
87 cars and trucks in 50 years. Most new. Second most expensive was 2012 Shelby GT500 ($53K list). Highest was 2015 Stingray ($59K list). No discomfort in spending the bucks for what I want to drive.
You're not the typical person in America to buy all those vehicles.
In my 70+ years on earth, I have never been accused of being typical.
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
I prefer, 1 owner, 5-7 yr old cars with low mileage that have track records of minimal maintenance. The last car I bought was 7 yrs old, 22K miles and 23% of MSRP ($9,000). I also prefer to go with full-sized cars with huge trunks to they act as a mini-truck/van. I'm certainly a fan of the Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, Lincoln/Caddy V8 club. Unfortunately, a lot of that "club" is disappearing. After 8 years of ownership car repairs/maintenance with an additional 56K miles have totaled around $1500 (not counting fluid changes). No drive train, suspension, or exhaust repairs yet. For someone who did all those repairs on there own...probably no more than $1000.
Keeping an eye out for a possible "next" 5-10 yr old full sized car in the $5K-$9K range. I've had 2 daily driver cars with payments (out of about a dozen) and don't want to go there again.
I think the first Mercedes E-350 I bought was a 65k MSRP, had about 10k worth of options on it over a base model which was what I was looking for. Ended up paying 18.5k for it and it was 6 years old with 49k on it. I guess that makes it about 28% of MSRP and I got another 40k out of it so far and that was over 3 years ago. Still driving it now and it's still fun. Haven't really been burned by any expensive repair items. At the time I probably would have wanted to get one even older, but the 2006 and 2007 models had a bad reputation on engine problems and other issues. Like most cars, the older it is, the more bugs they work out of the system and 2006 was the year of a new engine that had problems til 2007 and things didn't get worked out till 2008/2009 til they refreshed the car again in 2010. Only really expensive thing about it is that it tends to eat tires. On my second set of wheels now and you only get about 30k out of them because of low profile and ZR rating (Y). Plus potholes and flats seem to be more common.
I prefer, 1 owner, 5-7 yr old cars with low mileage that have track records of minimal maintenance. The last car I bought was 7 yrs old, 22K miles and 23% of MSRP ($9,000). I also prefer to go with full-sized cars with huge trunks to they act as a mini-truck/van. I'm certainly a fan of the Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, Lincoln/Caddy V8 club. Unfortunately, a lot of that "club" is disappearing. After 8 years of ownership car repairs/maintenance with an additional 56K miles have totaled around $1500 (not counting fluid changes). No drive train, suspension, or exhaust repairs yet. For someone who did all those repairs on there own...probably no more than $1000.
Keeping an eye out for a possible "next" 5-10 yr old full sized car in the $5K-$9K range. I've had 2 daily driver cars with payments (out of about a dozen) and don't want to go there again.
I think the first Mercedes E-350 I bought was a 65k MSRP, had about 10k worth of options on it over a base model which was what I was looking for. Ended up paying 18.5k for it and it was 6 years old with 49k on it. I guess that makes it about 28% of MSRP and I got another 40k out of it so far and that was over 3 years ago. Still driving it now and it's still fun. Haven't really been burned by any expensive repair items. At the time I probably would have wanted to get one even older, but the 2006 and 2007 models had a bad reputation on engine problems and other issues. Like most cars, the older it is, the more bugs they work out of the system and 2006 was the year of a new engine that had problems til 2007 and things didn't get worked out till 2008/2009 til they refreshed the car again in 2010. Only really expensive thing about it is that it tends to eat tires. On my second set of wheels now and you only get about 30k out of them because of low profile and ZR rating (Y). Plus potholes and flats seem to be more common.
Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Originally Posted By: madRiver
$15k cash.
I could spend more still cash but like the buffer for repairs. I save about $200/month towards car fund for maintenance, repair or replacement.
I am upper middle income. I do some DIY but majority is done by incredibly honest $65/hr mechanic. He tends to let stuff go that $100-$120/hr dealership or import specialists think they need to perform.
That brought up another thought . Foreign cars . Have always heard they are expensive to repair . Have heard this is especially true of the top end German cars ( do not know about the Scandinavian cars ? .
Beemers are said to be money pits , when they get some age on them . Not sure about repair history / Cost on a Mercedes ?
Would have a hard time buying a Dodge or Chrysler . That pretty much leaves GM & Ford ( do not wish to test my luck with a Ford dual clutch transmission ) .
Best wishes ,
I lurked on a couple Mercedes forum before buying mine to figure out what the problems were before jumping in. Also looked at BMW and knew I didn't want Audi as I've known several people with them and they have a long history of repairs. BMW seemed to have more electrical gremlins that were hard to track down. Also the one I wanted was harder to find, there seems to be lots of 3 series out there, but not as much 5 series as compared to the E class on Mercedes. For repairs, E and S class aren't that bad, I think their bad rep is based on the lower end cars like C class which they sold a lot more of and maybe people weren't ready for the repair bills. You basically have to look at the model you're interested in, some SUV's like the ML and other models also had early teething problems. The E class probably from 2008-2016 are decent, in 2017, they went to a 4 cylinder turbo so that's turning a lot of people off although they're bringing an E400 with a V6 back for 2018. I considered getting a C class at one point, but I prefer bigger cars and they weren't actually that much cheaper and had fewer available options as opposed to an E class. Would have been maybe 3k cheaper over what I eventually paid, but I feel I got a lot more options for that extra 3k so it was worth it. Depreciation math is tough to figure out. While the C was maybe 10k less than an E class new, because they're more affordable, the deprecation isn't as much as the E so you end up getting a lot more for just a little more when buying used.
Originally Posted By: madRiver
$15k cash.
I could spend more still cash but like the buffer for repairs. I save about $200/month towards car fund for maintenance, repair or replacement.
I am upper middle income. I do some DIY but majority is done by incredibly honest $65/hr mechanic. He tends to let stuff go that $100-$120/hr dealership or import specialists think they need to perform.
That brought up another thought . Foreign cars . Have always heard they are expensive to repair . Have heard this is especially true of the top end German cars ( do not know about the Scandinavian cars ? .
Beemers are said to be money pits , when they get some age on them . Not sure about repair history / Cost on a Mercedes ?
Would have a hard time buying a Dodge or Chrysler . That pretty much leaves GM & Ford ( do not wish to test my luck with a Ford dual clutch transmission ) .
Best wishes ,
I lurked on a couple Mercedes forum before buying mine to figure out what the problems were before jumping in. Also looked at BMW and knew I didn't want Audi as I've known several people with them and they have a long history of repairs. BMW seemed to have more electrical gremlins that were hard to track down. Also the one I wanted was harder to find, there seems to be lots of 3 series out there, but not as much 5 series as compared to the E class on Mercedes. For repairs, E and S class aren't that bad, I think their bad rep is based on the lower end cars like C class which they sold a lot more of and maybe people weren't ready for the repair bills. You basically have to look at the model you're interested in, some SUV's like the ML and other models also had early teething problems. The E class probably from 2008-2016 are decent, in 2017, they went to a 4 cylinder turbo so that's turning a lot of people off although they're bringing an E400 with a V6 back for 2018. I considered getting a C class at one point, but I prefer bigger cars and they weren't actually that much cheaper and had fewer available options as opposed to an E class. Would have been maybe 3k cheaper over what I eventually paid, but I feel I got a lot more options for that extra 3k so it was worth it. Depreciation math is tough to figure out. While the C was maybe 10k less than an E class new, because they're more affordable, the deprecation isn't as much as the E so you end up getting a lot more for just a little more when buying used.
I prefer to make my own used cars.
I buy new at the end of the model year and drive the wheels off of them.
The two most expensive cars that I have ever purchased are the Odyssey and the Mustang in my signature.
Both had stickers at over 31K when purchased.
Paid 27K for the Honda, and 24.9K for the Mustang.
I buy new at the end of the model year and drive the wheels off of them.
The two most expensive cars that I have ever purchased are the Odyssey and the Mustang in my signature.
Both had stickers at over 31K when purchased.
Paid 27K for the Honda, and 24.9K for the Mustang.
I must admit I went overboard with my newest car, but I took the money from savings and had a down payment with a paid for car. 2016 Challenger R/T Shaker with 7,500 miles $30,500; that's the cost before any money down, trade-in, taxes, etc.
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