4 ms·

> $900+ a month in car insurance, car payments, gas, maintenance, etc. There's a huge gap between 'no car' and $900/mo in car expenses. Buy a used car, not too

> $900+ a month in car insurance, car payments, gas, maintenance, etc. There's a huge gap between 'no car' and $900/mo in car expenses. Buy a used car, not too old, and do basic maintenance (oil/filter, brakes, etc) yourself where you can. It's trivial to own and operate a car for well under $200-$300/mo - millions of people do it.

scarface_74 4y ago
Millions of people fix their own brakes? The average price people paid for a car is $27K https://www.statista.com/statistics/274928/used-vehicle-average-selling-price-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/274928/used-vehicle-aver... The average price of a new car is $47k. https://www.kbb.com/car-news/average-new-car-price-tops-47000/ https://www.kbb.com/car-news/average-new-car-price-tops-4700... The average cost of maintaining a car is between $7K - $10K https://www.thebalance.com/average-car-maintenance-cost-4775765 https://www.thebalance.com/average-car-maintenance-cost-4775... Even the IRS says the average cost of a car is now $0.63 a mile.
toast0 4y ago
> do basic maintenance (oil/filter, brakes, etc) yourself Basic maintenance doesn't get you much of the way to $900/month anyway. An oil change is like $50-$100 depending on things, and most OEM service schedules have those once a year (unless you put on a lot of miles... but if you put on a lot of miles, it's unlikely that you can realistically forgo a car). Brakes cost more, but depending on how you drive, shouldn't be too frequent; and you really should be competent at brakes before maintaining them or you're likely to cause safety issues. An incompetent oil change my ruin your engine and as a result your pocketbook, but an incompetent brake servicing can result in no ability to stop which has much bigger life safety implications.

4 ms·

> $900+ a month in car insurance, car payments, gas, maintenance, etc. There's a huge gap between 'no car' and $900/mo in car expenses. Buy a used car, not too

by happyopossum 4y ago

scarface_74 4y ago
Millions of people fix their own brakes? The average price people paid for a car is $27K https://www.statista.com/statistics/274928/used-vehicle-average-selling-price-in-the-united-states/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/274928/used-vehicle-aver... The average price of a new car is $47k. https://www.kbb.com/car-news/average-new-car-price-tops-47000/ https://www.kbb.com/car-news/average-new-car-price-tops-4700... The average cost of maintaining a car is between $7K - $10K https://www.thebalance.com/average-car-maintenance-cost-4775765 https://www.thebalance.com/average-car-maintenance-cost-4775... Even the IRS says the average cost of a car is now $0.63 a mile.
toast0 4y ago
> do basic maintenance (oil/filter, brakes, etc) yourself Basic maintenance doesn't get you much of the way to $900/month anyway. An oil change is like $50-$100 depending on things, and most OEM service schedules have those once a year (unless you put on a lot of miles... but if you put on a lot of miles, it's unlikely that you can realistically forgo a car). Brakes cost more, but depending on how you drive, shouldn't be too frequent; and you really should be competent at brakes before maintaining them or you're likely to cause safety issues. An incompetent oil change my ruin your engine and as a result your pocketbook, but an incompetent brake servicing can result in no ability to stop which has much bigger life safety implications.