Mazda 3 may cost him $79,000

[Lainey]

http://www.azcentral.com/story/money/personalfinance/2016/08/30/i-tracked-every-carrelated-expense-for-3-years-heres-what-i-learned/89506456/

Great article in Motley Fool by a young man who calculated all of his car expenses including the original cost. A good comparison that I wish all young potential car buyers would read.

[catherine]

Great article! I may share it with my daughter, whose 2000 Honda Accord just died. She asked for advice, and here is typical advice you would get from parents where one is the Dave Ramsey Nerd and the other is the Free Spirit:

Free Spirit: "Buy a new Honda Fit. It's so nice not to buy other people's problems, and Fits are the BEST!"

Nerd: "Cars depreciate significantly the moment you drive it off the lot. Plus, you can't afford a car payment, and you work only a few miles away. Find a private dealer, get a decent car for a couple of thousand, get your motorcycle-repairman friend to check it out, and save yourself from getting into debt."

Maybe if she reads this article she'll take MY advice :)

[Ultralight]

Such an interesting article! I like when quirky types do these little studies. Many insights!

[jp1]

I like how the article presents ideas that take YMOYL style calculations to a more granular level. For instance, it costs $x per month to drive to work vs. $y if I take the bus but I also save an hour per day in commute time by driving. Is that convenience of an extra free hour per day not spent commuting worth spending $x-$y more money?

[LDAHL]

I knew a guy who prepared a cost/benefit analysis spreadsheet prior to getting married. His fiance thought it was funny, but she helped him calculate the tax impacts. Thirty years later, they're still married. To my knowledge, they never post-audited the assumptions.

[Lainey]

I knew a guy who prepared a cost/benefit analysis spreadsheet prior to getting married. His fiance thought it was funny, but she helped him calculate the tax impacts. Thirty years later, they're still married. To my knowledge, they never post-audited the assumptions.

That's kinda funny. Reminds me of a story I'd heard about Mr. Trump and his second marriage. Apparently there was a pre-nup where, iirc, at the 5 year mark his wife would be "fully vested" so to speak. He apparently did a cost/benefit analysis and decided, Nah, and filed for divorce before that point hit.

[Gardenarian]

Very cool that he actually took the time to do this.

I had some bad luck with used cars, so bought my Scion XB new in 2004. Still ticking along great. I keep track of my gas mileage and it comes in right around 31 (as predicted.)
I was looking at cars recently, but you know - this may be the last car I ever own. I've put less than 2000 miles on it in the past 2 years.

My dd says that she wants to live a life that never requires her to own a car. I wonder if that will be possible?? (she does love the city.) This is my 7th car.

[catherine]

My dd says that she wants to live a life that never requires her to own a car. I wonder if that will be possible?? (she does love the city.) This is my 7th car.

Depends on where she lives and works, but it's definitely possible. My DS leased a car once but when he gave it back he didn't see the point in spending the money on either a lease, purchase or upkeep on a car, so he never replaced it. He's on a bus line to work, he's within walking distance to everything else, and if he really needs a car, he has a zipcar account. Full disclosure: he does ride a motorcycle, but he puts it away in the winter, so it's really just used in the summer months for transportation to work and fun rides.

[Miss Cellane]

I like how the article presents ideas that take YMOYL style calculations to a more granular level. For instance, it costs $x per month to drive to work vs. $y if I take the bus but I also save an hour per day in commute time by driving. Is that convenience of an extra free hour per day not spent commuting worth spending $x-$y more money?

When I lived in a area with very good public transportation, I used it all the time. Yes, driving might get you someplace more quickly, but during that time, you can do nothing but drive.

On a bus or a trolley car, you can read, or knit, or daydream, or do your homework, or check your email. While someone else gets the stress of driving/steering you through Boston traffic. Win/win, in my book.

I used my car for the big monthly shopping trip, when I'd have more than I could easily carry home on the bus. And for places public transportation did not go. And to get to my brother's house, because, given a few quirks of Boston's public transit, a 40 minute car ride was 2.5 hours on the T, on a good day. An hour and a half round trip car ride stretched into a five hour round trip on the T--that was more time than I was willing to spend.

[Tybee]

I spent four very happy years in Chicago without a car. No need at all.