Originally posted by ODC:
This is a harsh response but:

Buy a different car then. Most likely a civic, corolla, echo, prius, or TDI.

Transportation isn't a static cost, if its necessary that you have private transportation, then find something that is within your means.

Hell I was going to buy a 2000 SS, but when I found out that insurance was insane ($4000/year) and with rising gas prices, I had to settle for a more 'economical' CSVT.

If I couldn't afford the gas on the CSVT, I'd most likely have gotten a TDI.



Just be careful, the car you are driving right now may be worth more in your hands than what you would lose on trading.

If you can sell privately, and then buy the new car, you MIGHT be able save some coin.

However, let's run the numbers. Let's say you have a Contour that you can get $5K in trade value for the car and you get 20MPG.

You trade it for a Civic that gets 40MPG, but costs $15K. Let's assume you own the Contour outright, so the $5K comes off the price of the Civic. I'll leave out sales tax and interest now too, but I'll address this later in the analysis.

Ok, real cost is $10K for the Civic. Let's assume that the Civic is $0.05/mile in maintenance and repair because it is brand new and the Contour is $0.10/mile for the same costs. Let's make insurance the same so we are just comparing apples to apples.

Finally, gas is $2/gallon for some nice round numbers. Total cost/mile for the Contour is $0.20/mile counting fuel, maint and repair. The Civic is half that at $0.10/mile.

How long until you save $10K?

100K miles, if I'm doing the math in my head correctly.

Now if you are paying any interest on that Civic car loan, you have to save more than $10K, etc.

Unless you buy a beater, buy a $5K Civic to replace a $5K Contour, it's hard to save any money buy purchasing a different car.

TB

"Seems like our society is more interested in turning each successive generation into cookie-cutter wankers than anything else." -- Jato 8/24/2004