What's a reasonable range to spend on purchasing a car for a single ERE person?

[TopHatFox]

Similar to the housing thread, but for car transportation. I think the best solution if one is sticking around in a place for a few years and accumulating is just to live within walking distance to work and avoid a car, and then take transit on weekends to visit places, or just rent-a-car/go with a friend/get an electric bike/etc. Seems wasteful to drive back and forth 10 times a week when you can just walk and eliminate the car.

Okay, so with that out of the way, you probably want at least 4 people to be able to sit in the car. 2-seaters seem impractical. A good cargo hold sounds nice too for grocery runs and camping trips, so a hatchback sounds better than a sedan model. Usually on roads (most places), you don't need four-wheel drive or a high base, just winter tires. Even if you like going to places to hike, you can take the car to the trail head, which is usually some dirt road. No jeeps necessary. If you want to move stuff, just rent a uHaul for the day, so no trucks either. SUVs are mostly just very expensive version of a hatchback/jeep, so no. The car just needs to get us from A to B safely and inexpensively, so BMWs are out too. Motorcycles are pretty dangerous and can't carry as much, so they're out too. Mini-Cars could be OK, although they can't carry much either.

As far transmission, automatic seems safer than manual; no need to pay attention to stick-shift protocols. Also less annoying in traffic. For milleage and model year, I don't really know. Maybe 3-5 years and 100K miles max. No idea.

So maybe something like the Honda Fit, Toyota Yaris, or Mazda3 for around 5-7K used and well taken care of. Liability insurance, definitely. Gas, oil, repairs, tires. That's expensive still...5-7K plus expenses?

[Jean]

o.-

[Bankai]

NIL

[Optimal_Solution]

As little as possible while satisfying your web of goals.

The specifics of the answer is very dependent on context and personal taste.

[The Old Man]

I haven't had a car in about twenty years. Principally used public transit and supplemented as necessary with uber, taxis, and rental cars - way cheaper. If you are hardcore you would drop all that and use a bicycle.

[Jean]

Ok, more seriously. I bought a car for 500. It seems cheap. liability Insurance was 350 per year and taxes 588.-.
I spent 3480.- on gaz over the 23 month i had the car, 796 on the maintenance. Totaling 6652.- for 34021 km. at 19.5 centime per km.
That's very cheap for driving, but it's half of the non investing money I spent over the last two year... SHIT. On average the distance is just 50% more of what I bike every month for about 20 times cheaper. In addition, as it was my home for one year, I cried when I learned that it couldn't pass the test (i gave it to a friend, hoping it will keep living), and that it was going to junk yard. In addition, i put on 15 pounds.
People start talking about MGTOW over here, but I hope they're not driving their own way. Everything that get blamed on women, I could blame it on my car, even if I loved it.

[Jin+Guice]

I drove to work today, it was truly awful.

[Jean]

Driving sucks. Don't buy a car.

[2Birds1Stone]

"As close to $0 as possible"

-Someone who spent 10% of annual income on a vehicle and spends $250/month on insurance/gas/maintenance.

[C40]

Yeah. About $3-$8k max, depending on: how much you're going to drive it, whether you are handy enough to fix common problems, how much of a catastrophe breakdowns would cause you, etc.

[Jin+Guice]

Perhaps the only "reasonable" way to purchase a car is if you plan to live in it. I'm really enjoying this outpouring of care hatred.

[prognastat]

I recommend spending as little as possibly and trying to design your life around not needing a car if possible. I'm actually planning on trying to switch to car-free living.

Generally the less you can use the car and the less cost involved the better.

[Scott 2]

There's not one right answer to questions like this.

I've lived a couple blocks from the train and carried groceries. No car, no taxis, no delivery. That was cheapest. But it meant a 280 sq. ft studio apartment in a city center. I paid in quality of life and higher rent. I also learned I hate biking to work.

I moved to a suburban apartment with my wife, again on a train line, but the most practical solution was grocery delivery via peapod. Premium food shopping, but the math worked out.

We moved to a more suburban townhouse, a few blocks from work's new location. We spent about a year walking to the office, continued grocery deliveries via peapod. I biked the few blocks to work a couple times, still hated it.

Changed jobs, got a used sedan for $6500. Car pooled with my wife. Hired out all car care and maintenance. 10 years later, I'd say we've spent 20 cents a mile, about 8000 miles a year. So $800 per car year, per person. I biked the 6 miles to work once. Yep, still hated it.

I could get by without a car now, since I work from home. Aldi via Instacart would cover me for groceries. Uber for other short trips. But, at $800 a year, having a car available requires an extra $30k in assets. That is worth it, to me.

I've read of others keeping a fleet of the same old model car, doing their own repairs, and spending next to nothing for the car itself.

Another strategy for someone good at buying / selling used vehicles, is to pick up a beater, drive it for a year, sell for a small profit, repeat.

Thinking outside the box more, maybe the peer to peer rental market is good enough in Miami that you could justify something higher end. Own a late model BMW for profit.

[Jean]

Living in the car was nice to dry my laundry and drive to mc donalds and get fat. If I were in similar situation again, I would live in a tent.

[Seppia]

There's not one right answer to questions like this.

Exactly.
Same as per the house question, the only logical answer is “it depends”.

As per any type of expense, my approach is to simply maximize the utility of each dollar spent.
This can vary by person.

Example:
I cook daily and really hate bad knives. I’m not impressed by a “nice” knife though, I’m o my interested in its qualities as a tool.
So I “need” to spend a lot in relative terms, but without going for the handcrafted knives that cost $500+.
Turns out, the “correct” amount to spend for me on a kitchen knife is about $100.

For someone living in Tokyo in a small apartment with no kitchen, the same amount could be $10.

[TopHatFox]

Yeah. About $3-$8k max, depending on: how much you're going to drive it, whether you are handy enough to fix common problems, how much of a catastrophe breakdowns would cause you, etc.

I don't mind if the answer is it depends tbh. I'm interested in seeing what kind of range I should expect to pay if I want a car in my life. 3-8k seems steep right now. I'd rather just pay that in rent within walking distance of work and transit for places I want to visit.

What about renting a car. What's the range of that for weekend trips and inter-state trips?

[Sclass]

It depends. Mostly on what you have. Of course that is if you really want or need a car. Try not to spend too much. The sky is the limit with these things.

Given this is the ERE forum I’d say try to buy the least expensive option. I think you’re on the right track with a FIT given what I know from your other posts. Of course if you can get by on a bike and public transit that is the best. Thousands of dollars a year more for your retirement fund.

I happen to own a lot of cars but I got them broken down and cheap on Craigslist. I enjoy repairing them and converting somebody’s unwanted trash into a grocery getter. I typically like to spend $3000 on a car while my economic peers spend about $70,000 in my parts. What I’m saying is go as cheap as you can get away with while still being cheap.

That is about how much I care about not wasting money on cars. Don’t spend too much of your precious resources on them. I prefer to drive other people’s trash. Like we say around here, “the less you know the more you pay.”

Here’s a neighborhood story out of SoCal. Right now the trend in my housing tract is to buy a new Jeep. Trick it out with bars, racks, wheels, shovels, gas cans, LED ground effect lighting (Xmas lights) and bling. My neighbors are starting with a $40,000 p-$50,000 vehicle then dumping another $20,000 into it on credit cards. They complain about having to slow down on improvements because if credit limits. I watch their $2000 mud tires wear down as they commute on the highway in these things to make wages to service their loans. This is what not to do.

Keep it cheap.

[slowtraveler]

@Sclass
Any visuals to accompany the story?

[C40]

What about renting a car. What's the range of that for weekend trips and inter-state trips?

It can get as cheap as maybe $30-$40 per day. There aren't many smaller/cheaper companies than the big main ones that will be at the airport. In one city that I've lived, there was a car rental place that rented cars that were 10 or so years old. Probably pretty darn cheaply. So cheaper options might exist.

Usually when you rent a car, mileage doesn't matter. You're just paying for the days and gas. Check how the insurance works. People say it's often covered by your credit card, so you don't need to buy it from the rental place.

If those kind of trips are all you need the car for, and you rent it for 3 or less days per month, it'd probably be cheaper to rent.

[Sclass]

@Sclass
Any visuals to accompany the story?

I found this.

https://hoppermotorplex.com/4x4-works

This kind of thing but the cars in my neighborhood never leave suburbia. Don’t do this if you’re trying to build wealth.



We have about forty guys in our development doing this. They even had a Christmas parade where the cars were all lit up. I don’t mind and I’m all about free expression, just so long as they use their money and not mine to do this. When you start hearing the numbers the costs are up there with buying a high end European SUV.