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5 Ways to Save Money when Car Shopping (Hint: You might want to stop right now.)

Posted November 18, 2008

Once, The Whiner thought that car shopping was all about trading in and trading up.

But in this economy, the only “T” that matters is your ability to make the right trade-offs. That’s because all the old rules are trumped these days by one paramount concern: how to spend as little money as possible. (And whenever possible, you know that The Whiner recommends not spending anything at all.)

Unfortunately, with cars, it’s sometimes hard to figure out which choice gets you closest to these financial objectives. Buy/lease, new/used, change/no change. What should you do? (This is the quandary that The Whiner faced last month, when an old but still serviceable Subaru wagon developed a rather hair-raising engine crack, necessitating some type of action that would make sense with our current austerity budget.)

Weighing these five tradeoffs should help you make the most cost-effective decision:

1. Will you be better off delaying a car decision or making one now? It’s clear that many of us have hit the delay button, at least for now: New car sales are hovering in the range of 13 million to 14 million for the year, compared to 16.1 million in 2007, according to J.D. Power and Associates. But let’s face it: We’re a car country, which means that many people will examine and re-examine their decisions to delay that car purchase. Besides the obvious question (Is it absolutely necessary for you to get or replace a vehicle right now?), you’ll want to think about whether your car’s current condition, size, or safety factors make a car replacement or upgrade more of a necessity than a choice.

2. Will you save more money over the short term or spend more money if you stick with your old clunker? In The Whiner’s case, we were confronted by a projected $1,900 repair bill on a car with 108,000-plus miles; Painful as it was, the decision to go car-shopping was a no-brainer. Besides the cost of your likely repairs, you’ll want to consider your car’s gas mileage, the current cost of gas and — this is key — what you expect, in your heart of hearts, gas prices will be like for the next year or so.

3. Do you really need a car, and, if so, how much? This is an issue that’s all-too-easy to overlook. If you use your car a lot and don’t really have any choice about this, then factors such as your potential gas savings from getting a new car or the safety benefits from having a state-of-the-art airbag system matter more than they do if you mainly use your car for occasional errands. Hey, if you really only use the car occasionally, have you thought about giving it up entirely, saving all that money on upkeep and insurance, and just renting a wreck when you need wheels?

4. Can you accept a variant of the same-old, same-old, or not? This past summer has left many people lusting after a hybrid, but prices are relatively high and waiting lists can be long. That’s what knocked the Toyota Prius off The Whiner’s shopping list last month. We know some other Whiners (we mean, savvy consumers) who’ve decided that it’s more environmentally responsible to buy a used car, rather than a new one, with the thought that this will save manufacturing-related carbon emissions. There’s some logic to that plan, especially if you don’t do much driving, and the cost savings will undoubtedly be significant.

5. Will you be better off buying or leasing? To be perfectly honest, this question hurts because The Whiner has always been convinced that buying is a better deal. It is a better deal if you’re the type who drives a lot or prefers to own a car until it dies of old age. That said, unless you’re someone who miraculously has the wherewithal to pay all-cash, it usually costs more to finance a car purchase than a lease. (Among other matters, the interest rates are usually, although not always, higher.)

You’ll want to calculate both sets of possibilities, ideally with a number of different car choices. (Actually, The Whiner hates car shopping, so we only compared a couple of different deals.) Ultimately we went with a lease on a 2009 Honda Accord. With a $2000 trade-in and 12,000-per-year mileage limit, the monthly fee is about $250. It would have cost about $150 more each month to buy.

Although we still feel a little guilty about the decision to lease rather than buy, it may be that we made the best choice after all. After all, the Accord drives like a dream and that Subaru really was on its last legs. The new car gets better mileage: about 25 miles to the gallon, in a combination of city/country driving. And, we should have plenty of affordable hybrid possibilities when, like it or not, we’ll predictably be in the market for a new car 35 months from now.

The Whiner wants to know: Have you shopped for a car recently and, if so, what did you do and why?

Reader Comments

  1. PoorMe

    Great point about all these tradeoffs. I keep telling people that I’m not going to think about buying a new car until gas prices go back to being so high again that the savings potential from getting much better gas mileage will be absolutely irresistible. I’ll be honest, though. I do occasionally check things out at some local dealers, because I’d love to replace my car if I could afford it.

  2. Manny

    Here’s the real question, though. If you COULD afford to buy a new car right now, would you buy American, with the thought that U.S. auto makers need all the help they could get, or would you buy a foreign car because you think that Ford, GM and Chrysler have so totally mismanaged their businesses that they don’t deserve to be saved? Think about that long enough and you’ll distract yourself from thinking about how much you’d really like any new car at all.

  3. Maggie Mae

    I recently ran into quite a problem. You see, my car basically died on the freeway. Long story short… I needed a new one. I could have used these tradeoffs when I was looking. But, with the gas prices as high as they have been I decided to go with a smaller fuel efficient car. I ended up going with a Honda Civic.

  4. Prius Lover

    I bought a Prius last year and it’s one of the best big money decisions I have ever made. I truly don’t think I could ever go back to buying American because of all of their mismanagement. Although, if they do come out with a cost-efficient vehicle I would have to reconsider.

  5. Brian Humphrey

    Ha Ha Manny that’s a good point to bring up ;)

  6. April

    I have a clunk-clunk clunker of a car. I would love to get rid of it but I simply can’t afford to buy another. Rest assured, if I can pick up a new car I will keep this five tips in mind.

  7. April

    Do all of you really need cars? Have any of you heard of public transportation? Or dare I say it… have you ever used it? Why don’t you all do yourselves a favor and try it.

  8. ben young

    Hello Whiner, pleased to meet you. I found yr site yesterday and as a first time poster I wanted to say I like what you’re doing with the site. At the end of last year, I ended up leasing a car from a local dealership. I was leaning towards buying, but I realized that I was going to save some by leasing. I never thought it would be that way. By the way, I’m going to pass these tradeoffs onto a few friends that are in the market for a new vehicle.

  9. Jamie G

    I second what you have to say second April poster ;) . I don’t really need a car where I live, so I end up using the bus all of the time. It might not be as convenient as a car, it takes a little bit longer and sometimes I have to deal with people staring at me all of the time. But, I just love not having the everyday hassel of a car.

  10. RobertB

    I wouldn’t buy or lease a car at the moment because I feel that the whole auto industry thing is so unstable right now — it’s even hard to predict what’s going to happen with foreign manufacturers. The last thing I’d want to do is get something now and then watch prices go way down. So I’m just waiting and watching. Maybe there will be some really good opportunities in the spring.

  11. NotBuying

    I agree it’s not a good time to buy. Hang on until the prices come down. I never buy American cars, although I would like to. But I need something reliable, so it’s Toyota all the way for me. What about used cars? Or those dealer “pre-owned” cars? A friend of mine tried to buy a car through one of the car-rental agencies, I guess they sell them cheap. But he was smart enough to drive each one he tested over to his mechanic for an inspection first, and the mechanic found something seriously wrong with every single one, so I guess that’s not a good way to go.

  12. GimmeWheels

    Hey Whiner, I’m curious to see that you switched from a Subaru to a Honda. I’ve had a few Subarus myself and my sense is, they’re not exactly sexy cars, but they’re built to last. I’ve put in more than 125,000 miles on every Subaru I’ve ever owned and in this market, that seems like a damn good deal.

  13. jbert

    I haven’t shopped recently, but a couple of years ago I finally broke down and replaced my 1966 Volvo with a USED Toyota Prius, which I love. I found it on Craig’s List–it was one of a number available that day. There were other used hybrids on C.L., too.

    How about avoiding a new car at this moment?

  14. Lawrence Walker

    I agree that it is environmentally (and pocketbook) friendly to buy a recommended, reasonably reliable USED car that gets admirable gas mileage (30+ mpg) and to drive it as little as possible (certainly less than the average 12,000 mpy). Those three criteria absolve one of much or at least some, if not nearly all, guilt. Every gallon burned is a gallon gone. Also, for bonus points: have fewer or no children, and get an even smaller car (and save all/most of those chauffeuring trips for years to come).

  15. Lawrence Walker

    Oh, and I should add that I have always bought used, 4-cylinder cars. My current car, a 1.9 liter coupe, is from the last century and has 167,000 miles and gets 33 mpg. And it’s a sturdy BMW, still good looking.

  16. M Fridell

    A Subaru on its last legs at 108,000 miles? I simply don’t believe it. That thing should last well into its 200,000s. What are you doing to it/planning on doing to it? I think that underestimation is a crucial part of an economic miscalculation that lets you buy yourself a pretty new toy. And a $2,000 repair bill, while infuriating–I’ve been there, well, it’s going to cost you less than a new car. I have a 15-year-old Camry with something like 250,000 miles on it. There have been a few years I do pay up to $4K in repairs on it. But some years I it needs hardly any repairs, and over time, which these kinds of cars can do, it’s been way cheaper than buying/leasing a succession of new cars. Then also, I ride my bicycle to work each week day. Each car made uses massive resources. They’re an ecological and experiential nightmare, and they take too much out of our budgets. Live close to work, and work with others on improving public transport. Now I have other consumer foibles–don’t let me be sanctimonious–but cars are too big league of a foible.

  17. Gooch

    A few things about buying a car, based on our experience with a 2000 Ford Focus that we had up to 146,000 before it got totaled in an accident last week (everyone in the car was fine – crumple zones are great, but cost a lot to repair).

    1 – Cars are global now – the Focus was designed and tested in Germany before it came here in 2000, so we did not really think of it as an “american” car with all the issues that can bring. Heck, the thing was built in Mexico!

    2 – If you can handle it, stick shift means A LOT LESS can go wrong and cause expensive repairs. Think about it – how many people do you know who had to et rid of a car because the transmision repair would be too expensive? Also, automatic transmissions in American cars are only designed to go 100,000 max (we know this from a dealership service rep)

    3 – You may need less car than you think. Having a Focus has forced us to think small when we pack for travel. We have an 18 month old, and are able to pack all three of us for a weekend away, including stroller and pack-and-play, and could still fit an additional passenger if necessary.

    4 – Auto manufacturers selling in the US (including Toyota and Honda) should be embarassed by their fuel economy, even in smaller cars. We are replacing our totaled car with the same exact car (with fewer miles). That is because the best cars out there that are not hybrids but can still comfortably fit a car seat in the back get max 3 more MPG than our 8 year old focus. Sure they have some more bells and whistles, but is this the best we can do in 8 years? I don’t think so.

  18. GoWithout

    We were a two car family and recently gave one to our niece after hers caught fire. So I tried an experiment to see if we could get by with one car. Thought I had nothing to lose for trying. I tried public transportation for two months but that added two hours per day to my commute time. But since 80 minutes of that was walking to and from the train station, I could mark that as exercise.

    So I eventually broke down and bought a car. Got a used Honda Fit off of ebay at a steep discount. It had some dings, but that saved me about $3K off of retail. With ebay, you don’t have the used car salesman hassle. You just bid against other buyers and if you meet the sellers minimum threshold, the car is yours.

  19. cynthia

    When my Subaru’s head gasket blew at 146,000 miles and after several expensive repairs in a row, I bought a used minivan with 50,000 miles for $5,000. We have mostly been driving my husband’s 15 year old Nissan Sentra, which runs well but is beginning to rust out. I figure that in the future, we will buy a used car in the sunny state where we visit relatives so that the rusting out and breaking down will roughly coincide. Unless, by some miracle, my city builds a more viable public transportation system.

  20. marianne evans

    You should have fixed that Subaru. It would have been cheaper than one year of your lease-a little over 7 month’s costs. Unless, of course, you were looking at other costly repairs, like a new timing belt, in the near future. Also, a used Accord would have been cheaper. And a used Accord can be a great reliable car. But, given the desire to preserve cash flow and drive a new car, what you did makes a lot of sense.

    As far as buying American, your Accord was almost certainly built in Ohio and your Subaru in Indiana. A lot of the “American” cars are built elsewhere-so what exactly is an American car? The Big Three need to go under. I’ve had three American cars in my driving lifetime, all bought out of guilt, all clunkers. I drove a 13 year old Honda and it still runs great but I am trading it in for something with more state of the art safety equipment and AWD ( got a good deal on a low mileage 5 year old Subaru Forester) as I have a teen driver and a job that requires me to be there in all weather.

  21. penny wise

    I’m so glad to see others who understand that you should have fixed the Subaru. I’m so tired of people thinking that 100,000 miles is the end of a car’s life. Last legs? Hardly. Every Volvo, Toyota and BMW I’ve owned has survived well over 200,000. Subarus are notorious for lasting well into the 200s.
    Enjoy your newly leased car but don’t go over the mileage guidelines AND make sure you consider the cost of your insurance deductible. All repairs must meet lease guidelines too. You can end up paying THEM at the end of your lease if you’re not careful.

  22. ellen

    I don’t know where everybody lives, but if you live in a city with good public transportation and you’re willing to do it, it is by far the best financial decision you could make. I also find that I am more relaxed, and more likely to arrive on time, than my friends who drive cars. I absolutely love the lifestyle.

    I live in Chicago and I commute to three different workplaces each week. Each is probably 35-40 minutes away by car. I take public transit and do a little walking. My TOTAL monthly transportation cost is $130. That’s for basically unlimited travel all over the city and some of the suburbs, too.

    No gas pumps, no parking tickets, no repairs, no insurance. $130 a month.

    I realize for some people this will not be possible or attractive, but for many people, it IS possible! And it’s really awesome once you get used to it.

  23. will strickland

    The best financial move I have ever made was to sell our family’s second car, and switch to biking and mass transit for my commute. This saved $635 per month when the full costs of my $20,000 car were considered. This has caused some inconvenience, but it has been well worth it. It is hard to find other financial maneuvers with this much impact.

  24. Steve O

    Oooh, EconoWhiner, you really don’t do enough whining.

    I live in the ‘burbs. 7 miles from the nearest mass transit, 18 miles from my office (in a different direction from mass transit).

    So when I think about buying a car, I also have to think about, the time cost to use mass transit, or a bike, and about selling the house and moving to the city. Then I become paralyzed with indecision and do nothing for months but whine, mope and worry.

    My quick “econo” take on cars: right now? Buy a truck, the deals are great. But my wife won’t let me. More to whine about.

  25. spoiledonlychild

    I’m sorry, but leasing a new car is not anywhere close to an austerity measure. Here is the method my husband and I use to save money on cars:
    1. Never wrap your car up with image or status. Only considerations are cost, fuel efficiency, room for car seats and hauling, and whether it starts reliably. Say to yourself over and over: The only good car is a car that’s paid off.
    2. Buy only used cars, and spend less than $5000 for them. Buy smallest possible car you can live with.
    3. Drive them until they die, at least five years and hopefully 10.
    I drive a 96 Honda Civic with 160,000 miles. That baby is paid for, and I dread the day when I will have to get rid of it. I am hoping to take it past 200,000.

  26. very

    I don’t understand how renting a car for three years with draconian use restrictions is a better investment than buying a serviceable car with residual value. You could buy a Civic or Fit for the lease price of an Accord. But if you want a nice car, go right ahead.

  27. Angela

    I was just in this same predicament. I had a 6 yr old Pathfinder that GUZZLED gas. I was keeping it until I found out I was facing over $2100 in repairs that could not be delayed. This vehicle already had 126K miles on it. I ended up buying because I tend to drive a lot and didnt want to be restrained at 12k/yr AND I have a 4 yr old son who can do his own brand of damage to cars. I went with a Honda CRV and couldn’t be happier. It costs $15 less to fill up (taking adjustments of gas prices in account) and goes anywhere from 30 -70 miles further (depending on in city or hwy). I did briefly look at a Saturn but the reputation that Honda has along with the price of the car far outweighed my desire to go American.

  28. DarkoV

    If you are, like me, a hold-the-car-’til-it-dies kind of guy, lease rates aren’t even to be looked at. I used to buy used cars and run them until they died but that thinking changed due to the frequency of cars needed. I drive 30k+ miles a year and buying a used car with 40-50k miles on it meant going through the car replacement hassle a year or two earlier. Since I prefer manual over automatic, my available pool drops down dramatically.
    So, especially with the crying and pleading of the car dealers these days (and their reduced prices), it’s a great time to trade in my 230k miles 1999 Camry for a new car.
    What to get? I’m a died-in-the-wool Consumers Reports kind of guy, so it’ll probably be a Camry, again. I’ve had Subarus in the past and, contrary to everything I heard or read, they’re noit that good. Constant oil leakage problems, extremely lousy mileage when you consider the engine size, and the brakes need replacement much faster than Hondas or Toyotas. Their steering is superb and the cabin is tight, but the other issues simply outweigh these two good points. The wife has an Accord….and I can;t believe how lousy the sightlines are on this car; an accident waiting to happen. The old reliable Camry is not rated as well as it has been in the past, but my luck with them has always been a minimal 160k miles. No American auto manufacturer’s cars have a mote of interest for me.
    So, it’s off to the dealer for some price wrangling. If the salesman’s not crying when I leave, i’ve left too much money at his table.

  29. Lindsay

    Glad to see other comments about Subarus. I have had 5 or 6 Subarus since 1983. (I used to drive a rural mail route.) The last one ended up with nearly 300,000 miles on it. I drive much less now, but bought my current car with 178,000 miles and then spent over $1000 on head gasket replacement. If you take care of them, these cars will last virtually forever.

  30. Edie

    Why not a combination of biking and public transport? Here in Beaverton, Oregon, I live right on a bus line tha takes me to light rail. My commute to work is 40 minutes, total, with walking. And the cost is $86/month.

    I have a very good Specialised comfort rider that I use to commute to work during the summer. I somehow slim down, get an excellent workout, and arrive to work pumped up and ready to go. The cost for the bike was $400 5 years ago.

    Renting via zipcar for an occasion trip is as low as $75/month, and that’s for longer day trips into the country, use of a truck and so on.

    I have saved nearly $30,000 in commuting costs over 5 years- and here’s where the math breaks down a bit- I tend to take really fun, somewhat exotic trips!

  31. marianne evans

    I will bet that all you bike and transit commuters have no small children, enjoy good health, and live where there is good transit. I do use transit three days a week: I drive about 3 miles to a free parking spot 1/2 mile from the station, walk to the Metro, take a shuttle bus to my employer, this all takes close to an hour but I can read, listen to music and/or get exercise. I could not bike that 3 miles as I need to wear suits/skirts, there’s no shower at work, and I just can’t manage the logistics, although I’d to hear how others manage that. However, I still need a car to take kids to activities, do the grocery shopping, get to doctor’s appointments, etc. Many Americans are not able to use transit and this is not the best time to sell your house or change your job, so please lay off the self-righteousness. That being said, we should all try to drive the least car that will fit our needs, plan our errands efficiently (I’ve become a master at this), and leave the car at home or share a ride when possible.

  32. Rebecca

    I wish that I could take public transportation. But LA’s mass transit system sucks! It would cost me almost as much to take a bus to work, and it would increase my commute time by over 2 hours each day. No thanks :-(
    LA kills clunkers, fast. My 1995 Jetta died within a year of moving out here. I couldn’t afford to buy anything reliable at the time, so I leased. I love it! I probably won’t buy a car until they manage to meet all of my specifications(it must be American and get great mileage and go fast etc.) and that I can pay for mostly in cash.
    Leases have gotten so much better since the 90’s. I wholeheartedly recommend it!

  33. Mika

    My wife and I have three cars. The 98 Accord is her daily driver. It has 170K on it, and has needed three repairs in ten years. Total cost about $2000. The 03 F150 has 40K, gets used in bad weather and for occasional hauling of things, and has cost $4K in repairs. Since the cast cost of the truck is so high (V6 but 18MPG at best), I ended up buying a motorcycle last year. 50MPG and way more fun than the truck.
    So for questions #1 and 2: When I was commuting 400 miles a week, saving 14 gallons a week in gas (as well as lowering maintenance costs) was easy to justify. However, I would suggest that putting off buying a new car might make a lot of sense right now because a lot of recent research into better mileage is just starting to make its way into the vehicles. Buying a bike shot me into the high end of fuel efficiency, but waiting might pay off for cars.

    Question #3: I needed something to drive. But no, for 7 grand I got a nearly new vehicle that gets me to work without being a car. More fun, too…

    4: Hybrids = new cars. Especially considering that fuel economy of new cars is going to increase in coming years, buying an older car and living with its limitations may result in getting a better new car down the road.

    5. I honestly don’t understand claims that leasing can be a better deal than buying. Leasing for the rest of your life means paying for your car every month for the rest of your life. If you’re leasing a car for the next nine years, or paying the loan off in five, you will spend less money buying. Leases only make sense if you either aren’t econo at all, you just like always having a new car… or else you can’t afford the new car loan at all, so you’re spending less now to spend much more later.

    A general idea for buying a vehicle, told to me by my stepdad (masters in economics, ran his own retail business, retired wealthy). Go to a dealership and look for a car that is 2 or 3 years old, with unusually high mileage. Preferably over 40K miles per year, but one that they’re offering a solid warranty on. The reason is that a car with that kind of mileage is almost certainly one that’s been a corporate fleet car, driven exclusively by a person in management or sales, and nearly all the miles are highway. So the odds are very good that it’s taken very little wear and tear, as well as more likely to have seen good maintenance… yet, because of the odometer being “high”, the dealership has to mark it down. Bargain!

  34. Doug

    Save a lot of money and buy a used car! If you don’t drive a lot or have a long commute, you can save even more buying a high mileage car that’s been well maintained.

    I’m used car connosieur. I buy all of my used cars on Craigslist. CL has the best bargains but to find them you need to be disciplined and shop every day until you find the right one.

    Here are my rules for finding a used car bargain.
    1) Don’t obsess about owning a particular model. Consider alternative brands that are equal in quality. If you’re shopping for a Toyota, look at Honda and Nissan models.
    2) Look for motivated sellers. If they say their moving or they bought a replacement car, they’re motivated.
    3) Buy only from private owners. Forget about used car dealers. You will pay a lot more and won’t get any more. Buying from a private owner can tell you a lot about the kind of home the car has had and the maintenance it got. If the owner has all of the maintenance records, consider making an offer if the price is fair.
    4) Don’t be misled about used car values on sites like Kelley Blue Book. They overstate the actual market value of the car. NADA is what the car dealers use. Edmunds.com is more realistic in their prices.
    5) Stick to your budget ruthlessly. It is possible to find a good used car for less than $5,000 and if that’s all you have to spend then wait until you find one under your limit.

  35. Safiya

    I am absolutely DISGUSTED by the thought of our government using our money to bail out the automakers…I’ve driven Toyotas practically since I learned how to drive, which wasn’t until I moved from NYC to Massachusetts, and found that I HAD to drive just to get to work. My ten year old Toyota RAV4 has almost 150,000 miles. I’ve been researching alternative energy cars, and have found several hybrids, some all-electric cars like the “iThink”,and even some three wheel electric vehicles, like the “Xap”. I think the “Big Three” want to suppress the fact that these companies and cars even exist. What do you folks think?

  36. Volvo loyalist

    First, divide $1900 by the typical $400/month car payment, and you see that fixing your old car pays for itself in less than 5 months. Add taxes and additional insurance for new cars, and you’ll see even greater savings by keeping your old car.
    Since when does adding a big car payment every month in order to save $75-$100 on gas make economic sense?
    I haven’t made car payments for 20 years. I buy used cars cash on the barrel head. The insurance rates are lower, and taxes are nearly non-existent. Overall, my upkeep/repairs run an average of $129/month, far lower than the typical car payment.
    Lastly, consider the immense amount of value your new car loses as soon as you drive it off the lot.
    Buy a good used car for 1/4 the cost of it new, then drive it ’til it drops.

  37. a mom

    penny wise and others, I totally agree. How did we get into the idea that 100K was “last legs”? Is that something that came along with the lease craze?

    Most people know Toyotas go forever. But nearly every car I’ve ever owned has made it 200K+ – and that’s including Fords and GMs. My Olds Bravada left my drive with 260K miles on it and as far as I know the buyer is still driving it. Heck, most of the cars I’ve purchased had 100K on them when I bought them! (cash). Last year I sold the only new car I ever bought, a piece of junk, and bought a used minivan w/ 125K. I fully expect to get another 100K out of it.

    When you need a new car, go to Edmunds.com, find a used car model that’s consumer rated at 8 out of 10 or above, and buy one. Cheapest and most reliable transportation available.

  38. amy

    Hey, it’s great to see all the Subaru comments. I paid cash for an old made-in-IN Subaru with around 70K miles on it — that was 8 years ago, it’s up to around 108K now, and I’m hoping this will be my last car.

    I’ve made it a point throughout my adult life to live in places where cars are not necessary. This doesn’t mean living in major metro areas, but it does mean you need to be in a town, and within a couple-three miles of work, stores, schools, etc. While I’d have had real trouble doing without a car while my daughter was a baby, we could get along fine now. The city’s even been so kind as to put in a bus route that goes past my house. I’m also on a main bike path.

    The last time the Subaru was in the shop, I thought about what I’d do if the problem was very expensive. Between gas, repairs, insurance, etc., I figured I was spending around $2500/yr to run the thing. That’s a lot of money for bike maintenance, bus, taxis, rentals, etc. So I figured that if the job was too expensive, I’d just let the car sit a while, and go carless.

    As for cars for children: I live in “Cars Are Freedom” territory. I think this is baloney, and fully intend to make my daughter suffer for my beliefs. For one thing, I’ve yet to meet the 14-year-old who belongs behind the wheel of a car; and for another, No. We live close enough to the high school to hear the football games, so she won’t need a car to get there. Nor will I allow her to work silly hours so she can save for a car. She’ll get a good bike, some nice bike gear, and a bus pass. When she’s done with college, I’ll help her buy a good used car if that’s what she wants.

    Problem of beater maintenance and scary-child-driver insurance solved.

  39. Green Retirement

    6. Dump the Car. If you spend $600 per month in gas, financing, insurance, repairs, etc. And you get rid of your car and commute, after 20 years at 9% annual roi, you will have $455,000 in additional savings. And you can retire with $180,000 less in required savings.

    Do yourself and the planet a favor – and get rid of your car if you can.

  40. The Doctor

    I’m a little late to the discussion but I’ll throw a few comments into the mix. The Golden Age of the Automobile is rapidly drawing to a close. With it will go the sprawling, auto-dependent suburbs and many of the jobs (one-in-five of all jobs) related to the automobile. It will be a difficult change but we won’t have any choice other than to travel less and to rely on local goods more.

    The short-term danger is that Obama’s massive public works program will be funneled into dead-end road building projects. The automobile is still institutionalized. That will waste precious resources and set us up for an even rougher transition. We should invest in things like downtowns, rail, mass transit and green energy.

    As for buying a car today, conventional wisdom doesn’t hold. It’s a major buyer’s market with hugh deals to be had, if you can get financing. I won’t go into which car to choose because there is a reason for so many different makes and models.

  41. George

    I drove nothing but GM cars for the first 20 years I was on the road. Every last one of them started falling apart around the 50,000 mile mark, costing me money in endless repairs. My last GM car was a 1990 Chevy Lumina that turned into a real money pit after hitting the 90,000 mile mark. One day in the winter of 1997 it left me stranded on the side of the road in freezing temperatures for five (5) hours while I waited on a tow. During this time I seriously pondered what was most important to me in a vehicle and it came down to one single word: RELIABILITY.

    I subsequently spent several months researching various brands and finally decided that my next car would be a Toyota. I also decided that I would purchase a new Toyota and that I would religiously maintain it – allowing no one but properly trained Toyota mechanics to touch it. I then went and purchased a 1998 Toyota 4Runner SR5 in December of 1997.

    Today, I am still driving that 4Runner. It now has 255,000 miles on the odometer and counting. It has *never* broken down on me – not one single solitary time. All it has ever required is routine maintenance. No major (i.e. expensive) parts wore out until I passed the 187,000 mile mark. I paid off that 4Runner in 3 years and have been driving it car-note free for the past 7 years. My cost of maintainance has worked out to about $1,000/year over the past decade, which is very easy on my budget.

    Based on this experience, I went and bought a new 2006 4Runner Sport Edition in August of 2006 and am maintaining it in the same manner. I’ve only put 26,000 on this vehicle and am maintaining it the same as the ‘98 4Runner. Needless to say, I’ve had no problems with the second vehicle either.

    Why new cars vs. used? Mainly because my wife and I don’t want to buy someone else’s problems. Sure, you can have old cars inspected by a competant mechanic, but that only catches problems that have already manifested themselves. It often does not identify abuse that shortens the life of drivetrain components and which only show up as breakages after you’ve put some more miles on the odometer. In short, we like to start with a clean slate so that we know what’s been done to the car and how it’s been driven and maintained.

    Like many here, we drive our vehicles until they die. In another 17 months the 2006 4Runner will be paid off, and since we put so few miles on it, we fully expect to keep it until we reach retirement age. Our goal is to get 20 years out of each car and to downsize to only 1 car when we retire. With Toyota’s reliability, we feel this is very achievable.

    I know, the SUV haters will bash us for choosing 4Runners, but we chose them because we haul large items on a regular basis and need hauling capacity in an enclosed space, as opposed to the open bed of a pickup. We also are avid outdoors enthusiasts who hike in the national parks, which makes such vehicles very useful for our recreation. We also chose 4Runners because their off-road suspensions are able to laugh off potholes and other less-than-ideal road conditions without having to visit the dealer constantly for wheel alignments, as would be the case in most passenger coupes and sedans. The 4Runners are rugged and just simply hold up better than cars do – which saves us money on repairs that we avoid.

    At the end of the day, this focus on reliability serves us well in the following ways:

    1) It allows us to go many more years and many more miles without having to replace our vehicles.
    2) It allows us to go more years *without* car payments than *with* car payments.
    3) It prevents us from wasting life’s most precious commodity – i.e. TIME – on being stranded by vehicle breakdowns and having to deal with unexpected trips to the repair shop.
    4) It helps us budget our transportation expenses better because it is very rare that we ever incur an unscheduled repair expense for our 4Runners.
    5) We don’t have to go car shopping more than about once every decade or so. That’s nice.

    The only downside to our situation is that in the era of Peak Oil, we are concerned that these vehicles will eventually become unaffordable to drive. Dealing with $4.00/gallon gasoline in 2008 was very hard on our budget. Although both of our 4Runners are 6-cylinder models, they are still thirstier vehicles than smaller cars. If worse comes to worse, I’d sell the ‘98 4Runner and buy a Prius for communting and keep the ‘06 4Runner parked at home – with it only being taken out for trips where hauling is required, or for trips to the national parks.

    I’ll close by noting that it took Detroit 20 years to alienate me from buying American cars, but once they did it, it was a permanent divorce. We’ve not only bought 2 Toyotas ourselves, but have since influenced relatives to buy 7 Toyotas over the past 10 years.

    We brag about the reliability of this brand to all we meet. Toyota is now #1 because they are building what people need – reliable cars that, with proper maintenance, can be driven for hundreds of thousands of miles trouble-free. The “Big Three” haven’t done this in many decades, if ever. This is why they are all going bankrupt and richly deserve to go under. Americans simply do not want to pour all their money into their cars. Cars cost enough to *acquire* in the first place, without them becoming the means for putting auto repair mechanics into McMansions.

  42. Milez

    Just bought a new Jeep Cherokee with a big V8 – list $41,000, paid $29,000. That’s why you want to buy now.

    People should remember it’s more important HOW you drive than WHAT you drive when it comes to fuel economy. Top Gear on the BBC drove the hell out of a Prius and it got 17 mpg.

    At some point we need to consider our individual responsibility for getting out of this mess – buying things will save other people’s jobs, who in the end may save yours.