Looking for advice in my current situation. My girlfriends car has broken down and she's looking into getting a new/new to her car. (cost ~$6.7k to repair which is about what the cars worth).
Situation is, I have my car that I use maybe once or twice a week for short trips. It has about 100k miles on it, but works good. She's looking at getting a newer car, maybe 2019/2020/2021 for ~$20k. Probably next year we most likely will start a family/get married, so probably get some kind of SUV. Question is, does she upgrade now, than we upgrade my car next year? Does she get something on the cheaper side and then we upgrade that? If we do get a an upgrade, does another have any recommendations?
Go used for sure. Personally I would do it off FB or craigslist to eliminate fees and reduce taxes.
It’s up to you, but economically that is the way to go. If you care a lot about your looks, then spend a lot on a new car.
Have you ever personally or knew someone who bought a car off of FB? Do you know how that went for you/them?
I’ve bought and sold plenty of cars off of FB/CL. I would highly recommend you take any car you’re looking to buy to a trusted mechanic/dealer for a pre purchase inspection and pay the $200-400 they’ll charge. It’ll be absolutely worth the peace of mind. If the seller balks at taking it to a shop for an inspection: run, don’t walk, away!
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Yes I did it four months ago. I didn’t take it to a mechanic before buying because nothing seemed wrong, but you should probably do that.
It went amazing because I saved about 5k on dealership fees and taxes. Got it off a college kid on marketplace that didn’t need it anymore and was trying to sell fast. When you talk about beating the market, that’s the way to do it!
First of all, a lot of repairs can be done cheaper/at independent shops or even by yourself (I am not saying drop the transmission if you don't know how to do it, but a lot can be done on your own). If the quote was from a branded dealership, an independent shop might be 30% off or more. But the cost of labor and car parts have gone up globally, that's obvious.
There are valid business cases both for new and used cars.
- If the total use of a car has a higher value for you as a family than the lease rate and you don't want to deal with any repairs, and want full warranty ("bumper to bumper" type); get a new car. A new car also has technical features that are more current (some late model used cars as well) and should ideally have more safety features as well. If you have very specific wishes around specs/color/functions, a new car can be ordered with those. I only had one new car in my entire life, but I work on my cars every single weekend. so a bit of a different case.
- A used car is great if: you don't need the latest bells and whistles, and if it's young enough for the immediate use/mileage for the near future. Modern cars won't fall apart, usually, and if all services were done and the vehicle wasn't abused - this is a good way to benefit from the biggest part of depreciation.
If you already know your personal changes for next year, plan ahead and get the right car for those circumstances. My family members all have kids, and it is remarkable how quickly they grow up and "outgrow" a vehicle. They go from being in diapers to long biking holidays in France in a flash. (most of my family live in Europe). So, while it makes sense to plan ahead for kids, I would only upgrade the car with the immediate requirements for now. When the kids are a bit older, you may need a different car.
Starting a family/having children is the single biggest change in consumer behavior; you suddenly need products and services you didn't even know existed.
Thanks I appreciate the insight. I'm not a huge bells and whistle guy, mainly I just need to get from A to B (usually while listening to a podcast). The though is somewhat more, my car can probably last a couple more years, in which time kids might be around, so maybe just hold on to it until that happens?
My cars are 10, 17 and 32 years old. the middle one turns 18 this month, so finally an adult.
With age, the amount of work exponentially increases. while the 10 year old is fine with regular service and enhanced/preventative maintenance; the 18 year old requires a full suspension, all bearings, bushings, new ignition coils/harness/injectors, engine hoses, and most outer rubber parts (and this one still starts/runs/drives normally, the repairs will be 2x of remaining value). I can't give this to a shop, of course, because putting all of this together is a really nice hobby.
If your car has no known weaknesses and the ability to hold out a bit longer - I would just do that until you really have to invest more time and money into it.
Any reason you need to upgrade your car imminently? If it's running well and you only use it once or twice a week I would say you can try to get 50k more miles out of it - so at least 3 more years... maybe even longer if you barely use it.
I'd upgrade the girlfriend's car to a nice used SUV now and have that as your main family car. 2019/2020 is new enough to have the important safety and convenience features, and plenty of used SUVs to be had in the ~$20k price point. Keep your current car for when you both need to drive somewhere or for short trips into town, but her car is for driving long distances. And then upgrade your car in a few years when it starts to go downhill.
Thanks for the advice.
Couple items I didn't disclose above. We live in a city and street park, and my girlfriend also commutes and drives ~85 miles per day round trip. So for about a year we will have to park an SUV and she will be putting some miles on her car. My thought was to potentially sell her my car, I could get a lower in value used car, then I we could get her a newer SUV next year.
Do you also have to commute to work or do you work downtown? If you work downtown then IMO you should consider just having one car for the time being.
Also, would she consider getting a job closer (or you all moving closer to her work)? That is an absurd amount of miles to commute daily for work and will take a toll on your mental and physical health, not to mention car expenses, gas, etc. Buying a new car and then driving it to death like you work for Uber for a living is not the answer imo.
I don't see the point of getting her another car for 1 year, and I would really not be comfortable using a 100k mile car for serious, heavy-duty commuting.
If she's driving that far get her a nice car now and you can hold onto the older car for a bit. I don't think street parking the SUV is that big of a deal, it's a $20k mid-range SUV not a Ferrari.
If money is no object then do whatever you want, but with a $20k budget I'm assuming you are on a tight budget and see no value in you getting a new car right away when she's the one driving a ton
Hard to know for sure without a complete picture of your financial standing. Assuming you are in the position of a typical working couple in their 20s or so, I personally would strongly consider repairing the car. A car being 'totaled' is an insurance term, not a personal finance term. The number you shouldnt be comparing the repair costs to isnt the value of the car, but the cost of replacing that car. So yes, it can absolutely make sense to spend 6k to repair a car worth 3.5k, assuming the repair isnt the first in a long line of repairs and the car still runs smoothly. Because cars are an absolutely stupid asset, I would personally spend as little money as possible here.
Then for you would just keep your car as is. Once married you can decide on upgrading an SUV. But her getting a new used car for 20k, and you getting an SUV in a year, aka adding on 50-60k in unnecessary expenses (which I am assuming is more than 10% of your net worth) is IMO a foolish move.
ironman32
As someone who just purchased a new car, I was in the situation in terms of used versus new. It didn't make sense to buy used since the car market is completely out of whack in terms of prices currently. I would avoid CL/FB Marketplace or independent sales of vehicles, it is not worth the headache. I've been there trying to save money in this space, and it usually backfired.
Yeah, you might spend a little more now, but you'd have peace of mind. That's something I can sleep on. The car I ended up getting is a 2023 Honda where I was able to negotiate 4,000 below asking. Worked out well with a really nice APR.
What kind of Honda did you go with? My Ford Fiesta is having transmission issue (its a 2015) and I'm in the market now. I'm thinking a 2020 Honda HRV, its around $20K and is weirdly similar in price to Honda Accords.
I got the Honda Civic. I posted a photo from online of the same color/model. Great MPG's. I was at the main dealership not long ago, and there are plenty of cars sitting on their lots now that interest rates had increased, and people are not hastily buying them.
I would say depends; you're not ultimately saving as much money as you would assume getting that used. If you can snag a deal on a new Accord from Honda at that price, go for it. They are very nice cars and can last well over 200k+ miles with proper maintenance.
Et illum sit autem. Harum quos qui quibusdam possimus molestiae dignissimos sit. Dicta autem omnis voluptate quia aut aut repellendus.
Ducimus atque quaerat illo aut. Aut placeat optio eum dolores excepturi ullam dolor illo. Et dolores id cumque enim unde officiis. Sit ducimus quo mollitia. Omnis harum aut provident. Aspernatur et eos ad voluptate rerum eos.
Alias distinctio rerum ab dolorum exercitationem. Dicta quia et quibusdam.
Aspernatur facere porro ex sunt consequatur molestias aperiam cupiditate. Accusamus nisi eaque voluptas dolorem laudantium eius incidunt voluptatem. Voluptatibus maiores accusantium asperiores expedita sunt deleniti.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...