Poll:Vehicle habits

[rk911]

...I wonder if our home owning habits are similar? Move every few years, or stay forever in one house (once you get to the correct size for your family)?

we've lived in 4-places over almost 51-years. over that same time we've had 11-cars, all but one was new. with a couple of exceptions new car dealers are a pain but moving....moving is a ginormous pain!

 

[Gumby]

How do you offload the car that requires costly repairs without making them though? You cant really sell it without a transmission, etc.. right?? SO you fix it to be able to sell it but at that point it drives fine. We get into this spiral at my housel

For the right price, you can sell anything.

 

[RunningBum]

I wonder if the reason a majority of us drive them until they have little or no resale value is because our personality is such that we do not want to place ourselves in a situation where we could be taken financial advantage of by a car dealer trying to screw us on the trade in?

If we drive the vehicle until it has little value to us, we control the game and avoid putting ourselves in financial harm’s way.

I wonder if our home owning habits are similar? Move every few years, or stay forever in one house (once you get to the correct size for your family)?

I agree with this. Not necessarily getting screwed on the trade in, but certainly the less often you buy/sell cars the better off you are. If you want to sell it yourself you won't take as bad of a hit but I don't like that process.

This topic had me reviewing my choices for a next car. I really think I'd replace my Forester with another Forester, since I really like how it handles the snow, and I really like X-mode on steep downhills when it's slick. But the new Foresters have known issues with windshields cracking. It sounds like their eyesight system needs a thinner windshield, and that's prone to cracking. Sure you can make sure insurance will cover it but it still seems like a big inconvenience, not mention that insurance companies will figure this out and charge a higher premium for Subarus. So I'd just rather keep my 8 year old Forester with no issues so far.

As for houses, it's a 5-7% realtor fee hit to sell. I don't want to do that every few years unless I have to.

 

[Retire2013]

1).

Always bought each of my vehicle brand new. Took great care of it. Drove it forever until the cost of repair is greater than its blue book value then I simply sold it to CarMax (no haggling!). Then purchase another vehicle brand new etc. As we all know, the longer we keep our vehicle, the cheaper the per-mile cost. I have been completely happy with this approach.

 

[RunningBum]

For the right price, you can sell anything.

Sure, but that doesn't mean it's the right move financially.

You've got a car you could sell for $5K because it's old, but doesn't have any problems. The next month the tranny goes out and it'd cost $2500 to replace. You might have to drop the price to $1k to sell that car with a bad transmission. So instead you shell out the $2.5K, but why sell it once it's running again. Hence, the spiral.

 

[rk911]

How do you offload the car that requires costly repairs without making them though? You cant really sell it without a transmission, etc.. right?? SO you fix it to be able to sell it but at that point it drives fine. We get into this spiral at my housel

donate it or sell it for salvage. my very first car was a '59 chevy biscayne. it had 100,000-mi on the odometer when i got it in 1968 and i put nearly 80,000-additional miles on it in less than 2-years. finally lost compression in all cylinders comimg home from work at 1am. had the beast towed for free as i gave it to a salvage yard.

 

[beowulf]

How do you offload the car that requires costly repairs without making them though? You cant really sell it without a transmission, etc.. right?? SO you fix it to be able to sell it but at that point it drives fine. We get into this spiral at my housel

Don’t make the repairs and donate it. That way you don’t have to pay to dispose of it. If repairs exceed the value of the car with the repairs done, then it’s worthless. And you have to include in that value the cost and aggravation of getting the repairs completed. I’ve donated to high schools, charities and religious orders that make repairs and give them to very poor people. No spiral here - as a car gets older and more obsolete, it gets one repair away from donation.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

You've got a car you could sell for $5K because it's old, but doesn't have any problems. The next month the tranny goes out and it'd cost $2500 to replace. You might have to drop the price to $1k to sell that car with a bad transmission. So instead you shell out the $2.5K, but why sell it once it's running again. Hence, the spiral.

That's why my last three trucks have had manual transmissions.
I did have to replace the clutch in my old '67 but it was about 26 years old at the time and had a few hundred thousand miles on it. I wasn't the original owner so it might have been replaced before I bought it but I put close to 100K on it before I replaced the clutch.

My '95 S-10 had 225,000+ miles on the original clutch and I put all the miles except the first 50,000 on it.

My current truck is a 2010 with 120,000+ miles on it and the clutch is still going strong so I plan on keeping it until it's too rusty to drive anymore.

I'm not sure what I'll do once this one dies, though, as it's almost impossible to get a regular-cab truck with a manual transmission in the U.S. anymore.

 

[Gumby]

All my cars have manual transmissions. Because I like driving, not just steering.

 

[RunningBum]

Yes, my example was all about transmission type.

 

[Gumby]

I understood your post perfectly. In your hypothetical, I would still sell the car before I would pay for a new transmission.

 

[pb4uski]

... This topic had me reviewing my choices for a next car. I really think I'd replace my Forester with another Forester, since I really like how it handles the snow, and I really like X-mode on steep downhills when it's slick. But the new Foresters have known issues with windshields cracking. It sounds like their eyesight system needs a thinner windshield, and that's prone to cracking. Sure you can make sure insurance will cover it but it still seems like a big inconvenience, not mention that insurance companies will figure this out and charge a higher premium for Subarus. So I'd just rather keep my 8 year old Forester with no issues so far. ...

Yes, I agree... I'd rather not have EyeSight at this point... I have a friend who has a new Forrester and the windshield cracked. If you drop down to Impreza Sedan or 5-door or Crosstrek or Crosstrek Premium you could order a car without EyeSight. Unfortunately, it is standard on all other models and trim levels.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire23]

All my cars have manual transmissions. Because I like driving, not just steering.

+1

 

[stepford]

All my cars have manual transmissions. Because I like driving, not just steering.

This post makes me sad. DW and I were dedicated manual transmission drivers for decades, but eventually manuals became impossible to find in the vehicles we wanted. Every vehicle we bought up to 2015 had a manual transmission, every one after automatic. Now out of 3 vehicles we only have one old 2 seater MT sports car (that gets driven much less than our more practical cars/trucks).

And we've become reluctant converts. I commuted through rush hour traffic for my last 4 years of w*rk in a MT vehicle and had a lot of foot pain. When I have to go into the city these days it really is much more comfortable driving one of our AT vehicles. Also DW is a college professor and goes on lots of field trips with students. Sometimes it's nice to share driving duties on a long trip and not a damn one of these under-30s ever learned how to drive stick. Problem solved when we capitulated to the AT wave.

 

[finnski1]

I agree with this. Not necessarily getting screwed on the trade in, but certainly the less often you buy/sell cars the better off you are. If you want to sell it yourself you won't take as bad of a hit but I don't like that process.

This topic had me reviewing my choices for a next car. I really think I'd replace my Forester with another Forester, since I really like how it handles the snow, and I really like X-mode on steep downhills when it's slick. But the new Foresters have known issues with windshields cracking. It sounds like their eyesight system needs a thinner windshield, and that's prone to cracking. Sure you can make sure insurance will cover it but it still seems like a big inconvenience, not mention that insurance companies will figure this out and charge a higher premium for Subarus. So I'd just rather keep my 8 year old Forester with no issues so far.

As for houses, it's a 5-7% realtor fee hit to sell. I don't want to do that every few years unless I have to.

I like Subarus a lot. They are almost the perfect vehicle for the dirt road somewhat rural lifestyle in NH that we live. We just bought our 3rd Outback since 1998. The second one we bought new in 2005 and drove until 2019. It was still running fine with 135,000 mile son it but it needed a catalytic converter and some other minor things to pass inspection. That was going to be around $1800. We decided not to put that much into it and look for a new one. The dealer offered us a whopping $251 for it!
My mechanic who also likes Subarus wanted it. I said "make me an offer". He shocked me and offered $2500 for it. Sold!
Anyway we went to one vehicle for a while since we were both retired. That grew old for DW since our one vehicle was an 11 year old Tacoma pickup.
We finally bought a new to us Outback Limited a few weeks ago.
I was leery about the windshield issue but all the virtues of the car for us were worth the risk. Really like all the safety features that the Eyesight feature gives you.

 

[Jerry1]

The dealer offered us a whopping $251 for it!
My mechanic who also likes Subarus wanted it. I said "make me an offer". He shocked me and offered $2500 for it. Sold!

Interesting that the offer was $251 and not a round number like $250. I guess they figured $1 more would cinch the deal?

We’re starting to keep out eye out for a good used car for soon to be driving grandson. You shouldn’t be surprised on what the mechanic offered you. Good used cars under $5K are hard to come by. We’d love to find something like yours in the $2K to $3K range. I’m guessing your mechanic can flip that and make a nice profit (nothing wrong with that) especially since he knew it was already well maintained.

 

[finnski1]

Interesting that the offer was $251 and not a round number like $250. I guess they figured $1 more would cinch the deal?

We’re starting to keep out eye out for a good used car for soon to be driving grandson. You shouldn’t be surprised on what the mechanic offered you. Good used cars under $5K are hard to come by. We’d love to find something like yours in the $2K to $3K range. I’m guessing your mechanic can flip that and make a nice profit (nothing wrong with that) especially since he knew it was already well maintained.

Well the funny thing is that after we sold it to him it sat on his garage property for about 8 months.
One day it finally was gone.
The next time I was in there I asked him about it. He said it needed more work than he thought and he actually lost money selling it. I felt bad for him because he has been my mechanic forever and is always honest and fair with me but he didn't seem worried one bit by it. It was also a 5 spd manual and apparently not too many people want manuals anymore.
Besides the catalytic converter the brake lines were corroded and maybe an alternator or something else.

 

[Gumby]

This post makes me sad. DW and I were dedicated manual transmission drivers for decades, but eventually manuals became impossible to find in the vehicles we wanted. Every vehicle we bought up to 2015 had a manual transmission, every one after automatic. Now out of 3 vehicles we only have one old 2 seater MT sports car (that gets driven much less than our more practical cars/trucks).
...

I like to think of our manual transmissions as an extra form of theft deterrent; if they can't drive it away, they can't steal it. I find it mildly amusing that when I go to the fancy car wash, I have to go in and drive my car off the end of the line, because none of the young workers can drive a stick.

 

[ncbill]

Interesting that the offer was $251 and not a round number like $250. I guess they figured $1 more would cinch the deal?

We’re starting to keep out eye out for a good used car for soon to be driving grandson. You shouldn’t be surprised on what the mechanic offered you. Good used cars under $5K are hard to come by. We’d love to find something like yours in the $2K to $3K range. I’m guessing your mechanic can flip that and make a nice profit (nothing wrong with that) especially since he knew it was already well maintained.

Mechanic probably slapped a $5 "spacer" on the downstream oxygen sensor and cleared all codes before re-selling it...that's what I did with one of my vehicles before getting rid of it (code is set when catalytic efficiency drops only slightly...IIRC, below 95%)

 

[ncbill]

I like to think of our manual transmissions as an extra form of theft deterrent; if they can't drive it away, they can't steal it. I find it mildly amusing that when I go to the fancy car wash, I have to go in and drive my car off the end of the line, because none of the young workers can drive a stick.

thought that too until seeing a police chase video where the stolen vehicle was simply left in first gear during the chase...bet that engine was trashed beyond repair.

 

[finnski1]

Mechanic probably slapped a $5 "spacer" on the downstream oxygen sensor and cleared all codes before re-selling it...that's what I did with one of my vehicles before getting rid of it (code is set when catalytic efficiency drops only slightly...IIRC, below 95%)

Well that's possible but he really is a very honest guy and said he had a complete catalytic converter from another Subaru he had that he was going to put on it. Regardless $2500 was more than I expected and the wife was ready for a new ride. When he told me he didn't make any money on it and in fact lost a little I believe him.
I actually replaced an O2 sensor myself earlier in it's life and I knew the trick about spacing out the sensor to fool the error codes but never did it. I know that the error codes for O2 sensors and catalytic issue are the same or similar but DW was basically ready to upgrade.

 

[Jeffman52]

I still have my 2002 F150 that has been paid for since 2010 (bought used in 2008) When I consider the amount I would have spent in outright cash or perhaps payments since it has been paid for, it just makes sense to continue to do this. We paid cash for a new Honda CRV in 2015 and we plan to drive it another 5 to 10 years before getting rid of it.

 

[RetiredAtThirty-eight]

There have been interesting threads on EVs. I’ve been wondering if it’s worth leasing one? I have a trusty ICE SUV but it’s got many years on it.

I recommend buying it outright if it's an EV. I'm not a fan of leasing in general but it might make sense with a gas car if the terms are good enough and you like driving new cars. Some analysts expect the value of used gas cars to plummet in coming years and leasing transfers that liability to the leasing company. I tend to agree with those analysts. Other analysts disagree but it very common for experts in any industry to not see major disruption to their industry until it's already happening.

I suspect many of those leasing companies might be going broke this decade. The problem they face is that if they listen to the analysts who are predicting a crash in the values of used gas cars, then leasing is not even a viable business anymore. So there is the temptation to only listen to those analysts who are telling them what they want to hear (that the cars powered by gasoline will retain value well).

 

[Speed Racer]

I've only bought one car so far, a 2015 Chevy Impala in early 2019. I was less than a year out of college, so I didn't really have the cash on hand even if I wanted to. I'll probably still finance mostly used cars going forward. I'd rather have the monthly payment than pay cash and miss out on any gains in the stock market. Whatever equity I have will be the down payment on trade in. I don't think I'll ever lease. I like being able to own my car and not have to worry about mileage limits, cash down payments, damage, etc.

 

[beowulf]

Everyone has to make their own choice, but it seems counterintuitive for people on an early retirement board to have a lease payment for the rest of their lives. Keeping a car until it’s no longer economical seems to be a far better fit for future or even current early retirees. The only two reasons I can come up with that justify a lease is the desire to have a new car every 3 years or so or the ability to deduct the payments as a business expense. If it’s not the latter, the former is a lifestyle choice, which is totally legitimate, albeit an expensive one. FYI, in my state, you have to pay the full sales when you lease a car, not the value for a turn in after 3 years. Other states allow proration. That means, where I am, I would have to pay the full tax on a new car every few years.

I agree that EVs are the way of the future - and the demise of gas vehicles within 15 to 20 years. But that gives us plenty of time to switch over.