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People upthread ran the numbers and arrived at 600 USD/month for a used car. Seems high to me, but I don't know how the math works out in the US. For Germany, t

People upthread ran the numbers and arrived at 600 USD/month for a used car. Seems high to me, but I don't know how the math works out in the US. For Germany, this is a pretty good modeling of the costs https://financer.com/de/blog/was-kostet-ein-auto-im-monat/ https://financer.com/de/blog/was-kostet-ein-auto-im-monat/ and it still arrives at 240 EUR/month for a used car. That's maybe not 20 cab rides, but still a significant number. Obviously, the math I did for me works out for me. It likely will look different for you. However, I never pretended that the math works out for everyone - it doesn't. But it would work out for a lot of people if they were honest.

mantas 4y ago
I've no idea for US either, but 600 USD/mo looks weird. For me here in Lithuania it was cheaper than that even while I was paying off my car. Now driving a paid-off-but-well-maintained car is more like €150/month for ~ 1k km a month with occasional maintenance, insurance and rare downtown parking. Obviously it is higher than that when including previous lease payments, but historical price is going down every month. So it could be pretty close to €240 after all, but buying a new car and then keeping it is not exactly a „used car“ budget... „If they were honest“ is a bad argument to be honest. If everybody would change their preferences, they may have similar math to yours :)
- Xylakant 4y ago
  By "were honest" I mostly mean "honest with themselves". There are a lot of costs that are easy to forget or ignore. The cost of parking in the city. The occasional repair. Having to tow your car, because it broke. Deprecation of a valuable asset. Very few people take stock of what they actually spend on their car, because it's hard and it's constantly shifting. Some costs are annually and (mostly) independent of your annual mileage - insurance and tax, for example. Others are constant and directly associated with your mileage - fuel. Yet, others again are directly associated but come in lumps - maintenance, tires, ... Deprecation is fuzzy and partially outside of any factor you can control, etc.
  - mantas 4y ago
    That feels like a strawman because most people do knowledge those costs. But they are negligible in the long run. €300 for a tire set over 5 years (but probably longer) literally €5/month. Occasional oil change works out to similar costs. Of course, someone may run 20" wheels and then prices skyrocket. But then it’a no longer pure transit costs and more like an expensive hobby.

mantas 4y ago

I've no idea for US either, but 600 USD/mo looks weird. For me here in Lithuania it was cheaper than that even while I was paying off my car. Now driving a paid-off-but-well-maintained car is more like €150/month for ~ 1k km a month with occasional maintenance, insurance and rare downtown parking. Obviously it is higher than that when including previous lease payments, but historical price is going down every month. So it could be pretty close to €240 after all, but buying a new car and then keeping it is not exactly a „used car“ budget... „If they were honest“ is a bad argument to be honest. If everybody would change their preferences, they may have similar math to yours :)

Xylakant 4y ago
By "were honest" I mostly mean "honest with themselves". There are a lot of costs that are easy to forget or ignore. The cost of parking in the city. The occasional repair. Having to tow your car, because it broke. Deprecation of a valuable asset. Very few people take stock of what they actually spend on their car, because it's hard and it's constantly shifting. Some costs are annually and (mostly) independent of your annual mileage - insurance and tax, for example. Others are constant and directly associated with your mileage - fuel. Yet, others again are directly associated but come in lumps - maintenance, tires, ... Deprecation is fuzzy and partially outside of any factor you can control, etc.
- mantas 4y ago
  That feels like a strawman because most people do knowledge those costs. But they are negligible in the long run. €300 for a tire set over 5 years (but probably longer) literally €5/month. Occasional oil change works out to similar costs. Of course, someone may run 20" wheels and then prices skyrocket. But then it’a no longer pure transit costs and more like an expensive hobby.