how does everyone assess if they got their money out of a daily driver?

[fullahotair]

For instance... I have an 02 jeep, that based on what i paid for it, and what i could sell it for would have cost approx $1800/yr to drive for the three years i owned (strictly based on purchase price and selling price - insurance, gas, maintenance not included)...I don't know if that is reasonable or not, so i was wondering what others use as a criteria or basis for unloading one car and moving on to something else? I should add we put about 45,000 miles on it during that time. I suppose you could also do $cost to own per mile too?

Its certainly not as good as my old truck which I paid 4K for it. Got into an accident and got a $4k of insurance money, which allowed to me to get a a new paint job and body work. Then later, a kid merged into me, got another 1K out of that, and then sold it for 2K!!...I actually made mony on that truck...


Nate

 

[INEEDAGN]

I think anything under $2k per year is doing pretty good for a decent used car, driven average mileage (12-15k per year). Drivers who put lots of miles on obviously pay more to keep in a nice car. I have driven beaters all my life and can get my annual cost to damn near zero, not including fuel and registration. I pick up trade ins at the dealer I work for and sell them a year or two down the road for the same or more than I paid, and I'm pretty good at scrounging up a set of tires or a battery or whatever to keep them rolling. However, they are usually 200k mile piles that I would not take across country and if you want a nice vehicle, you gotta pay SOMETHING for it. I've seen people trading new ones every couple of years and if they time the rebates right they don't do too bad but it still costs a lot of money. But if I could afford to do that i'd do it too. Can't take the money to the grave with you. Here at the dealer I kinda watch the numbers to see what people are getting for their money, and the people that are smartest with their money are buying a 2-4 year old vehicle in the 20-40k mile range, and driving them till there's nothing left of them. So that's what I did for my wife. She can't deal with a breakdown at 4 am when she gets off work; I can. The market is way up right now on domestic used cars/trucks so buying new isn't as dumb as it was two years ago.

Based on what you've posted i'd say you did good as long as you didn't spend a ton of money maintaining it.

 

[notacarlo]

Car cost you $x, you spent $x on it last year to maintain or keep running, you average $x each year, you have X miles on it.

Car cost me $2000.00
I do my own oil changes at $31 a pop x 3 times a year = $93
Flush coolant once a year at $17 a pop
Brakes flushed once a year at $9 a pop
Fuel - $30 a week x 52 weeks = $1560
Tires maybe every 2-3 years because everyone knows dd's have no power :biggrin:
I do not account for insurance/registration

$1679.00 for that car to continue to be in good order...now I put 20K a year on it for ten years - 200,000 miles

$1679.00 X 10 years = $16,790.00 / 200,000 miles is about $.08 a mile.

Based on a fairly light 4-banger 4-door beater.



Now to go the other way.

Initial cost was $2000.00. Which ended up actually costing me $18,790.00 in the long run. $20K for a $2k car.
Figure you buy a $20K car with a thirsty motor and a crappy history.....do the math.

Disclaimer - this math was done by a 30- something polish man after a 16oz. redbull in a shop full of exhaust fumes. Not responsible for errors as the poster is not a "certified math-magician".

 

[gordyzx9r]

We have a '98 Isuzu Rodeo that we bought new. It had some "issues" when we first got it. They "forgot" to install some body bushings at the factory and it started rattling itself apart. We took it in for warranty work 29 times over a year. The lemon law stipulated that it had to be the same problem three times consecutively, we argued that all the problems stemmed from one problem and that it was a lemon. They disagree and our lawyer said we'd lose in court so we didn't fight it and just kept taking it in for warranty work until they fixed everything.

We still have it. Runs like a champ with 158K miles on it. Looks like new, but then we take really good care of it. I'm hoping for another 150K miles. We haven't had any major work on the power train yet. I drive it daily because my '06 3/4 ton GMC eats too much gas.

 

[SloGN]

well i kinda look at it this way


The average new car payment is gonna cost $500.00 . So if i bought a 2k car and it last for a yr without spending any money other than insurance and gas, normal wear and tear items. I would be thinking i got my money's worth out of it. so a year's worth of payments is 6 grand. so a 2k car lasting at least a yr is still cheap.


Cause every car/truck is gonna cost you something. a new one is naturally gonna cost more.

 

[CamoDeafie]

well. $300 for my 83 olds. 163 for title and registration tags..$463 so far...radiator sprung a leak; am replacing it anyways, ~$50 if i can find a non leaky one from the recyclers here...I think right now, if i were to sell it; i'll be out $500 and then get $600, maybe 700 back if it looks better than when i bought it...IE, rubbing and polishing and waxing and so on .... heck right now i've got my money's worth out of it already IMO.

 

[fullahotair]

Thanks for the replies...

The reason I ask is that I am looking to pick up a 2003 to 2006 chevy crew cab, and its taking me a while to warm for the 17K for a 75,000 mile truck asking price, so i was just running through the numbers to see where it would put me if sold what i had and when i would want to sell the truck if i wanted to see a similar cost as my previous jeep, which got me wondering how everyone else runs their numbers...

I don't mind driving beaters, thats mostly what i have owned...I just had a 92 roadmaster that we took to 215,000 miles. But also wouldn't mind getting into something that i can take (or my wife) anywhere and not worry about this that and the other thing going wrong. I also know new vehicles don't mean issues won't arise either...hell the 2002 jeep has more dumb issues than the roadmaster or truck did - combined! As IneedaGN said " you gotta pay something"

Thanks
Nate

 

[Little6pack]

When its paid off & it still runs!

 

[ES1]

My 1998 Regal GS
based upon 152,000 miles driven

22,000.00 car
22,800.00 gas
608.00 oil
2,533.33 tires
60.00 batteries
350.00 ac
150.00 water pump
350.00 brakes
150.00 struts
4,320.00 insurance
720.00 tags /insp

54,041.33 cost
32,000.00 reimbursement by my employer

22,041.33 net
1,836.78 cost per year
.15 cents per mile

 

[machinegun]

chevy cavalier 650 dollars. maint and repair costs 400.00. Insurance 300 bucks total 2 year investment 1350 bucks. drove for 60,000 miles.
.0225 cents per mile

buick regal GS 500 dollars, 900 maint and repair insurance 300 total 2 year investment 1700. 70,000 miles .025 cents per mile. Still own this car and drive it everyday.

I buy used ones cheap, spent some money to fix them up drive them till the wheels fall off.

 

[GNICETRY]

$1800/year is $150/month. That is really really good in my opinion, unless you have high maintenance costs. You have to include maintenance in the monthly price. Again mileage is a factor too. $150/month (including maintenance) is pretty good if you are travelling around 1000 miles a month. It is great if you are traveling 2000 miles a month. And the use of the vehicle matters too. Is this a beater or a car you would take to a wedding or something (not a redneck wedding:biggrin::wink

 

[2QUIK6]

I just never get rid of them Let's see...I'm 41 and there is only 3 cars that I've had that I still don't have That '94 Silverado in the sig I bought when I graduated college and started working for a living...now its my work truck

 

[fullahotair]

I know you can pick up a beater and drive the piss out of it and in the end it'll cost you next to nothing..i've done that several times. I am looking at vehicles in the 15 to 20K range, which doesn't qualify it as beater. So yeah one extreme is the beater and the other extreme is a 40K plus truck for instance. Keeping a 40K truck till it dies doesn't seem like the best financial sense if you want a nicer newer ("nicer" is a matter of opinion of course) vehicle as the cost/yr or mile will be quite high even if you don't do any maintenance. It would be 20 yrs of ownership to reach the $2K/yr and in upstate NY, it'll be rusted away to nothing by then if you drove it daily...

Thanks,
NAte

 

[klrv6]

The best I have done is with our 03 Sentra.

Car $1500
Intial repairs (X radials, head gasket, good tint and all syntheitc fluids.): $1000
Daily gas (200 miles) was running $22.
Mileage reimbursment from employer: $117 a day.
.58 cent per mile @ 34,000 miles $19,720

Total in car including all oil changes is around 3K.

 

[usetaboost]

Thanks for the replies...

The reason I ask is that I am looking to pick up a 2003 to 2006 chevy crew cab, and its taking me a while to warm for the 17K for a 75,000 mile truck asking price, so i was just running through the numbers to see where it would put me if sold what i had and when i would want to sell the truck if i wanted to see a similar cost as my previous jeep, which got me wondering how everyone else runs their numbers...

I don't mind driving beaters, thats mostly what i have owned...I just had a 92 roadmaster that we took to 215,000 miles. But also wouldn't mind getting into something that i can take (or my wife) anywhere and not worry about this that and the other thing going wrong. I also know new vehicles don't mean issues won't arise either...hell the 2002 jeep has more dumb issues than the roadmaster or truck did - combined! As IneedaGN said " you gotta pay something"

Thanks
Nate

Damn I did get a good deal on my truck. 17k-REALLY? I paid 11k for my 04 z71 ext cab. Had 47k on it when I bought it may09. Has 54k on it now I believe. Has dual exhaust, k&n intake, ss stepbars and box rails, gm air bug deflector and electric start with alarm.

We have a 99 grand am se2 that has 155k on it. We bought it in 02 with 36k on it. It isn't worth crap now. Can't even get a decent trade in on it. It's not perfect, but it's been reliable and everything still works and it gets 28mpg on the highway with the v6. It has hail damage and been in 2 accidents, has a mystery water leak I can't find and is starting to rust along the back doors. we paid 12k for it. Here's what I've done to it since we've bought it.

water pump
3 sets of tires
new struts and front mounts
front rotors, front brakes 3x
upper radiator hose
2 batteries
starter
power steering hose
1 belt and tensioner
2 window regulators
passenger side cv joint
2 alignments but they were free

Not including the tires, which were around 450 a set, I've spend around 1300 in overall repairs. Not bad for 8 years of hard driving.

 

[83turbomon]

shoot you spend less on the car than you do on gas and maintenance:biggrin:

 

[gn4u2c]

hmm. used gn 8,000... 12,000 in mods... 3,000 fixing bs problems the past owner forgot to mention.... repainting because new paint it had before purchase started flying off after being out in the 100 * weather 3,500...... **** I hate these cars :biggrin: worst investment ever. ... best ever $50.00 72 c-10 beat the **** out of it, nothing ever broke 260,000 miles the timing chain fell off :biggrin: sold it for $600.00 it only got oil and brakes tires were always junkyard specials.

 

[ttypewe4jim]

I dont really want to say what my truck's end up costing me But I drive ALOT more then the national average. I'm only about 6 miles round trip to work but I still average around 650 miles a week sigh which works out to just under 34k miles a year lol........ Isnt as bad now that gas isnt 500 bucks a gallon sigh.