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In Reply to: RE: Average age of a car in use daily in the US... posted by ghost of olddude55 on May 02, 2024 at 06:49:01
You drive newer cars to avoid repair costs, older cars to avoid depreciation.
Follow Ups:
Average monthly car payment is approaching $1,000/month. Average out the door price? About $50K. With interest over a seven year note, you're probably close to $100,000. That's one hell of a lot of repairs to an old car.
The last major repair I had done on my car was a clutch replacement. About $1,000, in other words one monthly payment. It'll likely never need done again.
Rust is the car killer in this neck of the woods. If you can beat rust, and you take care of the car, there's no reason why you can't drive it to 200,000 miles and beyond.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
Edits: 05/02/24
Depreciation is the ticking heart of the payment, but I shouldn't discount interest and term. Those of us who pay cash tend to see it as depreciation pure and simple.
Back in the Seventies, during double-digit inflation, you bought a car brand new in, say 1978, by 1980 you were paying back the loan with cheaper dollars. Nobody worried about depreciation.
For 20 years starting in 1982, I was flat ass broke most of the time, and the cars I owned were used up by the time I got them. Again, depreciation not a factor.
Since 2003, last time I bought a brand new car, I've kept my vehicles till they fell apart. I'll keep the car I have now until I'm either physically unable to drive it or it gets destroyed in a collision.
When it comes to repair costs, maybe something like a BMW, Mercedes, or Audi, maybe you'd be better off with a new car. It could cost $25K per year just keeping some of those vehicles on the road.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
Old Click and Clack saying ...-
"Which is more? $500 a year or $5,000 a year?"
Inflation adjust those and the point is still the same.
She breaks down how much it costs to buy new cars.
I wouldn't buy a Seltos because I think SUVs are dumb as the proverbial stump, but it's in the price range where I'd be shopping:
It would cost less to have my Cobalt rebuilt from stem to stern than what I'd shell out for a Seltos, assuming I borrowed money to buy it.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
Edits: 05/02/24
Watched her. You might pick at some of her assumptions in the calculation, but the conclusion is same. Cars are expensive ...- or certainly can be, and her then backing into the kind of income necessary to support it was good extra step to drive home the point.
Along the side of the screen was a link to a video of that guy you post who tears down engines.
Holy f'ing cow! He tore down a Viper engine that was so unbelievably full of shrapnel as to be unbelievable!
Most of the engines he tears down, straight up lack of maintenance killed them.
You want eye-popping though, check out South Main Auto Repair , or Pine Hollow Diagnostics . Some of the long videos can be tedious but at least you'll get an idea of how ridiculously complex modern cars are and why repair costs are skyrocketing.
Probably 70% of the complexity is unnecessary. Government didn't mandate it and buyers never demanded it.
My own theory is that car makers are using as a form of planned obsolescence.
The blissful counterstroke-a considerable new message.
Edits: 05/02/24
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