The Automobile Thread

I hates car payments!

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So here's how I see it - the lazy guy's approach to vehicles:

My car is 51 months old. It has a 60 month/60,000 mile powertrain warranty. It has 52,000 miles on it.

So I can keep it, and pay for repairs as they pile up. Been down that road before, and I'm not really that fond of it.

Or, I can sell it to Carmax for a decent price, use that as a down payment and get another one, brand new, with a new warranty. I'm leaning toward the latter, because as stated above, I'm lazy and I don't want to hassle with increasing shop visits. That's just me. :)
 
Runs with Scissors said:
I'm leaning toward the latter, because as stated above, I'm lazy and I don't want to hassle with increasing shop visits. That's just me. :)
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I've been doing that since I got my first new car 30 years ago. Although I did keep the Scion for 3 years after I paid it off. We also paid $300 for an 8 year 80k mile extended bumper to bumper warranty on the Tundra so another reason to keep it. Actually, it's a Toyota so I don't see it going anywhere anytime soon.

Edit: All scheduled maintenance for 8 years and 80k is actually what we paid for. Still, quite a deal.
 
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Runs with Scissors said:
So here's how I see it - the lazy guy's approach to vehicles:

My car is 51 months old. It has a 60 month/60,000 mile powertrain warranty. It has 52,000 miles on it.

So I can keep it, and pay for repairs as they pile up. Been down that road before, and I'm not really that fond of it.

Or, I can sell it to Carmax for a decent price, use that as a down payment and get another one, brand new, with a new warranty. I'm leaning toward the latter, because as stated above, I'm lazy and I don't want to hassle with increasing shop visits. That's just me. :)
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Maybe just lease for now?
 
Cyclotourist said:
But beyond $$$, if you just want a vehicle with no hassle that you are only going to keep five or six years, just lease for three.
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That's where I'm at with my C-HR. Didn't really know what I wanted at the time other than a small SUV. No money down, short-term lease for only a few hours of OT a month. I like it and I may keep it. We'll see how I feel when the lease is up.
 
The way that cars are taxed in CA I feel like financing a car and selling at the end of the term makes little sense compared to a lease. 95% (at least) of the cars I "sell" are leased. Buying and keeping long term changes things, but as expensive as modern cars have gotten to repair I'm not particularly compelled to own a car out of warranty. I'd planned on my Tacoma being an exception to that, and that it would be a 10 year/150K mile type vehicle, but I'm back pedaling on that plan a bit.
 
buggravy said:
The way that cars are taxed in CA I feel like financing a car and selling at the end of the term makes little sense compared to a lease. 95% (at least) of the cars I "sell" are leased. Buying and keeping long term changes things, but as expensive as modern cars have gotten to repair I'm not particularly compelled to own a car out of warranty. I'd planned on my Tacoma being an exception to that, and that it would be a 10 year/150K mile type vehicle, but I'm back pedaling on that plan a bit.
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I'd lease every vehicle I've owned if it were not for the fact that I put lots of miles on them every year for work. I typically drive 18-20K miles/year.
 
buggravy said:
The way that cars are taxed in CA I feel like financing a car and selling at the end of the term makes little sense compared to a lease. 95% (at least) of the cars I "sell" are leased. Buying and keeping long term changes things, but as expensive as modern cars have gotten to repair I'm not particularly compelled to own a car out of warranty. I'd planned on my Tacoma being an exception to that, and that it would be a 10 year/150K mile type vehicle, but I'm back pedaling on that plan a bit.
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I got really leery owning my XC90 out of warranty, after the $450 charge for a $40 steering angle sensor. But when I returned to the land of sane aftermarket parts prices, aka non-luxury brands, I felt better.

Subaru’s service department likes to pretend they are a luxury brand, which is yet another reason why I won’t go back to them when it’s time to replace the Outback.

Ford and Chevy dealer service prices are often competitive with the Quickie Lube places.

Also worth noting that for my Bolt EV, over 51,000 miles, I’ve had to pay for a) tires, b) cabin air filter, c) a 12v battery. (The 400v battery has another 49,000 miles of warranty, btw). And with the power equal to $1/gallon, I’m planning to wait until the new crop of EV trucks comes in. Fingers crossed for a Tundra Prime.
 
tick said:
I got really leery owning my XC90 out of warranty, after the $450 charge for a $40 steering angle sensor. But when I returned to the land of sane aftermarket parts prices, aka non-luxury brands, I felt better.

Subaru’s service department likes to pretend they are a luxury brand, which is yet another reason why I won’t go back to them when it’s time to replace the Outback.

Ford and Chevy dealer service prices are often competitive with the Quickie Lube places.

Also worth noting that for my Bolt EV, over 51,000 miles, I’ve had to pay for a) tires, b) cabin air filter, c) a 12v battery. (The 400v battery has another 49,000 miles of warranty, btw). And with the power equal to $1/gallon, I’m planning to wait until the new crop of EV trucks comes in. Fingers crossed for a Tundra Prime.
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My rude awakening was a burned out headlight bulb on a 2011 Nissan Murano. Replacement cost $600, and that was from an independent shop. Most of that was in the form of labor, as the front bumper and headlight assembly had to be removed before they could even test to see if it was just the bulb (it was) or the flux capacitor thingamabob that powered it. We also had a cracked transfer case diagnosed on that same car at mile 499XX. That would have been a costly repair a few miles later.
 
buggravy said:
The way that cars are taxed in CA I feel like financing a car and selling at the end of the term makes little sense compared to a lease. 95% (at least) of the cars I "sell" are leased. Buying and keeping long term changes things, but as expensive as modern cars have gotten to repair I'm not particularly compelled to own a car out of warranty. I'd planned on my Tacoma being an exception to that, and that it would be a 10 year/150K mile type vehicle, but I'm back pedaling on that plan a bit.
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I plan on keeping on Tacoma for 12-15 years and go from there. It’s a great truck and if I could afford a Rivian I’d probably sell it when I got closer to the payoff.
 
I experienced sticker shock yesterday when I went to check out an F450 Limited yesterday. My last diesel truck was an ‘06 F350 King Ranch and it set me back just shy of 50k OTD. It was bought back from Ford under lemon law in ‘12.

Anyway, the MSRP on the truck is $98,6xx! It completely caught me by surprise. Nevertheless, I didn’t buy it and won’t buy it until I’m out of CA.
 
Danmtchl said:
I plan on keeping on Tacoma for 12-15 years and go from there. It’s a great truck and if I could afford a Rivian I’d probably sell it when I got closer to the payoff.
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I’ve had my finger poised on the pre-order button for Rivian. But battery prices are dropping so fast, I’m hoping they’ll announce a price cut. Their price for the optional big battery comes out to $220/kWh, but the industry is now down to $130/kwh, and falling every year. So they’re asking for too much markup right now.
 
Maderas84 said:
I experienced sticker shock yesterday when I went to check out an F450 Limited yesterday. My last diesel truck was an ‘06 F350 King Ranch and it set me back just shy of 50k OTD. It was bought back from Ford under lemon law in ‘12.

Anyway, the MSRP on the truck is $98,6xx! It completely caught me by surprise. Nevertheless, I didn’t buy it and won’t buy it until I’m out of CA.
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I was looking at Ram 2500’s....the up charge for the 6.4 Cummins was right at $10k. And I thought the $4k for the Ecodiesel was a lot.
 
I saw a couple Rivian in the wild recently.
Both with camouflaged wraps.
Look better to me than the Tesla truck, and seem to be closer to production.
I think one could suit my needs, except for maybe long road trips.
Cost, of course, is also a factor.

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