In my 20s, I was a car fanatic. I’d trade cars every one or two years because it was fun. I loved to haggle with strangers to try and get the best deal possible. As I grew older and wealthier, my interest in cars waned. Today, I believe the ideal length of time to own a car is between 8-10 years if you buy new.

If you drive a new car for 8-10 years, you will have maximized its value while also minimized any safety risks that tend to appear due to age. I assume an average annual mileage of 12,000. Of course, if you don’t drive much, you can easily extend your car ownership period.

If you buy a used car, the best buying strategy for value, safety, and enjoyment is to buy a 3-5-year-old car and drive it for 5-7 years. If you do, you will skip the steepest portion of the depreciation curve. You can then turn around and sell the car for a reasonable price.

There’s an old saying in golf, “drive for show, putt for dough.” Hitting a massive 300-yard bomb looks beautiful, but what really counts is accurate putting. Well let me introduce you to a new saying, “Own one car for show and another car for dough.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve lost money on the golf course because I three-putted instead of two-putted. I’ve also occasionally won money squeezing in an eight-footer. Those knee-knockers, when all is on the line during an Aloha bet, are intense!

Give me a regular 250-yard drive and incredible putting accuracy over a 300-yard drive and putting yips all day long. The same goes for cars.

I’m a one car type of guy. Owning a car is expensive, especially if you don’t follow my 1/10th rule. With the proliferation of cheap ridesharing options that have emerged since 2009, not owning a car is making more and more sense.

But over the years, I’ve had a tremendous number of complaints that my 1/10th rule is too restrictive. Instead of limiting the median American household to only spending $6,200 on a car, many people feel the typical American should be able to spend much more.

If you want to spend more, it’s totally up to you. Don’t let me tell you what to do. I’m just offering a simple rule to follow to help you achieve financial independence sooner, rather than later.

For those of you who love cars and want to own two or more cars, I suggest owning at least a Dough Car. If you do, you might build your net worth quicker than the rest. You might even better keep yourself out of trouble.

Ugh. So I just realized something incredibly stupid that only spending hours writing a post could have made me realize. I *think* I missed taking my car to the dealer to get its clicking noise fixed under the car warranty for free! Thus, I want to help you save money by knowing your car warranty so you won’t make my mistake.

I mentioned the clicking noise in my post on paying for repairs by cash or credit. It had had been progressively getting worse for about six months. If true, that means my clicking noise began in April 2019.

My car was originally purchased on July 6, 2015. I bought it from a private party on December 28, 2016. I wanted a larger car in preparation for the birth of our baby in 2017.

For some reason, I had assumed my car only had a 3-year/40,000, transferrable bumper-to-bumper warranty. So I just assumed that I had missed the window to get the problem fixed by 15 months.

But as I was doing research online, oddly enough on my own tax rules for deducting an SUV for a business post, I discovered my SUV has a 4-year/ 50,000 mile warranty!

If I simply understood my car warranty and what it covered, I could have taken my car into the shop by July 6, 2019. I would have gotten the clicking sound taken care of for free. Plus fixed anything else the computer found wrong.

Damn it!

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I’m a car fanatic and maybe you are one too. This post is my drive down memory lane. I go over all the cars I’ve owned in the past.

One of my most financially helpful, but polarizing articles is The 1/10th Rule For Car Buying Everyone Must Follow. I wrote this post to help mostly younger folks not blow their money on the most common financial destroyer. We all know that almost all cars are guaranteed to lose value.

As a young man, I used to view my Toyota Corolla Hatchback as an asset because I didn’t know better. How could a car be a liability when I could take girls out on dates, drive to William & Mary from the DC-area to get a solid education, and take a nice midnight jaunt along the Jamestown river during final exams?

Now I view my vehicle as a liability. All I see in my garage is a large heap of metal necessary to transport my family safely. I’ve got to keep feeding it money in order for it to run – gas, new tires, maintenance, tax, tickets, accidents, and insurance. I’d much rather have the money sunk in my car producing passive income for financial freedom.

For those of you curious about what it’s like to follow the 1/10th Rule For Car Buying for the past 15 years, let me give you an honest assessment as an ex-car fanatic who has owned a dozen cars in his lifetime. The journey just might save you a lot of money and bring you more happiness in the process.