1000 miles per $100 spent

[WyrTwister]

Starting out with a cheap - modest price new car . I always guessed at depreciation , alone , would run $ 2000 - $ 3000 a year . This , of course , depends , in some part , on how good a deal you negotiated on the purchase price .

I am an old school codger . I figure , for these purposes , the car to be worth nearly zero at the 100,000 mile point . That is probably not correct , but what ever value the car has , can help out with the cost , along the way , other expenses .

What ever you do , never , never , never get upside down on a car . That financial hole would / is difficult to get out of .

 

[Ausfahrt]

Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: Ausfahrt
I often use this equation when looking at vehicles. Simply put, my minimum expectations for a used vehicle is to get 1000 miles of relatively trouble free use per $100 spent.


Is this including fuel?

It has to be.....

Not including fuel, I spend about $100 for every 10,000 miles.


Not including fuel.

So when you buy a $3000 used car, your expectation is to get 300,000 MORE relatively trouble free miles out of it?

That is impressive if you accomplished that but I don't think its plausible to repeat that on a regular basis.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Starting out with a cheap - modest price new car . I always guessed at depreciation , alone , would run $ 2000 - $ 3000 a year . This , of course , depends , in some part , on how good a deal you negotiated on the purchase price .

I am an old school codger . I figure , for these purposes , the car to be worth nearly zero at the 100,000 mile point . That is probably not correct , but what ever value the car has , can help out with the cost , along the way , other expenses .

What ever you do , never , never , never get upside down on a car . That financial hole would / is difficult to get out of .


I'm currently upside down in my Camry. Zero down will do that. In another 18 months I'll have positive equity.

 

[supton]

I use the same formula, but view it as 10c/m depreciation. Repairs and maintenance seem to be well under 5c/m, but it's been a while since I checked.

I'm not sure on the value of my time, or my wife's time, but there is something to be said of buying new (or nearly new) and not having to deal with old car issues, like what one sometimes run into as one gets near end of life.

 

[WyrTwister]

Yep , zero down is a killer ! :-(

Best of luck to you ,

 

[fdcg27]

Originally Posted By: WyrTwister
Yep , zero down is a killer ! :-(

Best of luck to you ,


For anyone with the credit score to get it, zero down with free financing is the only way to buy a new car.
We are in the fortunate position of being able to write a check for our new cars.
If the OEM is offering free money, then why would I put my own into it?
I can do better with even a current CD.

 

[Panzerman]

If you get 0 % why would you put anything down?
I put .49 cents down on the Dodge Challenger I just bought, well not really but it came out on paper as .49 cents but I didn't put anything down. 0%
When I look at cars now the longer you keep them the lower the actual purchase price gets devided. I don't actually keep track of repairs and maintenance because I consider that the cost of operation.
Two schools of thought. I used to trade every three years after I paid one off but cars last longer now and are more long term reliable so I had to change my stategy to benefit.
Everyone has different situations, one shoe fits all in cars and use would be hard to factor.