Well folks, after 60 agonizing days of dealing with car salespeople, test-driving far too many vehicles, visiting two auto mechanics to diagnose and fix my current car, and wasting an unhealthy amount of time on online research, I have decided not to buy a new car.
I know this may disappoint everyone who generously shared advice and recommendations. Believe me, I listened. At the top of my list were the Lexus GX 550, Toyota Land Cruiser, Toyota Highlander, Rivian R1S and R2, Range Rover Sport, and Tesla Model Y Performance with FSD.
I am sure I would enjoy every one of these vehicles, all conveniently priced between $50,000 and $115,000 out the door. That is also precisely the problem.
A Silver Lining After Returning From Hawaii
Despite returning from 10 days in Honolulu to a completely dead battery, two roadside assistance calls, and two system shutdowns while driving, I am still keeping my car.
In a twist of fate, the January 1, 2026 rain-soaked car fiasco turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
The full battery discharge while I was away appears to have reset the rogue modules causing a parasitic drain. Before I left for my trip, the Low Battery Warning showed up 13 out of 15 cold starts, despite replacing the battery and driving for at least 45 minutes the day before. Since returning, the car has behaved flawlessly. No Low Battery Warning. No ominous “System Will Shut Down in One Minute” message. Twenty clean days and counting.
With the issue seemingly resolved, I am sticking with my 10-year-old car for at least another year, but hopefully three and a half more years. It has just 67,500 miles on it, and I drive only about 6,300 miles a year.
So yes, despite recent mechanical drama, a roaring bull market since 2023, and a recent article on decumulating wealth, I am passing on a new car. I can't bear to give it up after spending all this time and money fixing it. Sunk cost fallacy perhaps? But after finally winning a two-month battle, it's time to enjoy the spoils!
Below are the main reasons why I am unwilling to light tens of thousands of dollars on fire just to enjoy that new-car smell.
Reason #1: I'm Becoming an Old Dog Who Doesn’t Want To Learn Tricks
With a new car, I’d have to learn a whole new interface – how it drives, how the touchscreen works, how to turn on the A/C, and so on. Eventually I’d figure it out, sure. But I’m also the guy who didn’t realize until year five of ownership that my current car has a button to automatically open the trunk and another button to heat the steering wheel. What luxury!
I’m officially turning into my father when it comes to technology. He refuses to upgrade his 1998 Toyota Avalon and I don't want to upgrade my 2015 Range Rover Sport that still has nice-smelling leather seats. It also has Bluetooth, parking sensors, a backup camera, all-wheel-drive, 22” rims, and everything I could ask for.
Reason #2: I Don’t Want the Stress of Driving a Pricey New Car
Spending $60,000 for a Tesla Model Y Performance or $115,000 for a new Range Rover Sport would make me constantly stressed about dings, scratches, and keeping the thing pristine. It’s like wearing a brand-new pair of white sneakers, multiplied by 1,000.
Right now, I can park my 10-year-old car anywhere without a second thought. If it gets dinged or bumped, I shrug. But if a new car gets keyed in a supermarket lot? I’d be pissed. And my happiness is worth way more than that. I've been in my car three times when the neighbor opening their door dinged mine and they couldn’t give two farts. I no longer want to fight these nuances any more.
As dual unemployed parents (DUPS), I already feel pressure to provide. The last thing I need is new-car-stress layered on top of everything else. In fact, the biggest benefit of driving an old car is better mental health! New cars also come with higher insurance rates, which drags down our cash flow.
The Main Reason: Opportunity Cost Of Not Investing Is Too Great
Being comfortable with my old car is nice. Avoiding stress is even nicer. But the number one reason I didn’t replace it is this: Buying a new car now would sabotage a major financial goal.
I’m currently about $20,000 a year in passive income short of my ideal financial independence target. At a 4% withdrawal rate, that means I need at least $500,000 more in invested capital.
Ever since I bought my house on a large lot in 2023, I’ve been working to earn more, save more, and invest better to replace the $150,000 in passive income I lost. I’ve made great progress, in part thanks to a bull market in stocks. Further, two tenant turnovers in 2025 enabled me to reset rents to market rates and meaningfully increase rental income.
So to spend $50,000–$115,000 on a depreciating asset feels like an unforced error. I know the amazing feeling of having 100% of your desired living expenses covered by passive income. That feeling lasted from 2012, when I left work, until 2023. I desperately want to return to that situation.
If I grind for another 1–2 years and the market cooperates, I should reach my passive income goal of $380,000 a year no problem. But slicing off $50k – $115k of capital today would cost me at least: $2,000–$4,600/year in lost passive income, forever.
That puts even more pressure on the stock market to do the heavy lifting, which I'm not bullish on due to valuations. Managing my family’s finances already feels like a full-time job sometimes with 10 investment accounts. I don’t want to drag this out any longer than necessary because I’m already tired.
The Even Bigger Opportunity Cost: My Kids' Finances
It’s hard enough to justify buying a car I don’t absolutely need when I’m trying to hit a big financial goal. This is why I rolled the dice and spent $1,750 to fix the car from cash flow. But when I think about my kids' future, it becomes almost impossible to splurge.
At ages 6 and 8, they have the longest time horizon of all, and therefore the highest compounding potential. Every dollar invested for them today is dramatically more valuable than a dollar invested for me.
And let’s be clear: they’re technically poor. They have no great skills, no jobs, and no ability to generate income, yet they’ll be entering a labor market disrupted by AI. They may very well be underemployed after college and still living at home with us.
The main way I'm hedging is by investing heavily in AI on their behalf.
I’ve already funded a new $200,000 Fundrise Venture account earmarked for them in August 2025. Ideally, I’d like to double the funding, so it has a greater chance to grow into millions by the time they graduate as an insurance policy. Of course I'm not going to tell them they have this insurance policy out of fear of spoiling them.
In addition, I believe there's going to be a 10 percent pullback in the stock market this year. If and when it happens, I want to invest as much as possible for my children's custodial investment accounts. The current gift limit per person is $19,000 or $38,000 if a couple, and we have two children.
This Is Where the Math Gets Serious
If I invest the money I would have spent on a new car instead:
Scenario 1:
Invest $50,000 (Tesla Model Y non-performance model money) for my daughter for 13 years at 8%: -> $50,000 -> ~$136,000. I think she would appreciate $136,000 extra in her custodial investment account after college to launch than sitting in a new Tesla starting from age 6. She's perfectly happy kicking the back of my car's front seats as is.
Scenario 2:
Invest $115,000 (Range Rover Sport money) for 10 years at 8%: -> $115,000 -> $248,000. I think he would appreciate having $248,000 to pursue his career dreams, instead of just go into an industry society considers prestigious.
That’s life-changing money for a kid starting adulthood. It’s not life-changing for me to be driving a nicer vehicle to the supermarket, school, or Lake Tahoe. Honestly, I just want a reliable car that gets me from point A to point B safely. As a stealth wealth practitioner, it also feels good to drive around in an old car to attract less attention.
An 8% rate of return is reasonable. However, if we experience strong runs like we’ve seen since 2023, the absolute dollar gains over 10 years will be even greater. The Innovation fund, for example, returned 43.5% in 2025. The momentum seems there for another great year, although, no guarantees of course.
Once I saw the numbers, it became obvious: It's better to invest for their future than drive a new car that I don't absolutely need.
So instead of selling Treasuries to buy a depreciating asset, I’m rolling expiring Treasuries into traditional venture capital funds investing in AI, plus an open-ended venture fund. I'm also using the money to buy any significant dip of 3% or greater in the stock market.
I'm in the camp that the bigger risk isn't the AI bubble popping, it's missing out on a generational life-changing opportunity near the beginning.
Paying for Repairs Through Cash Flow
So there you have it. The personal finance nerd in me just can’t justify splurging on a new car. I honestly feel stupid doing so when I simply don't value new cars anymore. More than anything else, I value freedom and ensuring our children will be OK
I hope to survive the next year with minimal car problems. If I can just spend just $1,000 – $2,000 a year fixing the car in the future outside of tires, brakes, and oil changes, I will consider it a win. Perhaps if I ever get some type of huge windfall, I'll buy a new car.
But today is the day to continue investing for a brighter future. In the meantime, I'm just going to wash and vacuum my car to make it feel new once more. And you know what? Washing the car worked! Check out the picture below. I feel like I'm driving a new car for free once more.
How do you overcome the guilt of spending on a depreciating asset when you know that money could compound into far more for you and your children in the future? If you’ve found ways to tap principal for a major purchase, rather than relying on cash flow alone, I’d love to hear your strategies.
Suggestions For A More Secure Life
If you care about car safety, you should also care about protecting your family in case something happens to you. Consider an affordable term life insurance policy through Policygenius. My wife and I got matching 20-year term policies at a great rate during the pandemic to protect our two young children, and the peace of mind we feel is priceless.
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67k Miles is what we consider low miles With 3 kids it never makes sense for us to drive new cars. Husband also works in the inner city so he’s not buying for the reason you mentioned- someone dings your car … no big deal. It also helps that my brother owns a mechanic shop so we get a big discount and he actually knows what he’s doing so we are never stranded kn the side of the road.
I agree, which is why I can’t change cars yet. I want to get 3.5 more years or 100,000 mile mark.
Greetings Sam and Happy New Year!
I appreciated your article this week regarding “holding off” buying a car, although based on previous articles, I am taken aback! We are all human and your sense of candor is your gift to readers! I do try to keep my ideations and actions for finance based on information resources such as your articles and books; as well as unlimited topics for female investors in multiple mediums (i.e., Fidelity for Women Investors, Liam Porritt, etc.). Last thought, I did run my retirement plan through AI and the response really boosted my confidence. I am a woman on the retirement runway, with much more confidence and less concerns regarding my retirement years.
Dang I am feeling bad. For me, not Sam.
Back in November 2024 I bought a $125,000.00 center console fishing boat. It has been an endless stream of maintenance costs and we were not able to use it as much as we hoped. So after only one year of ownership, she is for sale. The juice has not been worth the squeeze.
I wish I had been more practical and put that $125k in the Fundrise Venture Fund. I would still have my cash, and the gains would pay for a lot of off shore charters on someone else’s boat and no maintenance issues.
Once she is sold that money is going right in that fund.
And regarding vehicles, Sam Dave Ramsey would be proud of you. I am proud of you too. You cannot invest that new car smell, and that only lasts so long- like a month.
We drive clean nice used cars that someone else has taken the hit on and run them into the ground.
Take care!
Ah, thanks for sharing Robert! At least you gave it a go and will never wonder what it would’ve been like to have one. I think that’s worth something.
The funny thing about investing is that it really does take big money to make big money. So even if you had invested at all in the Innovation fund, you would still only be up $50, 000 or so. Not bad for sure. But not enough to buy yourself a center console fishing boat! :)
Good luck on the sale.
Glad you kept the RR but I was hoping you’d pick up a used Land Cruiser. The last new car we bought was a 91 Mazda 626GT. 171K miles and the only major component to go was a clutch – wife wanted to learn to drive a stick (very high Marriage and Life ROI). From then on we picked up 2-3 year old cars with low mileage and drive them 100-150K miles. Given the quirkiness of your electrical issue, did a dealer resolve it or do you have a Yoda-like mechanic that figured it out?
My Yoda was a lucky 10-day trip to Honolulu and AI! Check out:
https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-main-reasons-that-prevents-me-from-buying-a-new-car/
https://www.financialsamurai.com/ai-as-a-therapist-for-all-your-problems/
100% agree with each and every point! I had to buy a new car because I got rear-ended and my Prius got totaled. I was so sad. I loved that car. I’m enjoying my basically new used RAV4 hybrid that I bought from Hertz, and I’m enjoying not bottoming out all the time, but I would rather have had my old Prius.
Yikes! Glad you are OK. Hopefully you got an insurance payout to help you buy your new car?
As always a very well written and thoughtful financial analysis on any topic you write about.
I have hit all my numbers and can afford to buy any car I want. Like you, I tend to over analysis and ask the debate the same points you spoke about.
A few years ago my I wanted to add a Porsche Cayenne to my fleet my wife asked what was the main purpose of that car which I replied to take the dogs to the beach. She explained that putting wet dogs in a 100K vehicle may not be the smartest thing to do. She suggested I buy something nice but practical and consider upgrading my Porsche 911. I ended up buying a 2023 Kia Telluride which has become my favorite vehicle of all time.
3 years later and I am very happy with my decision. I am thinking about upgrading to the latest Kia telluride coming out next month and giving my 32 year old daughter who just had twins my current vehicle.
I forgot the age of your kids but you may want to consider which vehicle you will had down when their time comes to drive.
Keep writing
Pat
You mentioned that you only drive 6700 miles/year and to me this is a key factor. I’m a car guy and I’d love to get something new and fun, but I still have my wife’s hand-me-down 2011 Prius because I drive well under 5000 miles/year. In my youth I was on the road several hours a day for work, and so I spent the money on a nice car to make those hours enjoyable. But I don’t see the sense in splurging on a fancy car that gets driven less than a hundred miles per week and otherwise just sits collecting dust.
I’m pretty sure there are some executives at Mercedes-Benz who curse their predecessors for having built such incredibly high-quality cars in the 1990s.
New models can barely reach 100,000 km before things start breaking down, while mine has already passed 300,000 km. However, I’d said it’s now starting to attract attention, as the car looks genuinely good from a design perspective.
On top of that, now that the car is 30 years old, I can register it as an old-timer and significantly save on both car tax and insurance.
Hah! Maybe! I remember my beater in HS lasted until 140,000 miles before I got my job in Manhattan. So I’m definitely anchored to at least 100,000 miles before switching. It’s like as magnetic target drawing me to it.
Agreed on the comment about the older Mercedes Benz’s. What year and model are you driving?
My car’s parasitic battery drain was due to the 3G network being shut down. The car’s emergency panic button was linked to the 3G network. With the link shut down it was constantly trying to reestablish a link, all the while draining the battery.
Oh yeah, I kept the car rather than replacing it.
Sam, your thoughts about new car buying are helpful. I’m trying to justify buying a new car myself (Lexus GX 550 overtrail). Like many I dislike losing the potential high market returns for 2026. My 2018 rx350 only had 60K miles so don’t really NEED a new car.
Big issue for me while tring to justify spending $100K on new car – maybe you have already addressed – will AI make preserving and growing principle less or more important? Will money even matter? Is accumulating as much as you can in next 5 years critical or irrelevant? I’m talking about many experts (Yampoliskiy, Hinton, Musk, etc.) making compelling arguments that AI will cause 80%+ unemployment and completely change the world economy in next 3-5 years. Will everyone be rich? Will everyone be poor? Will the economy will become highly K shaped with great opportunity to preserve and grow already accumulated wealth and little opportunity for those begining to accumulate wealth? Interesting topic!
I know several close friends who are trying to continue driving their older cars. Simply because the newer cars have more digital electronics for automation which makes it far more vulnerable to breakdowns and getting a skilled technician who has also knowledge of the software embedded in the car systems.
Just for comparison: a good friend drove her Nissan car 20 yrs. to 400,000 kms. Before it broke down. It was washed weekly with our northern winter snows, salt abuse, etc.
So feel comfy to pushing your car to its max! You don’t live in snowy areas.
Good stuff. Yes, with only 67,500 miles on my car, I feel stupid to sell it and spend $50,000+ on something I would actually want. I’d like to at least get to 100,000 miles, which at 6,300 miles a year, would mean in 5-6 years time.
I get it. It took me 3 years to realize that I had an automatic start button on the key fab of my Jeep Grand Cherokee. For three winters I went outside and started that cold car and scraped the ice or snow and could have just started it from my warm family room and let it do its thing. LOL.
I got a 2025 Audi S5 as a splurge a year ago and love it! Absolutely no regrets even after paying hiked insurance bill and personal property tax. Not close yet to learning all the tech and gadgets.
I don’t know. Except of the “dings” stress, all the reasons you state are very “future” reasons. I feel like once you have a bunch of money in the market…live alittle for yourself. From prior posts I gather you like cars and recently you have been finding reasons not to buy one. That’s fine but is it necessary? So that 30k you put in the market 1/20 is great. But in the indexes, it becomes 60k in what, 6-7 years? Assuming historic positive returns?
BUT – and this is crucial – if you already have 5M in the market that will become 10M in 6-7 years under the same scenario, is that extra 30k that consequential that you can’t enjoy yourself a bit now? I understand you got to the 5M through putting off gratification, but there comes a point where it isn’t just OK, but almost positive to take the focus off more – more – more?
This isn’t criticism of you Sam, but as much me talking to myself. I have loved your blog and it helped me in my wealth accumulation, but I made a bit of a turn last year or two when my assets got to the point of Very High Net Worth as financial advisors categorize. You have shared that you are there too. (10M+).. Yeh I could have put that 80k into stocks instead of the Audi for my grandkids education (if I have any), but not like I won’t have money to give to that later. People like you and I will always have a large “nut” that will keep growing and growing.
We sound almost identical! Reached the $5M mark a couple of years ago, sold my 8-year old Hyundai for $10k and finally splurged on the Audi ($50k for a 1-year old Q5).
More importantly, I have enjoyed the mental “pivot” of realizing that spending on quality things I put off for 20+ years, while securing my family’s financial future, is actually gratifying. Some additional fun travel, higher quality clothing, etc where my portfolio will still outpace my modest lifestyle. (Side note, however — I have TWO weddings to pay for this year! Daughter 1 in May, Daughter 2 in September!)
Anyway, great post.
And for all that, Sam, I really appreciated that you held on to the beast! We’ve done that with my son’s 2014 Jeep Cherokee with 150,000 miles. It’s mostly sentimental (it was my wife’s car before she passed away 5 years ago), but also the $4,500 investment in needed repairs feels like we have another 4 years, 50,000 miles in it, fingers crossed)
What ever happened to BURL? Those are really nice vehicles but, you don’t have to spend that much. We just bought a new vehicle to replace a 13 year old car. We financed 100% @0.99APR of our 2025 Honda Ridgeline that we got for 10% below MSRP, it’s a buyers market if you are ok with unpopular vehicles. We sold our old car and put in in a money market earning 4%+ so happy with the arbitrage. I too struggled with getting rid of a functional vehicle, but the truck is awesome and much more useful than our station wagon was.
BURL is for real estate, not so much cars. I’m glad you enjoy your Honda Ridgeline.
It’s weird, but if I’m gonna buy a new car, I wanna buy something that I truly find to be magnificent given my likelihood of owning it for many many years. I also would rather buy a car outright in cash or lease it for three years.
It’s not just you, but everyone around me is either delaying their new purchase and putting the extra money in to the markets. It seems like people have grown a lot better at managing their money with the passage of time.
Interesting if true, and if there’s some sort of evidence that people are either going on strike or being more responsible with their money.
The average age of a car on the road is getting longer now, at 12.8 years, which is pointing towards what you say. Supposedly, 44% of vehicles on the road now are over 10 years old. So I’m glad to be part of that statistic with my car now 10.5 years old.
Any software device like Windows, Android and even Linux need a power starving reboot from time to time. The coding is just not good enough to run long enough without a reboot.
Yeah, the analogy is the same. So the full sell discharge after being away and not driven for 10 days was a blessing in disguise, despite the scars in pain of a shutdown and getting roadside assistance over twice. I bought a 2000 amp portable jumper as well just in case. As I never want to be stranded in the middle of the road again. Luckily, it was New Year’s Day and raining and there was nobody around.
Biggest having the car completely self discharge with me not being able to even open the locks remotely should not happen after only 10 days. I had the car in the garage, not driven for five weeks last summer while we were in Hawaii and when we returned, it started just fine.
Thanks Sam. I frequently get a bit obsessive about the idea of buying a new car. It normally lasts a week or two as I look at different model. During that period of time, two things normally happen: 1) the lost opportunity cost becomes real to me (spending money on deprecating assets versus investing in appreciating assets) 2) I then think back on the majority of my auto purchases and realize that I’ve regretted almost everyone. The regret stems from the fact that I never really needed a new car, and just gave into some urge. The one purchase I do not regret was made in an attempt to upgrade the new safety technology. I’m also not a “car guy”, so they do not necessarily bring me much pleasure
I hear you. And the thing is, buying a new car doesn’t necessarily guarantee it to be a problem free. In fact, the two new cars I purchased, including a Honda fit, had problems. The Honda fit wouldn’t start even though I took it back to have them fix the starter. It would just continue to try to catch. What a nightmare.
What a relief that your car is working again. It’s one of those things we can forget how much we rely on every day until it stops working. Electricity, hot water, heat also come to mind.
I don’t think keeping the older car is a sunk cost fallacy at all. If the mileage was closer to 200,000, it probably would be. But at a lower mileage, I would see referencing past repairs to part ways with a car as a version of the sunk cost fallacy, making decisions based on past costs instead of reasonable estimates of future costs and usefulness.
I personally thought about getting rid of my car around 100,000 miles when the costs were adding up, and the mechanic cautioned about the head gasket. I wasn’t able to get a good deal selling, so I kept it, and it actually didn’t have any problems for another 65,000 miles. Once the car got to 165,000 miles, the engine gaskets needed replaced. I ran the math based on the car we would likely buy next priced at $45,000.00. I concluded based on a 10% time value of money that deferring the new car purchase just a year would be worth it. The final repair came in less expensive than I anticipated. I’m happy with it. 90% of that car’s usage is to get to work, so I want to keep the cost down and not miss out on other investment opportunities.
Nice post – Interesting was the think about the opportunity cost of the saved $$$. I got rid of my 2006 Range Rover Sport in 2019 when it began to give me a few issues, before anything major happened. I felt like it was a ticking time bomb. Barely got any money for it. Then I “upgraded” to a used 2015 honda accord hybrid for a few years, which served me well with minimal maintenance costs. My wife and I never thought we’d buy new cars. But in 2022 my wife’s old camry was totaled and we bought a new Model Y AWD, unfortunately before the price drops and our income was too high for the tax credit. At that time the used car market was crazy so the delta wasn’t that big. But no regrets- the cars amazing and the technology was a gamechanger, so I felt the need to upgrade my honda. In 2024, I got a brand new Model 3 RWD (price was again not that much higher than used and have attending income now :) So we’re now a 2 tesla household in the bay…very stereotypical lol but we love them!
Hah! Very stereotypical indeed. Tried full self driving yet? It’s the main reason why I’d consider, especially if the tech improves again to be total non-supervised needed.
I was THIS close to getting a Model Y in Dec 2025 with all the incentives. Now I’m definitely not b/c all the $6,500 – $8,500 incentives went away! As an investor, I’m not sure how they are going to stop the free fall of EV vehicles in 2026. And with the RS2 coming out from Rivian this summer.. Tesla will face even more competition.
FSD has come a long way in the past few months (version 14.2.x.y.z…). It’s a subscription of $99/mo, but I think you can make the case that it’s worth the convenience and super-human safety, which is still improving.
I think the car decision equation has changed. It’s no longer just about “saving money buying used” and optimizing ownership cost/mile. The tech is now about moving safety and utilization to the next level.
Sam, you love data-driven decisions. You’ll be able to quantify this soon when insurance companies start charging you extra for not using FSD. For example, Lemonade just announced 50% insurance discounts if drivers use Tesla FSD.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/lemonade-halve-tesla-insurance-rates-miles-driven-with-software-assistant-2026-01-21
Your car story resonates with me and I find it amusing as there are so many similarities to my situation a rear ago. I was wrestling with a decision on a well maintained 2008 Infiniti G35X with 160k on the clock with electrical and probable transmission gremlins surfacing. My wife is primary driver. I had not purchased a new/new car since 2001. I could not believe what horrible experience it was. I’m 67 recently retired with a net worth a little north of $10 million. I USED to be a car enthusiast. Wife really wanted a Lexus and I do like them. Ended up with new loaded Camry as for some reason I could not stand the thought of the inevitable parking lot dings, scratches etc. from the Costco parking lot. Told wife, if the stock market is favorable in three years we will revisit the Lexus when the warranty ends on the Camry. The car dealerships were just awful.
Sam, Range Rovers are NOTORIOUS for reliability issues. That was your first mistake, buying one.
Thank you Geno for the insight. But I would say after 10.5 years of existence, the maintenance issues after a standard three or four-year warranty haven’t been outside the norm.
I live in Mexico and we have a daily driver that my wife uses to commute to work. We often travel on weekends and we found the least expensive, least stressful means of having a car for travel – we simply rent. I can often rent a small sedan for about $10 a day. From the house, I can take a free bus (New Yorkers keep dreaming!) a block from the house and a five minute walk to rental agency from its last stop. So even if we travel every weekend, it costs about $40 a month to have a car with zero additional costs. I recently got a flat tire and the insurance from my Chase credit card even covered that. I have a friend that has a Tesla Model X; he recently purchased tires and when I amortized the miles on his tires compared to what I pay to rent and the number of miles we drive, it was actually cheaper to rent than he paid for a set of new tires.
Of course there are times when it might be nice to simply load the car up at home and leave, it certainly does not make economic sense. Our only restriction is that we cannot rent for more than 31 consecutive days or we would lose the Chase credit card coverage. As my wife still works, this is never a problem.
I warned the mechanic not to run up a $3000 bill on my Challenger with 192000 miles on it. Well he came back a $1000 and I thought that would be OK. Then he called me back and it went to $2800. I ran the numbers and found that the total cost of ownership was $1000 per month. $400 for maint on used or payment on a new car, $300 for insurance and another $300 on gas. Then I remember seeing 4-5 billboards for liability lawyers coming out of the airport. I can take an average of 40 uber rides per month on that $1000 and use a bike for short trips. Its no longer worth having a car. I went from $12000 a year to $3000 in my first year without a car.
That’s great! It feels so light not having a car.
For us, we need the flexibility of instantly going anywhere as it can be tough always getting ready in time with kids and such. So even though self driving and Ubers are everywhere here in SF, we still want one car for the four of us. We’ve simply got too many activities to go to between all of us, one of which is driving 20 min to go play pickleball or tennis after drop off. That’s a $35-$40 Uber each way.
Don’t buy new cars. 2-3y old with CPO and less than 15k miles. You will be paying ~35% below new price, for a car is effectively new and factory coverage. Best way to minimize cost of ownership.
Having an old car is always cheaper (both in terms of opportunity cost and actual cash flow) and there is no way around it, but you will be missing in things important for your family: safety. Active Cruise Control is a game changer for heavy traffic and a life saver with distractions. Unless you are a maintenance freak and you actually change regularly dampers & suspension bushings, perform alignment regularly, change tires based on age and not only on depth left, brake pads based on compound condition and not only on thickness left, proper brake fluid flushing and replacement every two years… your car is going to perform substantially worse than a new one in an accident avoidance situation.
Performing the maintenance I described (and notice that there is nothing cosmetic about it) costs substantial money and I barely know anyone that is not a car geek that follows it. Something to think about, have you replace your dampers in 10 years?
The longevity of vehicles is starting to astound me, my 2009 Elantra is still going with 270k miles on it. It’s got problems, sure. But it still gets me to work. I’m hoping to get one more year out of it before upgrading to a brand new Elantra. The upgrade will have me feeling like I’m driving a Lexus.