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Yeah, I got a book from the library a long time ago that
Posted on: September 8, 2016 at 10:17:05 CT
JeffB MU
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was titled something like, How to make your car last a lifetime.
The author went into a bit of detail on the studies comparing the costs of new vehicles vs keeping and repairing an older one. The stats clearly showed that from a purely financial standpoint it was significantly cheaper to keep and repair the older one.
A lot of people don't keep in mind expenses like depreciation, interest (either actual or the opportunity cost on the money if you pay cash), taxes and insurance. Depreciation is very rapid on vehicles in the earliest years and it gradually goes down until it's negligible, and in a number of cases the vehicles can even start to appreciate if they are well cared for.
He even made the case that you could replace the engine, transmission and interior, like seats, carpet & other items and still be coming out ahead of buying a new car. That is especially true if you can do some of your own maintenance and repairs or have a friend or trustworthy mechanic who will do so reasonably.
Most people would come out ahead if they bought a decent used car and paid cash as long as they can check it out on their own or will pay a good mechanic to check it out for them. We've been lucky enough to be able to pay cash for new ones but put some time and effort into getting a very good deal. We wait until the model year changeover and then buy last year's model that they're trying to clear off the lot.
Our pattern is to buy it new and then run the wheels off of it. My daughter joked... and then we have Uncle ..... put them back on again. Yeah, my brother-in-law has been awesome. He likes the challenge of looking on the internet for how to do repairs and then finding great deals on the parts on the internet as well. Some of those places have online coupons for 20% to 40% off and you can usually find parts that are very inexpensive but still have lifetime warranties.
He's not intimidated by trying to diagnose why a "check engine" light comes on and then doing whatever it takes to fix it. I've always done minor repairs and maintenance, but wouldn't even consider trying some of the things he's eager to try. He was an electrical engineer before he went into management so that isn't really his field, but he likes to look at it as a challenge an a hobby, sort of like figuring out a complicated crossword puzzle.
He bought a little computer diagnostic gizmo that he can plug into the computer plug and then connect with is laptop, tablet or phone. It gives an amazing amount of detail, especially on the newer cars, as to what is going on with the various components, vacuum levels, which cylinder(s) might be having problems and so on. You can even drive down the road and see how things change at various speeds and under loads.
If what is causing the problem isn't obvious he'll look it up on the internet. There are various manuals online & our library has a couple of good ones. They often give a flow chart for diagnostics. If this happens, check... and if A then check Y but if B then check Z and so on. It can usually be figured out fairly quickly, though sometimes there's a little bit of mental modeling to figure out how it all fits together and what could be causing the problem. So far it has been fairly inexpensive parts that need to be replaced and amazingly enough there are often multiple youtube videos of guys who have done that repair on the vehicle you have showing step by step how they did that same repair/replacement. The online manuals also give step by step instructions.
My 20 year old Subaru is still running strong and I figure it's costing $900/year or less in depreciation and repairs even if we just gave it away for free today. It cost barely over $14,000 new. We just bought a new Hyundai new for barely over $14,000 as well & it has 100,000 mile 10 year warranty on the drivetrain. I think there's a very good chance that it will cost less than $1,000/year on depreciation and repairs as well. Our minivan was a bit more but we needed something pretty big to haul a family of 6 around, and maybe a friend as well. Even the minivan might come in at $1,000/yr or less for depreciation and repairs despite having some bells & whistles we would have never ordered if we could put it together al carte. But it was 2 model years old when the new ones were rolling in. It had been sitting on the dealer's lot that long and they had been using it as a bait car to bring people in. They could advertise it cheap and then steer people to a newer model when they got there.
$1,000/yr is less than some people make in a couple of car payments and the depreciation, taxes and insurance will be a lot higher than an older vehicle, especially if you have teenage drivers. A well maintained older vehicle can be about as reliable as a newer one. I wouldn't hesitate to take any of mine on a cross country trip.
The author went into a bit of detail on the studies comparing the costs of new vehicles vs keeping and repairing an older one. The stats clearly showed that from a purely financial standpoint it was significantly cheaper to keep and repair the older one.
A lot of people don't keep in mind expenses like depreciation, interest (either actual or the opportunity cost on the money if you pay cash), taxes and insurance. Depreciation is very rapid on vehicles in the earliest years and it gradually goes down until it's negligible, and in a number of cases the vehicles can even start to appreciate if they are well cared for.
He even made the case that you could replace the engine, transmission and interior, like seats, carpet & other items and still be coming out ahead of buying a new car. That is especially true if you can do some of your own maintenance and repairs or have a friend or trustworthy mechanic who will do so reasonably.
Most people would come out ahead if they bought a decent used car and paid cash as long as they can check it out on their own or will pay a good mechanic to check it out for them. We've been lucky enough to be able to pay cash for new ones but put some time and effort into getting a very good deal. We wait until the model year changeover and then buy last year's model that they're trying to clear off the lot.
Our pattern is to buy it new and then run the wheels off of it. My daughter joked... and then we have Uncle ..... put them back on again. Yeah, my brother-in-law has been awesome. He likes the challenge of looking on the internet for how to do repairs and then finding great deals on the parts on the internet as well. Some of those places have online coupons for 20% to 40% off and you can usually find parts that are very inexpensive but still have lifetime warranties.
He's not intimidated by trying to diagnose why a "check engine" light comes on and then doing whatever it takes to fix it. I've always done minor repairs and maintenance, but wouldn't even consider trying some of the things he's eager to try. He was an electrical engineer before he went into management so that isn't really his field, but he likes to look at it as a challenge an a hobby, sort of like figuring out a complicated crossword puzzle.
He bought a little computer diagnostic gizmo that he can plug into the computer plug and then connect with is laptop, tablet or phone. It gives an amazing amount of detail, especially on the newer cars, as to what is going on with the various components, vacuum levels, which cylinder(s) might be having problems and so on. You can even drive down the road and see how things change at various speeds and under loads.
If what is causing the problem isn't obvious he'll look it up on the internet. There are various manuals online & our library has a couple of good ones. They often give a flow chart for diagnostics. If this happens, check... and if A then check Y but if B then check Z and so on. It can usually be figured out fairly quickly, though sometimes there's a little bit of mental modeling to figure out how it all fits together and what could be causing the problem. So far it has been fairly inexpensive parts that need to be replaced and amazingly enough there are often multiple youtube videos of guys who have done that repair on the vehicle you have showing step by step how they did that same repair/replacement. The online manuals also give step by step instructions.
My 20 year old Subaru is still running strong and I figure it's costing $900/year or less in depreciation and repairs even if we just gave it away for free today. It cost barely over $14,000 new. We just bought a new Hyundai new for barely over $14,000 as well & it has 100,000 mile 10 year warranty on the drivetrain. I think there's a very good chance that it will cost less than $1,000/year on depreciation and repairs as well. Our minivan was a bit more but we needed something pretty big to haul a family of 6 around, and maybe a friend as well. Even the minivan might come in at $1,000/yr or less for depreciation and repairs despite having some bells & whistles we would have never ordered if we could put it together al carte. But it was 2 model years old when the new ones were rolling in. It had been sitting on the dealer's lot that long and they had been using it as a bait car to bring people in. They could advertise it cheap and then steer people to a newer model when they got there.
$1,000/yr is less than some people make in a couple of car payments and the depreciation, taxes and insurance will be a lot higher than an older vehicle, especially if you have teenage drivers. A well maintained older vehicle can be about as reliable as a newer one. I wouldn't hesitate to take any of mine on a cross country trip.
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Yeah, I got a book from the library a long time ago that - JeffB MU - 9/8 10:17:05