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What kind of gas mileage do you get?

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Wade:

--- Quote from: danny_galaga on May 01, 2008, 07:27:28 am ---you missed the bit where i said 'i can sell it for the same price or even more'...

--- End quote ---

Funny you mention that.  Every used car I've owned, after driving it a few years and dumping a bunch of money into it, I was still only able to sell it for $500-1000.  It's not like there's a huge demand for junkers, usually they have to be given away.  Junk yards even charge you to come pick up your dead vehicle.

How many of these old cars have you driven for an extended period, anyway?  I'm curious.  No one I've known has been able to do that without expensive maintenance and relatively frequent repairs.  I drove older cars for most of the past 15 years, and it's been a real pain in the butt and cost me a lot of money.

Wade

shardian:

--- Quote from: Wade on May 01, 2008, 04:05:46 pm ---
--- Quote from: danny_galaga on May 01, 2008, 07:27:28 am ---you missed the bit where i said 'i can sell it for the same price or even more'...

--- End quote ---

Funny you mention that.  Every used car I've owned, after driving it a few years and dumping a bunch of money into it, I was still only able to sell it for $500-1000.  It's not like there's a huge demand for junkers, usually they have to be given away.  Junk yards even charge you to come pick up your dead vehicle.

How many of these old cars have you driven for an extended period, anyway?  I'm curious.  No one I've known has been able to do that without expensive maintenance and relatively frequent repairs.  I drove older cars for most of the past 15 years, and it's been a real pain in the butt and cost me a lot of money.

Wade

--- End quote ---

My used car Chronology:
1989 Ford Escort: 1.5 years (totalled in wreck, was still running great)
- It was free. (No AC)
- Replaced alternator was only major expense
- After wreck, bought $300 worth of parts to try and fix it until frame damage did me in. It went to the junk yard and I got nothing for it

1987 Toyota Corolla: 1 year
-Cost $400 (No AC)
-Had overheating problem and replaced water pump twice
-Engine blew up on Interstate the day after I bought the next car
- let junk yard pick it up

1994 Geo Tracker: ~5 years (~70k miles)
- Cost $1750, later bought a hard top for $500 (no AC, but was a convertible)
- replaced alternator, but went thru 3 faulty Advance Auto Alternators which made the issue a real pain in the ass. I was stranded approx 5 times due to this ---smurfy--- problem until I went NAPA and never looked back.
- clutch cable froze on interstate once
- Bad wheel bearing gave me a hell of a time replacing once too
- Got $1750 in trade in for it (it was a rusted out piece of ---Cleveland steamer--- with a blown rear main seal, a horribly shot harmonic balancer, etc at this time with 210k miles on it)

1989 Volvo 740GL ~ we have had this for ~5 years and is now my daily driver
- it was free (ICE COLD AC! Yay!)
- have replaced alternator and battery
- timing belt replaced myself at minimal cost
-still driving now and is the most reliable car I've had

1994 Volvo 850 Turbo: owned for almost 2 years
- Bought for $850 (bought with no AC, but I got it working with a $20 recharge kit)
- Did ~ $1800 in repair work to make it run perfect
- Car was totalled in a fender bender and I got $3300 for it

After adding up everything, throwing in a few extra hundred for each car in misc repairs, and deducting what I have gotten back for the last two, my grand total investment for ALL of my cars is:

(drum roll please)... ~$2000!* (*I will eventually sell or trade the 740, and this will only lower my total investment)

This number does not include insurance, registration, taxes, etc. All of these values would be considerably lower than a new car, so that is extra savings.

So I have been driving junkers for ~10 years and have only spent $2000. That is a whopping $16.67 a month for car payment AND repairs.

patrickl:
So the moral of the story is to get your junker totalled to lower costs?

paigeoliver:
Invariably a zero interest auto loan is a promotion that is offered as a choice amongst several options and one of those options is a big factory rebate check. So yes you still pay extra for a zero percent loan.

Also, people with zero percent loans also tend to pay sticker price (or close to) for their vehicles due to dealer shenanigans ("The deal with the zero percent is this car at this price only") and general payment thinking.




--- Quote from: AtomSmasher on May 01, 2008, 12:02:25 am ---
--- Quote from: danny_galaga on April 30, 2008, 11:45:11 pm --- therefore a loan really puts the cost of a new car vs old in a different light. where someone gets a loan for a car (new OR old) there is no debate. you will pay through the nose.

--- End quote ---
Unless your like me and get a $0 down 0% interest loan  ;D

--- End quote ---

shardian:

--- Quote from: patrickl on May 01, 2008, 04:49:49 pm ---So the moral of the story is to get your junker totalled to lower costs?

--- End quote ---

If you have less in it than clean NADA value, HELL YEAH!
 :laugh2:

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