Cars in ER

[JPatrick]

No he's not. 

When you buy a Toyota made in the US, Toyota pays wages to American workers, but they take the profits back to Japan.

When you buy from an American company, more of the profits stay here, the investors here benefit from the dividends and capital gains, more of the taxes stay here, more of the parts are made here, and it's good karma.

I meant he was correct about it being a feel good thing.  As you say, it has been amply demonstrated many times in the past that more of your car $$ stays here if you buy  big three vice foreign. 

 

[uncledrz]

We have always had Lincoln Towncars and Toyota Camrys. Both have been excellent over the years. For some reason we now have only two Camrys, 1998 and 2005. Not real happy with the 2005, runs fine, but had a clicking noise on acceleration/load which I have never had in the other ones. Dealer checked it out and is operating ok, and same noise in others, so must be in the design.

Next time (when I replace the 98), going back to the Lincoln, or one of the larger Fords.

Uncledrz

 

[Gonzo]

1996 Lincoln Town Car bought used now has 131,000 miles
1997 Ford Ranger pickup bought new now has 60,000 miles

Not much repair on either... front brake work on both... water pump and power steering pump and a couple of ball-joint replacements on the Lincoln... nothing major.

Gonzo

 

[Ol_Rancher]

1999 Mercury Marquis - 75,000 miles , no repairs (knock on wood), tires, battery - 21 mpg country driving, AC running

1995 - Toyota Avalon - 65,000 miles - no repairs (another knock on wood), tires, battery - 28 mpg country driving, AC running

1950 GMC pickup - ? mileage (speedometer broke 18 years ago), in last 27 years repaired generater, replaced tires, replaced radiator core $150, tail pipe, all break cylinders, industrial rust inhibitor paint job $600, re-arced leaf springs $200,  - 9 mpg country driving, no AC - also no turn signals, no seat belts, one wiper, cherry bomb glass pac muffler, one tail light, no back up lights, external sun visor, no PVC valve or any enviornmental stuff (vents through down draft tube), no synchro mesh for 1st gear (three on column), floor starter, 6 volt battery, legal and safe (Texas inspection) - even I can work on it with a good chance of sucessful repair/maintenance. Total repair/maintenance for the 27 years I have owned it is about $3000. I bought it for $2000.

GM don't make 'em to last like that anymore

I live at the end of a very rough private dirt road 1.2 miles from the mailbox and county road. This is tough on them but so far so good.

I will drive them until they die.  The truck will outlive us all. No payments, minimal insurance, good transportation. The truck is my baby but it rides stiff and bounces around alot ... tiresome to drive any real distance, but the Mercury has the comfort, size, and safety I like.

In Texas you gotta have covered parking or you will be buying every half dozen years or so.

 

[wildcat]

Ol_Rancher -

Thought you just rode around on a horse? What gives?

 

[Eagle43]

1950 GMC pickup - ? mileage (speedometer broke 18 years ago), in last 27 years repaired generater, replaced tires, replaced radiator core $150, tail pipe, all break cylinders, industrial rust inhibitor paint job $600, re-arced leaf springs $200,  - 9 mpg country driving, no AC - also no turn signals, no seat belts, one wiper, cherry bomb glass pac muffler, one tail light, no back up lights, external sun visor, no PVC valve or any enviornmental stuff (vents through down draft tube), no synchro mesh for 1st gear (three on column), floor starter, 6 volt battery, legal and safe (Texas inspection) - even I can work on it with a good chance of sucessful repair/maintenance. Total repair/maintenance for the 27 years I have owned it is about $3000. I bought it for $2000.

GM don't make 'em to last like that anymore

And I thought I did something owning a truck 17 years.  Not even in the ball park.  $5 grand for total ownership (buying&maint) is awesome.  You can't drive out of the car lot for $5000 these days. Congrats on your thrift. This is a good LBYM example.

 

[MasterBlaster]

The 1950 Pickup might be a bargain as a hobby truck or spare vehicle.

However for a useful vehicle that you actually use that takes you around 10k miles a year (or more) then the poor gas mileage will eat away any savings that you might have from cheap repairs.

Just consider the savings say a 5 year old car at 20 miles/gallon would save in gas over the 1950 truck. If you drive 10k miles a year and if gas is around $3/gallon then the car will save you almost $2000/year over the truck. That $2k/year in gas savings would pay for most repairs on the late model car that you'll likely see and then some. Plus the late model car is bound to be lots more comfortable.

 

[HFWR]

For a beater, an old p/u is ideal: simple to repair, parts readily available at junkyard, built like a brick house... Could last almost indefinitely if the snow/salt didn't dissolve the body (not much a prob here in Tx).

 

[JonnyM]

DW drives a 2004 Dodge RAM 4x4 Hemi, purhased nearly new, made us an offer we couldn't refuse. We expect to put about 10k per year or less on it for the next dozen years. When we go on seriously long trips we rent cars from Hertz and wear them out instead of ours. My commuter car in my last year of non-ER is a '95 Lincoln Mark VIII. This has turned out to be a real dream mobile, total comfort, every luxo-feature, incredible gas mileage, yet tons of horsepower. What were they thinkin' at FoMoCo? And we paid 3k at auction. It'll be the spare until we spring for that Caddie XLR in basic Black to match the Pickup someday.

 

[Ol_Rancher]

All hat and no horse (riding)!

Although the golden palomino on the place looks nice he is too orny to ride and the rocks on this mesa ridge are too numerous to allow any stock to canter, pace, or gallop. The black buck antelope break legs and die, keeping the population down to a half dozen or so. The bison, longhorn, emu and llama don't seem to mind.

The 1950 GMC pick up was usable for most transportation through the 80's but now it is a light duty vehicle (think mechanized wheel barrow) and hobby vehicle - fun to drive to town - lots of waves from others, looks great but not really practical.

 

[TromboneAl]

Based on Consumer Reports data, the Toyota Echo was a no-brainer for us. 39 MPG highway, highest reliability, low cost.

 

[Andre1969]

My daily transportation is a 2000 Intrepid with around 111,000 miles on it, bought new. The main thing that suckered me into it was the 0.9% financing they offered at the time. However, if I'd known how fast they depreciated, I would've bought one a year or two old. Still, it's been a good, reliable car and still seems to have plenty of life left in it. It's worth practically nothing as a trade in, and even as a private party sale probably wouldn't fetch much, so I figure I'll just drive it till something major goes wrong with it.

As a backup/workhorse vehicle, I have an '85 Silverado that my Granddad bought new. After he died, Grandmom gave it to my Mom, and when she bought a new F-150 a few years back, she sold it to me. It gets crappy gas mileage, around 9-10 mpg around town, but I've only put around 6,000 miles on it in the 3 years I've had it. It's going in the shop soon, though, to get a tuneup and some carb/choke work done. Properly running, it should probably get around 14-15.

Then I've got a few antique cars, but they're more like toys/lawn trophies, and not something I have to depend on for daily transportation. Here, I have a '57 DeSoto Firedome, '67 Pontiac Catalina convertible, '68 Dodge Dart 270, '76 Pontiac Grand LeMans, and '79 Chrysler New Yorker 5th Ave.

 

[brewer12345]

Question for those of you with "back-up" cars:

Aren't you getting eaten alive by insurance?

I drive a LOT because of my lengthy commute, and I occasionally think about picking up a cheap extra car that could be used in a pinch (main ride in for work, etc.), but I always hesitate because of the cost of insurance, tags, etc.

 

[Andre1969]

Brewer, right now my insurance runs around $2200 per year for all 7 cars. The Intrepid is around $800. The pickup, LeMans, and NYer add around $400 each. I have the Dart, DeSoto, and Catalina on a special antique policy that's under $200 per year for all three. I'm going to put the LeMans and NYer over to the antique policy soon, when the garage I'm building is finished. That should bring my insurance down to around $1500 per year, for the regular poiicy and the antique policy combined.

 

[kz]

Brewer--The Corolla we just picked up cost us $55 for annual registration and $42 per month for insurance. Since we're saving $100+ per month on gas I figure it's worth it. And if I ever decide to sell it I'll probably have people knocking down my door since I NEVER see used Corollas around here for sale.

 

[MasterBlaster]

I've got an 85' Corvette that I use on the weekends.

The insurance (liability only) runs about $200 a year. That's because the insurance lists it as a pleasure vehicle and limits me to 5k miles a year.

The registration now (based on a declining value) only runs about $70/year.

I average about ~15 miles/gallon but don't drive it that much. So gas is probably the major expense. When the car needs to be fixed I do my best to fix it myself. If I get in over my head I have a mechanic friend that will fix it for a pretty low rate.

So no, my second car doesn't cost that much and I get quite a bit of fun out of it. On a nice day I like to take the targa top off and go cruising like a convertible.

 

[brewer12345]

Where are you guys? I suspect my location in the people's republic of New Jersey probably has a lot to do with it. If you haven't heard, we apparently hate insurance companies and because of some regrettably stupid laws ( like a maximum profits law, etc.), we pay through the nose for insurace. Almost as bad as MA...

 

[MasterBlaster]

Brewer:

I'm in Southern California. Between my wife and I we have three cars (a Sable, a VW Beetle, and the old Corvette).

With full coverage on the Beetle and the Sable and liability-only on the Corvette we pay ~ $1100/year for insurance.

We get all of the good driver and other discounts and have a great credit score (that matters on insurance believe it or not).

I used to pay through the nose and then I found an insurance broker who had a great deal with the prefered drivers pool of Mercury Insurance.

My advice - Shop around alot. Prices vary all over the map. You'll probably find a better deal on insurance

 

[brewer12345]

Brewer:

I'm in Southern California. Between my wife and I we have three cars (a Sable, a VW Beetle, and the old Corvette).

With full coverage on the Beetle and the Sable and liability-only on the Corvette we pay ~ $1100/year for insurance.

We get all of the good driver and other discounts and have a great credit score (that matters on insurance believe it or not).

I used to pay through the nose and then I found an insurance broker who had a great deal with the prefered drivers pool of Mercury Insurance.

My advice - Shop around alot. Prices vary all over the map. You'll probably find a better deal on insurance

Oh, I have shopped hard. Best deal seems to be GEICO at the moment. Safe driving records, good credit scores, live in a quiet, safe suburban area, we drive the safest and most boring cars I could find (2003 base Subaru legacy and 2005 Honda Odyssey LX). Have full coverage on both with $1000 deductibles and it still runs us over $1500 a year. Gotta love Jersey...

 

[Outtahere]

Wow Brewer I thought MA was the only place that had outrageous auto insurance rates.  We have the 05 truck, my 02 Sunfire, a 99 Fatboy, an 05 Road King, a 52 Ford Pickup and a trailer for the bikes.  You don't wanna know what my insurance bill is for the year.    Thankfully the 52 is insured as an antique so that's not too bad.

We don't have the luxury of shopping around, only 3 or 4 companies approved to do buisness in MA

Cj

 

[Andre1969]

I'm in Glenn Dale, Maryland, which is not too far outside the DC. Prince George's County (high insurance rates) but outside the beltway (which drops insurance a bit)

One thing that's really creeping up here is registration. I think it's going to cost $128 to register my Intrepid for two years. The truck, when it comes due, is something like $154. When I had regular plates on the NYer a few years back, renewal was going to be something ridiculous like $190. It was about 2 months shy of qualifying for antique tags, so I just took it off the road, waited until after January 1, 2004 (when it became 25 in Maryland's eye) and then registered it as an antique. That used to run $27 every two years, but now is up to $51.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Geico:

My experience with Geico wasn't so good. Back in 1990 I had a new Nissan Truck. They charged me $1400 for full coverage (no accidents or tickets). The next year they upped it to $1700. So I called em up and said "why did you raise my rates - I haven't had an accident or ticket". They told me that they had to raise my rates so that they could lower other people's rates.

That's when I shopped around. At that time I went with GMAC insurance for around half of what I had been paying.

Andre:

You better not move to Socal cause you'd go into cardiac arrest when you saw the registration rates here. Gov Arnold's bid was all about incredibly high car registration rates. So keep tellin yourself how good you've got it.

 

[brewer12345]

Wow Brewer I thought MA was the only place that had outrageous auto insurance rates.  We have the 05 truck, my 02 Sunfire, a 99 Fatboy, an 05 Road King, a 52 Ford Pickup and a trailer for the bikes.  You don't wanna know what my insurance bill is for the year.    Thankfully the 52 is insured as an antique so that's not too bad.

We don't have the luxury of shopping around, only 3 or 4 companies approved to do buisness in MA

Cj

As a longtime shareholder of Commerce Group (Commerce Insurance), I fully understand the situation you face. Its not so much who is approved as the fact that companies have been fleeing MA for years because of the screwed up regulatory system. Of course, since they are the big fish in the small pond, Commerce cleans up.

 

[kz]

I'm in Wisconsin, Brewer. Our monthly ins. tab for all three vehicles (2001 F-150, 2001 Explorer and 2004 Corolla) runs us $117 per month. $500 deduct. We're in the over 50 category and have had no accidents or tickets EVER!! (and we managed this in spite of having two sons...hehe)

State Farm ins. who we've been with for 25 yrs.

 

[HFWR]

Currently $1200yr for full-cov on my 2000 Silverado, and liability on son's 1993 Sable.

Farmer's Insurance in Tx