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To continue your point: Having the credit score to get a good mortgage. Living in a good zip code, and so your car/home insurance is cheaper. Living in a good

by Naritai 11y ago

To continue your point: Having the credit score to get a good mortgage. Living in a good zip code, and so your car/home insurance is cheaper. Living in a good zip code, so you can send your kids to public school. Living in a good zip code, so you don't need an expensive security system. Working for a company that provides high-quality health care plans with low deductibles. Owning a newish car, that is much less likely to break down.

tostitos1979 11y ago
I generally agree with what has been said. Except for the car part. I thought it was best to drive a car to the ground. I buy reasonably priced sedans for around 20K (but brand new). Full coverage car warranties seem to end after 3 years. I sold my last car at that point (it had started to give me headaches). I got about half the money back .. so 10K loss or 3333 per year. Our current car is also at 3 years and starting to act up. I'm deciding whether to buy a new one (and take a 10K loss) or keep going for 2 years. Or is my mistake not buying the 50K BMW or 100K Tesla? :-p
- ghaff 11y ago
  A lot of warranties have gotten longer. I just had something fixed that sneaked in under a 5-year powertrain warranty and probably wouldn't have been cheap. However, in general, leaving aside the question of buying new vs. used, it's usually pretty economical to hold today's cars for a pretty long time. To be sure, there's a certain cost in time and inconvenience in decreasing reliability. And it's always a bit of a crapshoot (which I've typically let go on a beat or two too long) at the point where it's time to get rid of the thing. But I've been mostly happy with buying new and driving it until I start to run into ongoing issues. (Currently I have a '97 Honda with about 170K on it but I admittedly don't drive it on salted roads any longer or take it on long road trips.)
- dnautics 11y ago
  Buy a hnda next time. I had a bad honda (civic hybrid 1st gen 1st model year) lasted 6 years and 170k... Currently driving an 2 gen insight, did a year and a half of tough Lyft driving in it, it's going really strong with >200k with no sign of giving up the ghost.
- zo1 11y ago
  Go second-hand for one of the luxury brands that provide warranty/motor-plan for 5 years. Most of that "loss" is in buying new, instead of second-hand. If you don't mind it, and sell it while it's still in the plan, your 'cost-of-ownership" per year is actually quite good. Might even be better than if you were to get a "low-end" sedan new.
  - redblacktree 11y ago
    > Most of that "loss" is in buying new You know, people say that, but I found it really hard in practice to buy a nearly-new car. When they are available, the discount from new isn't that much. Note that I'm speaking only about Toyota and Honda minivans, because that is what I was buying, but I was surprised just how little "driven off the lot" discount I could find. We ended up buying new instead.
- Naritai 11y ago
  How much are you driving in those 3 years? I am also referring to vehicles that cost 20-30k (the truly poor, after all, are spending 2-5k then pouring money into parts, maintenance, and towing charges) and using them for 100-200 thousand miles. Mileage is a more useful indicator of car age than model year, though, so I can't directly comment on your situation. A 3 year old Honda civic with typical mileage would have maybe 60k miles on it after 3 years, and would still maintain a lot of its original value (my guess would be ~75% of its original value).
nradov 11y ago
You gotta be rich to own a cheap car. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/02/no-fixed-abode-gotta-rich-cheap-car/ http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/02/no-fixed-abode-gott...

by Naritai 11y ago

tostitos1979 11y ago

I generally agree with what has been said. Except for the car part. I thought it was best to drive a car to the ground. I buy reasonably priced sedans for around 20K (but brand new). Full coverage car warranties seem to end after 3 years. I sold my last car at that point (it had started to give me headaches). I got about half the money back .. so 10K loss or 3333 per year. Our current car is also at 3 years and starting to act up. I'm deciding whether to buy a new one (and take a 10K loss) or keep going for 2 years. Or is my mistake not buying the 50K BMW or 100K Tesla? :-p

ghaff 11y ago
A lot of warranties have gotten longer. I just had something fixed that sneaked in under a 5-year powertrain warranty and probably wouldn't have been cheap. However, in general, leaving aside the question of buying new vs. used, it's usually pretty economical to hold today's cars for a pretty long time. To be sure, there's a certain cost in time and inconvenience in decreasing reliability. And it's always a bit of a crapshoot (which I've typically let go on a beat or two too long) at the point where it's time to get rid of the thing. But I've been mostly happy with buying new and driving it until I start to run into ongoing issues. (Currently I have a '97 Honda with about 170K on it but I admittedly don't drive it on salted roads any longer or take it on long road trips.)
dnautics 11y ago
Buy a hnda next time. I had a bad honda (civic hybrid 1st gen 1st model year) lasted 6 years and 170k... Currently driving an 2 gen insight, did a year and a half of tough Lyft driving in it, it's going really strong with >200k with no sign of giving up the ghost.
zo1 11y ago
Go second-hand for one of the luxury brands that provide warranty/motor-plan for 5 years. Most of that "loss" is in buying new, instead of second-hand. If you don't mind it, and sell it while it's still in the plan, your 'cost-of-ownership" per year is actually quite good. Might even be better than if you were to get a "low-end" sedan new.
- redblacktree 11y ago
  > Most of that "loss" is in buying new You know, people say that, but I found it really hard in practice to buy a nearly-new car. When they are available, the discount from new isn't that much. Note that I'm speaking only about Toyota and Honda minivans, because that is what I was buying, but I was surprised just how little "driven off the lot" discount I could find. We ended up buying new instead.
Naritai 11y ago
How much are you driving in those 3 years? I am also referring to vehicles that cost 20-30k (the truly poor, after all, are spending 2-5k then pouring money into parts, maintenance, and towing charges) and using them for 100-200 thousand miles. Mileage is a more useful indicator of car age than model year, though, so I can't directly comment on your situation. A 3 year old Honda civic with typical mileage would have maybe 60k miles on it after 3 years, and would still maintain a lot of its original value (my guess would be ~75% of its original value).

nradov 11y ago

You gotta be rich to own a cheap car. http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/02/no-fixed-abode-gotta-rich-cheap-car/ http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2015/02/no-fixed-abode-gott...