162 comments

New Cars and Auto Financing: Stupid, or Sensible?

When you hear people talking about  their cars, you usually hear ridiculous terms like “dealer”, “interest rate”, and “payment”.

Mr. Money Mustache has already laid down the law on this issue in the past: You should never even spend all your money on a car, let alone more than all your money. So why does everyone still get car loans? Pure blissful consumer ignorance? Or are there some subtle details I am missing out on? Let’s examine further.

The first barrier to overcome is affordability. If you don’t even have the money invested somewhere to allow you to pay for a car in cash, you are obviously far too poor to buy that car. Wake up! If you couldn’t save the money by this point, what do you think it will do to your finances to hang a giant boat anchor  of mandatory principal and interest and insurance payments around your neck? You are in a bad place right now – you obviously don’t need to make it worse for yourself!

But let’s say that you DO have enough money for a car. Five grand, ten, twenty, even thirty grand. It’s just sitting in your bank account, and that’s not even counting the money you have ‘stashed away in your 401(k). You plan to invest this cash soon so you can earn dividends and capital gains, and the dealer down the street is offering auto financing at only 1.9%. Borrow the money cheap, and leave it invested at a higher rate. That’s a no-brainer, right?

In most cases, this is wrong again, and that’s what we’re going to examine in this article.

The key to optimizing your automotive expenses is in thinking about total cost per year and cost per mile rather than cash outlay per month. Doing this will affect both your vehicle selection and your driving habits.

The most important factor is of course reducing your driving outright. That means living close to work, using your feet or bike for destinations within a few miles of your house, and treating your car as a special luxury leisure tool you get to have because you are rich, rather than a daily appliance you depend on. With priorities like these, suddenly the idea of a 2-car household starts to seem ridiculous, since the chances of both you and your spouse simultaneously needing to do something as exotic as driving, with no chance of sharing or adjusting your schedule to accommodate it, is hard to imagine.

At this point, you’ll have a car that gets driven less than 10,000 miles annually, and ideally less than 5,000. At the 5k level, it would take you 40 years to use up a reliable car’s 200,000 mile lifespan, meaning a single new car would be good for most of your adult lifetime.

It may sound nice to have a car that is still in nearly-new condition after 20 years, but it is actually very inefficient, because of a concept I like to call automotive inventory.

Businesses figured out long ago that carrying excessive inventory is bad for their financial health. Products go stale or become obsolete on the shelves, and money is tied up in something that does them no good until it is sold to a customer. If the business carries any debt, the inventory also shows up as part of this outstanding debt and sucks out money in the form of interest costs too. So the ideal amount of inventory is just enough to meet their customers’ needs and no more.

Similarly, owning a big automotive inventory is bad for your financial health. Your new car slowly degrades over time (especially if you store it outside exposed to the weather), and every mile of inventory that you haven’t used yet costs you money in the form of foregone investment returns you could have gotten instead of buying such a new car, as well as higher insurance premiums and ownership taxes.

When you buy a brand new car, you’re buying up to 200,000 miles of automotive inventory. Even if you are one of the extremists who drives 15,000 miles per year, that is still over 13 years of inventory – meaning that although you are paying for all of those future miles when you buy the car and paying additional carrying costs for them constantly for the 13 years of ownership, you don’t get to actually use up those last miles until the year 2024.

So let’s imagine two 15,000-mile-per-year drivers:

Consumer Carl buys a new 2012 Toyota Corolla S with a 5-speed manual transmission, for $20,000 including taxes and fees and registration. This is one of the best new-car values on the market when measured on a cost-per-mile basis when you factor in its long term reliability and fuel efficiency. He drives it for 13 years, traveling 200,000 trouble-free miles.

After 13.3 years, tying up that $20 grand in a car cost Carl about $38,269, compared to putting the money into paying off part of a 5% mortgage or making another investment that pays a 5% annual return.

Mustache Mary buys a 2006 Toyota Corolla with 90,000 miles on it for $9,000 including taxes. She can only get 110,000 miles out of this car which takes 7.3 years to use up. At that point, she buys a second used Corolla to cover the remaining 90k miles. To make our numbers clean, let’s say she buys a slightly older one such that it only has 90,000 miles of life remaining. This costs her $7,500.

She has to go without that $9000 for the entire 13.3 years, which could have earned her $17,221 if she had used it to pay off her mortgage.
Then she spends an additional $7,500 which is missing for the final 6 years at a cost of $10,050.

So at the end of 13 years, Consumer Carl spent $38,269 on Corolla ownership, while Mustache Mary spent $27,271. She saves about $11,000 even while doing the same amount of driving, and she will repeat that windfall every 13 years or so by continuing this strategy.

Even while driving a nearly-equivalent car for exactly equivalent mileage, Mary saves 30% on the cost of driving simply by buying her Corollas used instead of new.

“But Wait”, the complainers will say. “You forgot to factor in the increased maintenance costs of the older car!”.

No, I didn’t – because on average these will be cancelled out by the hidden costs of owning the newer car. Collision and comprehensive insurance coverage is extremely expensive on new cars – often $500 or more per year. This annual amount alone is more than enough to nurse a Corolla from 100k to 200k miles. Plus there are often annual registration fees on cars that are higher for new cars than for old ones – the difference is several hundred per year in my own area. These provide another financial boost for the driver of the older car as well.

Make no mistake about it – if you have a good reliable type of old fuel-efficient car, it will always be cheaper to maintain and repair it as necessary, compared to buying a brand new car. If you have found yourself hit with frequent $2,000 repair bills for your own older cars in the past, you are either very unlucky, very hard on your cars, or have been choosing unreliable vehicles.  Reliable cars really do go 200,000 miles or more with just routine scheduled maintenance, and seeking out this type of car for yourself in the future will be part of what makes you a true Mustachian. (Sorry, no more Jeeps, Jaguars, or Audis – the most reliable brands are Scion, Lexus, Acura, Nissan, Mazda, Honda, and Toyota).

There may be situations where upgrading from a very old used car, to a somewhat newer car, are cost-effective, but the brand new car always loses.

The most exciting part of all of the calculations above are that I designed them to show the worst case savings.

I picked the Corolla because it is one of the slowest depreciating cars on the market. When you buy a 2006 Corolla with half of its miles used up, you still pay about half of the price of a new one. With most cars, the depreciation is exponential rather than linear, meaning that the first fifty thousand miles are the most expensive ones of all. In other words, you will get an even better deal if you pick a car that is reliable but less well known, such as the Pontiac Vibe (actually an exact twin of the Toyota Matrix, both made on the same assembly line), or any of the other cars rated as “recommended” by Consumer Reports in their used car guide.

And my example featured insane people who drive 15,000 miles per year – over 1.5 hours per day, every day of the year at the national average traffic speed. The lower your annual driving, the more powerful the inventory effect is, and the more you will save by buying an older car.

Even worse, most cars cost much more than the Corolla, so there is more money at stake. I just looked it up and found that the average price of a new car sold in the United States these days is about $28,000. Holy Crap that is a lot of money to spend on getting yourself around.

It’s a bit of a balancing act, because in theory you could get the lowest driving cost by driving around in a very old car. A 1991 Honda Civic that you picked up from a bearded musician for $500, or even a 1984 Nissan Pickup like the one I used as a construction vehicle from 2005-2010. But it takes additional skill and patience to keep vehicles like those running. If you do depend on a car for daily driving, or you’re a single person living in Miami and hoping not to scare off too many potential mates, or you need to carry clients around and look somewhat normal doing so, even a single breakdown could cause more costly side-effects than the old car is saving you. That’s why I am suggesting that busy professionals play in the 5-15-year-old car range, rather than diving right into the 1990s.

Here’s a guideline for the age of car that meets this balance, based on your annual driving mileage. It assumes that the typical used car has been driven about 15,000 miles per year before you buy it. If you find one with lower miles, it’s often a good deal because the prices tend to drop with year more than with mileage.

Annual Miles DrivenIdeal Car Year to Purchase
150002006
120002004
90002003
60002001
40002000
Under 3000late 1990s or older

So how does Auto Financing fit into all of this? How do I answer the person who wanted to borrow from the dealer so he could pay 1.9% interest and invest the balance?

The reason you don’t want to do that, is because you don’t want a new car. It’s not until you get into “taxi driver” levels of annual mileage that the inventory effect of a car’s cost becomes small enough to ignore.

The second reason you don’t want to do that, if you have limited willpower, is that it might entice you to buy a more expensive car than you would have otherwise bought in cash.

I find it very interesting that even at the very bottom end of the automotive market (find the drop-down box to sort by Price-MSRP low to high) in the US (Hyundai Accent, Kia Rrio, Nissan Versa, Toyota Yaris), you already have great fuel-efficient cars with more than 110 horsepower that can easily carry 5 passengers at 100+ MPH, ranging from $10,000-$13,000. In a rational environment, this should be the middle to upper range of the car market – very few people need more than this. In other words, well over 90% of the car market is purely irrational overkill – people buying unnecesarily fancy machines that they can’t afford.

Surely the presence of auto financing is a big part of why this has happened. You just don’t need to get mixed up in that world of stupidity.

If you really want a car and you can afford it, get one. But do it in a way that causes the minimum possible damage to our goal here, which is of course getting ourselves rich and free.

  • Marc September 25, 2016, 1:52 pm

    Hello, I apologize if this has been answered in a previous question. I’m currently looking to buy a new vehicle and wanted some advice on what would make the most sense for me. I recently had my second back surgery and I’m 6’1″. So my physical therapist recommended that I drive either an SUV or a truck so that my knees and butt remain in a neutral position. I also currently drive around 40 minutes to work. I realize that I should probably move closer to my job, however I have a cheap living arrangement which saves me money by driving. Most used cars that I have looked at, including hyundai Santa Fe sport, and even Ford Explorer are all very expensive used. I need a reliable ride to avoid missing work. I make a decent amount of money and could definitely afford one of these vehicles, however I don’t have the cash at the moment to pay for it. Part of the reason for that is that I just had back surgery and missed six months of work. In this particular case do you have any recommendations on what I should look to buy. I also live in Texas and everyone else drives very large trucks at very high rate of speed so it larger vehicle would make me feel safer as well.

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache September 25, 2016, 3:12 pm

      Hi Marc,

      Given that sitting in cars is really bad for your body in general and especially your back, maybe it would be worth paying more to live closer to work? (Especially given that a commute of that distance is probably costing you $500-$1000 per month depending on vehicle choice). Combine this with ongoing walking and weight training to be injury-free for the rest of your life!

      Secondly, your therapist might not be an expert on vehicle seat ergonomics – many trucks and SUVs have higher floors, meaning the seating position is not all that different from a car – especially a taller car. Check out something like a Honda Fit for great interior ergonomics.

      Finally, don’t confuse vehicle size with safety. Driving a truck will definitely allow you to cause more damage to OTHER people in the event of a crash, but it won’t make you any safer (the safest NHTSA category is midsize cars, so a Honda Accord is near the top of the list in crash-resistance). But again, reduce your driving to near zero if you care about health and longevity.

      Reply
      • Marc September 26, 2016, 7:59 am

        Thank you for your reply, I really appreciate it. I’m currently driving a 2013 Jetta, which has been great on gas, but is too small in general.

        I think you have helped me realize that I let myself justify a bigger unnecessary vehicle in the name of health.

        I think I’ll re-examine my living arrangements and cut back on time in the car, which will help with overall stress. I already work a 12 hour shift, no need to add 40+ minutes in a car each way.

        Thank you MMM

        -Marc

        Reply
  • Keith October 13, 2016, 8:40 pm

    I know this is old but….

    I agree with most of what is said here. But there are exceptions to this. I negotiated an excellent deal (I know deals) on a 2015 Rav4 brand new. I took out a loan for 22k.

    I can afford to pay the car right out…I have over 750k in savings and investment vehicles. But at 0% financing why not let them pay me to have the car. I drive cars until dead….I do all my own maintenance and repairs.

    So there are major exceptions to the article.

    Reply
  • Beth October 20, 2016, 2:40 pm

    I have a question for you. I am in a bind and stressing about it.
    I have a 2011 chevy Malibu with 105k miles. A month ago I had to spend $1600 on repairs and I know that there are other issues lurking around the corner that will cost me around another $1600 to fix. Not to mention – my blower burnt out the other day so I have no heat or AC right now. Need to get that fixed before winter hits.
    I have 2 kids that I need to get places and I work about 5 miles from my job. I still owe $6500 on the car. I do have the money to make the necessary repairs but do I go that route? I constantly feel stressed that my car is gonna break down and I am almost ready to say screw it and lease or finance a newer used car so that I do not have to worry and stress anymore.
    I know I did not take care of maintaining this car like I should have and have learned my lesson. If I ever get a newer car I will always maintain it!! I just want a reliable car.

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache October 20, 2016, 8:12 pm

      Wow Beth, what a story – that is a BRAND NEW CAR! Why is it breaking down already?

      I’d start biking to work, sell that car immediately, get out of debt, and buy a less-than-$5000 car in cash once you have the money.

      Reply
      • Beth October 21, 2016, 5:57 am

        I would LOVE to do that – seriously!! If it were just me for sure. But I have kids-lol. Kids who are involved in activities and need to get places.

        I also live in the Midwest where winters can be extreme. Probably can’t bike through that.

        So ya I’m in a crappy situation. 😥

        Reply
  • Olivia November 22, 2016, 1:41 pm

    Hi there!

    I’m a couple years late to this discussion, but maybe you can offer some advice. I’m 26, have over $30k in student loans, and foolishly decided to lease a brand new car. It was right before moving to a new city and I’m realizing I just don’t need it anymore. I live only 2 miles from the train station that gets me right to work. I have about 2 years left and I’m wondering if it would be beneficial to simply return it early. I figure I’d have to pay for the rest of the lease payments (about $6k), plus any penalty fees. But I’d be saving the 2 years of insurance payments I’d no longer need to make (about $2400). Not sure if this effects my credit either. Would you suggest just putting up the money now to get rid of this burden? I would likely also save on any repairs or fixes, too!

    Thanks!

    Reply
  • Pat the Shuffler July 4, 2017, 11:50 pm

    May I also add Mr Money Mustache

    That those 1.9% (or even 0%) car financing deals are actually a horrid idea for another reason not mentioned, and completely obvious once you take a moment to think about it.

    Dealers obtain their finance from from actual real banks, Ford or Toyota do not lend you the money they just act as they just rebrand the product from the true lender. Knowing this we realise that the car dealer must pay the bank a real market interest rate for the finance of the car. Now businesses being in the business of actually making money are not just going to take this as a hit against their profit margin, so they make the money in another way. That way is by jacking up the price of the vehicle you are buying.

    Now you will hear people say “But I didn’t pay a higher price for My car at all, I paid exactly what is there on their website” But this is where the deception happens, that advertised price IS the jacked up price, because so many people buy using finance it is easier and cleaner to just advertise this price and offer the 0% finance to lure customers in.

    If you happen to have all cash, or you borrow from elsewhere and bring cash straight to the dealer, you have an enormous amount of negotiating power to bring that price down to the REAL sale price. I know this because in my stupider younger days I did exactly this on a car that I had no business buying given my net worth at the time.

    The car was a brand new Mazda 6 advertised on the Mazda website for AUD$37,999, After getting several dealer quotes and some haggling I drove it out of the dealership for AUD$33,000. If you are using dealer finance you are given the advertised SUCKAS price for the car and have no negotiating power

    All of this is of course moot because as we all know, we should only by Second hand cars, but just as an extra bullet in the arsenal of the “buy on credit and invest the money instead” crowd

    Reply
    • Joy November 17, 2017, 2:26 pm

      You are wright opportunity cost of that 33000 is crazy, If you invest that money for 8% compound interest for 10 years then your maturity value is 71,244.52. In 20 years it will be 153,811.59.

      This number is not considering increased insurance cost, maintenance charges and depreciation cost.

      Reply
  • Philip November 16, 2017, 1:13 pm

    Hi MMM

    Does the math in this post also apply to electric cars? Since cars are crasy expensive here in Denmark, I don’t see much of a choice but to take som sort of financing. (Registration tax is +100%). For comparison the cheapest new car you can get is about 14,600 USD (a Citroën C1 or similar). A used VW Golf with 60-100.000 km on it, will cost around 20.000 USD. A USED Nissan Leaf with 60.000 km on it will cost around 25.000 USD (Currently there is only one (1) used Nissan Leaf for sale in Denmark). As I work at the Airport, and houses are also crazy expensive close to the airport, I have to do a bit of commuting, and with odd working hours (Airline Pilot) a car is necessary (some days – the rest I can take the train for around 14 USD round trip). The roundtrip distance is 94 km which I luckily won’t have to commute every day, as we often do layovers.

    As of now I am leaning towords getting a used VW UP (very small car) with around 60.000 km on it for roughly 10.000 USD and pay that cash. But what I really WANT to is getting an electric car like a Nissan Leaf as I feel like I burn enough fossil fuels during my work day! Changing jobs to work closer to home is also not an option right now.

    Any inputs will be much appreciated!

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache November 17, 2017, 2:03 pm

      Hey Philip,

      WOW, those are outrageous numbers – Denmark really does NOT want you to use a car, so I would focus my energy on designing them out of my life. If not immediately, then at your next opportunity to switch jobs or homes. I’d personally look into an electric bike, possibly a Fat Tire bike to allow easy commuting even in the deepest snow.

      Reply
      • Dutchie March 28, 2018, 6:37 am

        The European numbers are indeed quite shocking compared to the U.S., although the basic principles are obviously comparable. I use this site to selectively apply Mustachian principles to my life and my car is an example of this.

        The car itself is a 2005 Mercedes E320CDI. The list price of the car here in the Netherlands was €86k or just over $100k using today’s exchange rate. I bought the car in 2010 for €26k when it had 133k km (80k miles) on it, including a full 2 year warranty. The idea was to get a premium (safe and comfortable) car that lasts with relatively low maintenance costs at a relatively low price. I no own the car for over 8 years and have driven over 320k km (200k miles) with it. The car is performing as expected, at 16km/l (38MPG) and maintenance costs have been €0.06 per km. Technical state of the car is excellent according to the Mercedes dealership. Current value of the car is about €5k.

        Although this is not a prototype Mustachian case, it does illustrate a few things:
        – never buy a new car (mine lost €60k or 70% in value in just over 4 years) while it remained in a near new condition;
        – adequate maintenance will make a well-built car last much longer than the abovementioned 200k miles;
        – it does not make economic sense to evade maintenance by trading up to a newer model.

        All in all, by making the choices as described above, I have been able to drive a the car at a cost level that is equal to that of a VW Golf (at least here in the Netherlands). I want to continue using the car for years to come if possible – Mustachian principles applied to my non-Mustachian clown like car habit ;-)

        Reply
  • David December 8, 2017, 3:08 pm

    I usually buy used, and keep the car until it’s 15 to 20 years old. A special circumstance, in 2001, motivated me to make a good new-car buy.

    My criteria were:
    – Economy 4-cylinder
    – Manual transmission
    – Air conditioning (a necessity in Houston)
    – Antilock brakes (ABS)
    – Side airbags
    – Sunroof (a non-mustachian pleasure that enhances cruising with the A/C off)

    At that time, the safety gear was not standard equipment on economy cars. By forsaking the fancy ($750) power windows, and waiting for $1500 rebates to kick in, I was able to custom order a bright yellow Ford Focus ZX3 Premium to my exact specifications for significantly less than the cost of a fancy used car that would meet most, but not all, of my criteria.

    Due to my Mustachian lifestyle choices, that car still looks like new today, with 36k on the odometer. It should provide good service for many years to come.

    Reply
  • Summer January 25, 2018, 4:23 pm

    Sorry to comment on an old post but I just discovered MMM. Why is 200k miles some sort of “magic car will fall apart” number? We have 2 adult and 2 teen drivers. We have a 2005 Honda Pilot we paid $9000 cash for in 2012. It had 140k when we bought it, but it was from one owner who always serviced it at he dealer, whom we called, and they had meticulous records. We road trip a lot and in 2018 are just about to hit 250k miles. It still runs like new and we have done no repairs outside regular maintenance. I hate the gas mileage (we needed AWD for our snow and seating for 7), but because it’s paid for and has much higher user value than monetary value, we intend to drive it to the end…whatever that means. We also have a 1992 Honda Accord which my grandfather bought new off the lot and we inherited. It is about 180 k and also looks and runs like new. It is the teens car, but I try to drive it instead of the Pilot to save on gas. My husband drives a 1998 Toyota Tacoma that has close to 190k. Also looks and drives like new. We paid $3000 cash for that in 2014. I am thankful my grandpa taught us to 1)always pay cash for a car (in our youth that meant driving a $1500 car) and 2)if you take care of it, it will take care of you.

    I will drive these cars to a million miles if they make it. My question is, is there something, monetarily, I am missing about driving cars past 200k miles? I do wonder about selling the Pilot (worth maybe $3000?) when the oldest kid leaves in the fall to get a used AWD something that gets better mileage…but the Pilot is really only used now when the whole family is together, it snows, or the family road trips. It does have the highest insurance of the 3 cars. I figure we will get a newer used car when we get that feeling, like a breakup, like this just isn’t working for us anymore…which will be never with the other two cars.

    Just wondered if, in the interest of using the tool of money the most effectively, if there is something, other than major repairs (which we haven’t experienced) we are missing when it comes to driving cars over 200k miles…. Also, I hate the idea of spending another $10k cash on a car. At this point we are trying to put every extra dime into paying off the mortgage (just got below $100k… hooray!)

    Reply
  • JenSmith March 13, 2018, 3:59 pm

    Thank you for the reminder to pay the minor repair bill and not give up my paid off ’97 Honda Civic with 230K miles on it (I bought it 1 year used). I drive less than 8K miles a year and despite all the interior wear and tear (which is extensive), the engine is in good working order, it gets about 33 mpg, and the insurance is cheap. Plus the manual transmission is an excellent theft deterrent.

    Reply
  • Mark O'Donovan March 27, 2018, 2:32 pm

    I’ve been driving the same Opel Corsa since 1999 with 60k miles done starting from 20.
    I started driving less after I was in an accident and had to find another way to get to work without my car.
    Before that I drove about 35 miles a day. Now I cycle and take the train.
    I do get tempted by newer cars especially as most people I work with seem to have sports cars.
    But certainly get some satisfaction from telling people how long I have had my car, long may it last.

    Reply
  • The Californian May 12, 2018, 11:00 am

    I’m not a fan of buying a new used car every 5 years. I tend to keep my vehicles. My current daily driver is a 1962 Volvo PV544, that I bought 2 decades ago for $1,000. Granted, after I purchased it, I had to throw some money at it to rejuvinate its mechanical systems, but it has been running trouble free ever since. No repairs other than consumables. One oil change per year, and even the tires I bought used many years back. It has only a few hundred thousand miles on the clock, so it’s good for the rest of MY natural life. After all, Irv Gordon’s 1964 Volvo now has passed the 3-million mile marker. 4 cylinders, 4-on-the-floor, and built for Swedish winters, it lives an easy life in Southern California.
    Everyone in town knows me, and I get nothing but smiles and thumbs up. Similar results can be head with any solid Volvo 240, and they even can come in the guise of a wagon.

    Reply
  • Anonymous July 16, 2018, 11:57 am

    Hey Mr Money Mustache, not accounting for the inventory effect, my dad insists that although it makes more financial sense to buy used for the car market as a whole, that certain models hold their value very well into the first few years of ownership. In his case, he was looking at the Toyota Tundra. Of course, me being a mustachian, the thought of owning a full sized pickup is abhorrent, but he insisted that in his perusal of Craigslist that it made more sense to buy new if you bargain well. Is there any truth to what he is saying?

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache July 18, 2018, 5:07 am

      Some cars definitely depreciate more slowly than others, but it’s still a horrible financial idea to buy most new cars. For starters, people typically ignore the sales taxes and registration fees when comparing new cost to used. On a $30,000 truck, that can be over $4000 in just the first year. Plus, insurance is higher on new vehicles, especially because many people feel compelled to insure them with comprehensive and collision insurance.

      The best car for a non-millionaire is one that is 6-10+ years old, costs well under $10k (preferably under $5k!), and depreciates only a few hundred per year.

      Reply
  • FredTheMathGuy September 18, 2018, 10:44 pm

    Although I agree with this blog in general and the advantages of buying a reliable used car over a new car, I don’t think that buying a reliable new car at a low cost (under $20,000) and keeping it as long as possible is financially much worse than buying a reliable used car several times over a lifetime. The cost of depreciation is not a factor if you plan on keeping the new car forever. Over time, buying 5 to 7 year old cars and keeping them for another 5 to 7 years and selling them for another 5 to 7 year old car can become very costly. Buying many used cars over a lifetime is more expensive than keeping one good car as long as possible. Buying one used car and keeping it forever is much cheaper. I plan on NEVER selling the car that I bought new and with a loan. Although it was more expensive, I have confidence that my car will last a lifetime with meticulous care and maintenance from day one. Knowing how a car was driven and cared for early on in its life is important to me. Without my car, I wouldn’t be alive and healthy. I wouldn’t be able to go to work reliably. I wouldn’t be able to eat healthy meals made from going to health focused grocery stores. A car is more than just a cost. It provides things that you could not have without the transportation. These intangible services are often overlooked by frugal people who only look at the numbers. It’s not only about the cost of the car, but what the car provides. To some people like myself, the car provides healthy food and a good paycheck, since it is not realistically possible to bike to work or the grocery store and there is no public transportation to and from my cheap apartment.

    Reply
  • Da Man October 24, 2018, 8:29 pm

    I drove a 1990 Pontiac Bonneville since 2000 until this year! I have no car notes. Student loans, and house paid off. I am going to try to knock my credit debt out this year. After that I am going to get a home equity line of credit, and attempt my first flip. All the extra money will be invested from here on. Oh, and I just cut the cords and will not be giving material gifts for Christmas or any other holiday, anymore!

    Reply
  • Marco January 25, 2019, 5:01 pm

    What if you’re an environmental scientist in-training, and buying an old car affects your conscience because of it’s carbon dioxide emissions?

    Most electric cars are more expensive than regular cars, and students like me cannot afford this kind of money. It’s a bit of a dilemma.

    Reply
    • Mr. Money Mustache January 25, 2019, 6:20 pm

      Hey Marco,

      I’d look into a bike, electric bike, or used electric car (for example a 2013 Nissan Leaf for $8k or so)

      Also, carbon emissions are pretty linear with fuel consumption, so a 2005 Prius for $1500 which gets 45 MPG will emit less carbon than a $30,000 2019 Subaru Forester at 32MPG. The Prius might have slightly higher NOx or other pollutants, but still pretty minor. And you’re helping to prevent the manufacture of more new cars, which cause loads of pollution before they even leave the factory.

      Reply
  • Felix January 29, 2019, 5:03 am

    Hello MMM,

    I wish I”ve known about this website earlier. I recently purchased a used Chevy Volt (2013) which I had to finance over 6 years. I need to travel for work about 2-3 times per month (it can be within 250 to 500km away depending on the client) and my company refunds travel expense by km, so I was looking for a good compromise between short distance commute (all electric with the Volt) but still allows me to cover the distance required without requiring me to stop for extended periods of time when travelling for work.

    On paper, it seems like this car is appropriate for my use (in terms of costs), but I’m wondering if it would have been better, financially, to only buy a car that I could afford upfront? I’m re-thinking this right now because it’s the second time I’m bringing it to the dealership for a problem I don’t think I can fix myself. Thanks

    Reply
  • vice August 20, 2019, 3:00 pm

    O just buy someting like 1990s Mercedes Benz W124. It was designed to last at least 20 years, you can easily do million miles in it especially if you live in a dry climate ;)

    Reply
  • Nic Chambers November 5, 2019, 10:31 am

    Thank you for the great detail and all that you do – huge fan and love that your articles stand the test of time. Out of all the articles and ways of achieving FI, the vehicle topic is where I get hung up the most. I can see the majority of your audience easily relating and putting this to good use. I’m wondering if the facts and the advice differs for the self-employed who spend a good chunk of their day (sometimes with clients) in their car (I’m in real estate), as there are some excellent tax efficiency strategies for both leasing and buying cars for S-Corp owners? Thanks!

    Reply

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