Financing a Car When Retired

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mulligan Cant fault you with your logic....But damnit I am getting old now, and I deserve one new car before I die!

Come on Mulligan, you can part with some of that money and buy a new car!!!


I have a friend who I convinced to buy a new car back in 1985... at the time he said he did not think he deserved a new car ....

Funny thing... he just bought his third new car a month ago A Toyota Camry that is really nice... so, 3 new cars in over 30 years is not going to break the bank....

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ShokWaveRider I feel I have earned a New Car every 3 years, whether I need it or not. As a younger man I was always a car guy probably had over 200 different cars in my lifetime, from Old British sports cars Like Lotus' (about 10 differ ones of these), MGA, MGB, MGC, TR4, TR4a, TR6, Spitfire, Vitesse in my later more affluent years, Ferrari, Porsche, Aston Martin, BMW, Merc, Corvettes, Camaros and a lot of others too. I am just not into the sports cars anymore like I used to be. I would like an Aston Martin Vantage, but that is totally impractical at my age and would just sit on a pedestal in the Garage most of the time, I may as well just get a Toy one and put it on a shelf in my study. So I stick with getting a new one every 3 years and could not care less what it costs or whether it is a good or bad investment. I have never spent $40k on travel though in any give year.

Just WOW.....

But, doing the math that makes you over 600 year old

[ShokWaveRider]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud Just WOW..... But, doing the math that makes you over 600 year old

Of course not all those were new, and not every 3 years, I had a few at the same time in my younger Days... LOL.

[pj.mask]

I think people don't always look at/evaluate safety in car financials. My current car cost $24.5k new in 2013 and included ABS, traction/stability control, tensioning seat belts, quarter offset impact protection, and side curtain airbags compared to the 2001 truck I was replacing. I feel much safer and know I have much better control to avoid incidents in the first place. Just because you can get/drive something 10 years old or more doesn't always mean it's the best decision. For that reason I don't have interest in owning cars past 10 years old no matter the economics. But I also bought a cheap car because I considered the time value of money.

[RE2Boys]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj.mask I think people don't always look at/evaluate safety in car financials. My current car cost $24.5k new in 2013 and included ABS, traction/stability control, tensioning seat belts, quarter offset impact protection, and side curtain airbags compared to the 2001 truck I was replacing. I feel much safer and know I have much better control to avoid incidents in the first place. Just because you can get/drive something 10 years old or more doesn't always mean it's the best decision. For that reason I don't have interest in owning cars past 10 years old no matter the economics. But I also bought a cheap car because I considered the time value of money.

Can't argue your point of view. Rather than pass on my older vehicles (2005s) to my sons to try and get a few more years out of them (and cheaper insurance), I deliberately wished to get vehicles with at least curtain airbags for there use. Gotta find the balance between frugality and other criteria.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj.mask I think people don't always look at/evaluate safety in car financials. My current car cost $24.5k new in 2013 and included ABS, traction/stability control, tensioning seat belts, quarter offset impact protection, and side curtain airbags compared to the 2001 truck I was replacing. I feel much safer and know I have much better control to avoid incidents in the first place. Just because you can get/drive something 10 years old or more doesn't always mean it's the best decision. For that reason I don't have interest in owning cars past 10 years old no matter the economics. But I also bought a cheap car because I considered the time value of money.

Not all the new bells and whistles are in every car... and from what I can see to get them you have to buy the top of the line and put in expensive technology packages...

Sure, I would not want to be driving around in my '95 Monte Carlo now, but my '04 Acura had as good of safety as some cars produced now (but, I totaled it so I do not have it anymore)...

And you can say what you said about almost any technology.... IOW, a newer computer is better than an older one... same for cell phone, TV, even some appliances... but that does not mean you get rid of the old for a few extra features unless the benefit is worth the extra cost... sometimes it is, but not always...

[GTFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud So, a new car for $20K to $21K after discount... on auto trader a 2014 with 13K miles for $19K, one with 53K miles for $16K... so, 53K miles is only $6 K cheaper... since that is about 1/3rd of the car I would want it to be closer to $12K to $13K....

Plenty of 2-3 year old Sonatas here for $13k with 36k miles or so, I see them in the paper all the time. That is my point, you're not eating 40-50% depreciation on less-popular cars.

I think all of us can agree that Toyondas etc. are better buys new in many areas but non-Japanese makes are much cheaper off-lease here in the ATL. Plenty of them around for 40% or so off of new price with less than 40k miles so lots of life left. Your area might not be as good for these.

I think people are way too hung up on Japanese brands, personally. There's not the huge gap in reliability or quality that there used to be.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTFan Plenty of 2-3 year old Sonatas here for $13k with 36k miles or so, I see them in the paper all the time. That is my point, you're not eating 40-50% depreciation on less-popular cars. I think all of us can agree that Toyondas etc. are better buys new in many areas but non-Japanese makes are much cheaper off-lease here in the ATL. Plenty of them around for 40% or so off of new price with less than 40k miles so lots of life left. Your area might not be as good for these. I think people are way too hung up on Japanese brands, personally. There's not the huge gap in reliability or quality that there used to be.

I was talking about the same level of car... the limited... you can buy the lower level cheaper new or used... the ratio is similar... I just looked and some are less than $12K...


Where I live there are MANY trucks... there are times when I am driving and look at 9 vehicles around me and they are all trucks... so I am only 10% of the traffic in a car.... then again, my DW has an SUV so we fit in...

The reliability of the cars are similar for the first 4 to 5 years and then they start to diverge... a 10 to 15 YO Toyota or Honda is much better than any domestic... from what I read by a lot...

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud The reliability of the cars are similar for the first 4 to 5 years and then they start to diverge... a 10 to 15 YO Toyota or Honda is much better than any domestic... from what I read by a lot...

I can confirm this (anecdotally) from personal experience. My 17 year old Buick has half the miles of my 18 year old Honda. The Buick is the bulk of my maintenance budget. YMMV

[GTFan]

It's all anecdotal.

[ncbill]

Not really.

Consumer Reports compiles actual owner reports which identify trouble areas on different models.

There's also a website that judges long-term reliability based on owner surveys.

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTFan It's all anecdotal.