second car frugal?
Jeff
I've had two friends ask about reducing gas costs within a few days of
each other. Oddly both are driving Chevy C1500's with V8s.
At 14 mpg, I can see why they complain! Both need to do a substantial
amount of driving each day. One commutes 80 miles, and both need
occasional usage of a truck.
So that brings up some interesting options.
Resale value on large used trucks has plummeted, people wanting gas
guzzlers want new gas guzzlers.
1) Sell the truck at a big loss and buy a smaller used truck.
2) Keep the truck and buy a small used car.
3) Keep driving the truck.
At the mileage they are driving and gas at $3.50 a gallon, that's
nearly $6,000 year. A small car that gets 28mpg, could save about
$2,500, assuming some truck driving, out of that you'd have to pay
second vehicle insurance cost et all and buy the second vehicle. It
looks like two vehicles may be cheaper in the long run and a single
smaller truck is cheaper in the short run. Doing nothing is cheaper in
the shortest run, but that would be in the one year range.
Who has any recommendations on vehicle choices?
From what I've seen, spending a $1000 on a used car usually buys
trouble. Spending $5000 seems to buy a good vehicle. There must be a
sweet spot or a sweet vehicle out there, or perhaps you just need to
find a good deal around $2500 or so... Last time I went looking (2 years
ago), the new car dealers had the best used cars. A glut of trade ins I
guess.
Myself, I'm able to keep a heap running forever, but that is not for
most people!
Jeff
h
"Jeff" <jeff@spam_me_not.com> wrote in message
news:WL-dnVRxpdW0TpXV...@earthlink.com...
Don't forget to factor in the insurance on a second vehicle. It's bizarre
that if you have two vehicles you need separate policies, since you can only
drive one at a time, but that's the way it is. I don't understand why they
insure the car instead of the driver.
Dave
Jeff <jeff@spam_me_not.com> wrote:
>
>
> I've had two friends ask about reducing gas costs within a few days of
> each other. Oddly both are driving Chevy C1500's with V8s.
>
> At 14 mpg, I can see why they complain! Both need to do a substantial
> amount of driving each day. One commutes 80 miles, and both need
> occasional usage of a truck.
>
> So that brings up some interesting options.
>
> Resale value on large used trucks has plummeted, people wanting gas
> guzzlers want new gas guzzlers.
>
> 1) Sell the truck at a big loss and buy a smaller used truck.
>
> 2) Keep the truck and buy a small used car.
>
> 3) Keep driving the truck.
>
You forgot the best and most obvious solution. Trade the truck in for a small car, then rent a truck the one or two days a year that you definitely "need" a truck. You will save thousands of dollars a year, and the rental fees will be nothing compared to that. So you will keep virtually all of the money you save. If the trucks are worth enough, you might even be able to do an even trade, truck for small car, no money involved other than registration fees. Oh! And you should get a REFUND from your insurance company also, as you've already paid for insurance on the truck, and the insurance on a car will be much cheaper. -Dave
Paul M. Eldridge
Hi Jeff,
I don't have any specific advice for your friends, but I can tell you
that crude oil is now trading in excess of $116.00 a barrel and that
the DOE is forecasting $4.00 a gallon gasoline in many parts of the
U.S. in the coming weeks (see link below). If your friends are
spending some $6,000.00 a year at $3.50 a gallon, that number could
very well approach $7,000.00/year (and possibly more) as we head into
the peak driving season.
Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080418/ap_on_bi_ge/oil_prices_163;_ylt=AlLehTiTgJAcFAxtWddmcC.AsnsA
You didn't mention the age of these vehicles, but it's unlikely their
resale value will rebound going forward; if anything, as other vehicle
owners try to off-load their gas guzzling trucks and SUVs and as the
U.S. economy continues to weaken, I would expect their residual values
to decline at an even more precipitious rate. Whether it's better to
sell now or later I'll let someone else advise; I guess my question to
you is: "can they realistically afford to spend $6,000.00 or $7,000.00
a year filling their gas tanks?".
Cheers,
Paul
Rod Speed
> I've had two friends ask about reducing gas costs within a few days
> of each other. Oddly both are driving Chevy C1500's with V8s.
>
> At 14 mpg, I can see why they complain! Both need to do a
> substantial amount of driving each day. One commutes 80 miles, and
> both need occasional usage of a truck.
>
> So that brings up some interesting options.
>
> Resale value on large used trucks has plummeted, people wanting gas
> guzzlers want new gas guzzlers.
>
> 1) Sell the truck at a big loss and buy a smaller used truck.
>
> 2) Keep the truck and buy a small used car.
>
> 3) Keep driving the truck.
>
> At the mileage they are driving and gas at $3.50 a gallon, that's
> nearly $6,000 year. A small car that gets 28mpg, could save about
> $2,500, assuming some truck driving, out of that you'd have to pay
> second vehicle insurance cost et all and buy the second vehicle. It
> looks like two vehicles may be cheaper in the long run and a single
> smaller truck is cheaper in the short run. Doing nothing is cheaper in
> the shortest run, but that would be in the one year range.
>
> Who has any recommendations on vehicle choices?
> From what I've seen, spending a $1000 on a used car usually buys trouble. Spending $5000 seems to buy a good vehicle.
> There must be a sweet spot or a sweet vehicle out there,
Nope, thats always been a mindless myth.
> or perhaps you just need to find a good deal around $2500 or so...
Or that is mindlessly simplistic.
> Last time I went looking (2 years ago), the new car dealers had the best used cars.
Nope, private sellers do. Corse you have to know what you are
doing when buying those and its more effort to buy one of those too.
> A glut of trade ins I guess.
Nope, just the way te car business works.
> Myself, I'm able to keep a heap running forever, but that is not for most people!
Yep, some need reliable transport. Others whose job is more flexible or who work at home dont.
Whats the best thing to do depends on the circumstances which you didnt spell
out properly. Particularly how flexible they are on car reliability and how much
they really need a truck. And plenty choose to spend a few $K more than they
absolutely have to for the convenience of better reliability too, even if they cant
really spell out that that is what they are actually doing.
George
>
> Who has any recommendations on vehicle choices?
>
It depends on what the occasional use might be. If it is a few
times/year the most sensible thing to do would be to get a normal car
and dump the truck and have the item delivered/rent a truck for the day
etc.
Chloe
news:rcqdnaWPcryAa5XV...@comcast.com...
My Honda CR-V (which gets pretty decent mileage) has come in pretty handy
for some of the types of hauling people use a truck for. Naturally, I'm not
going to load it up with a bunch of fill dirt or something like that, but it
can definitely transport lots of items a conventional sedan can't.
Rod Speed
> George <geo...@nospam.invalid> wrote
>> Jeff wrote
>>> Who has any recommendations on vehicle choices?
>> It depends on what the occasional use might be. If it is a few times/
>> year the most sensible thing to do would be to get a normal car and dump the truck and have the item delivered/rent a
>> truck for the day etc.
> My Honda CR-V (which gets pretty decent mileage) has come in pretty
> handy for some of the types of hauling people use a truck for. Naturally, I'm not going to load it up with a bunch of
> fill dirt or something like that, but it can definitely transport lots of items a conventional sedan can't.
And a trailer can do most of what a truck can do, and doesnt
affect the mileage you get when using the car without the trailer.
Seerialmom
Sounds like you're pigeon-holing your choices there, Jeff. You're
just as likely to get a car with parts that could break @ $1000 as you
could @ $5000. Except now you're out $4000 more AND have to fix it.
As for new car dealers having the best used cars...dunno about that.
When I traded in my 93 Festiva (they gave me $100 for it) they turned
around and advertised it for $1999. But if you can find the "original
owner" who has all the maintenance records, you can see 1. where it
lives 2. who the driver was.
Right now I do have 2 vehicles, my 87 Nissan p/up I paid $1100 for
from a person who works for the same company as me...I use it as my
"weekend warrior" truck. And the 07 Yaris which is my daily driver.
The Real Bev
> Don't forget to factor in the insurance on a second vehicle. It's bizarre
> that if you have two vehicles you need separate policies, since you can only
> drive one at a time, but that's the way it is. I don't understand why they
> insure the car instead of the driver.
Because the insurance companies give bigger bribes than we do.
--
Cheers,
Bev
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala,
it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet." -- Anon.
larry
>
> You forgot the best and most obvious solution. Trade the truck in for a small car, then rent a truck the one or two days a year that you definitely "need" a truck. You will save thousands of dollars a year, and the rental fees will be nothing compared to that. So you will keep virtually all of the money you save. If the trucks are worth enough, you might even be able to do an even trade, truck for small car, no money involved other than registration fees. Oh! And you should get a REFUND from your insurance company also, as you've already paid for insurance on the truck, and the insurance on a car will be much cheaper. -Dave
Exactly-
Just did the same cost figures for a "spare" cheap 8 year
old car we used when one of the other two was down for
repairs. All said, we can rent a nice car for six weeks
each year for what we saved. One less car to park, and no
relatives/ friends asking to borrow it ;-)
-- larry/dallas
Seerialmom
I gave away 2 dog houses to a coworker the other day, we loaded both
into his Mitsubishi Montero and he had room to spare (similar to your
CR-V).
Snowbound
<45f3f14c-74cc-4cb5...@w1g2000prd.googlegroups.com>,
Seerialmom <seeri...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> As for new car dealers having the best used cars...dunno about that.
> When I traded in my 93 Festiva (they gave me $100 for it) they turned
> around and advertised it for $1999. But if you can find the "original
> owner" who has all the maintenance records, you can see 1. where it
> lives 2. who the driver was.
Agreed. We bought our econobox private sale from school teacher for $6K.
25,000 on the clock. It's now 11 years old and is approaching 125,000
miles. If I drive it carelessly, it averages 34 mpg overall. Doesn't use
any oil.
> Right now I do have 2 vehicles, my 87 Nissan p/up I paid $1100 for
> from a person who works for the same company as me...I use it as my
> "weekend warrior" truck. And the 07 Yaris which is my daily driver.
It depends on how much you use a truck for genuine truck purposes. If
you use it regularly and often, it definitely makes sense to own one.
OTOH, if you are like us and have only occasional use for a truck, it's
much more economical to rent when you have a real need.
Jeff
> "George" <geo...@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
> news:rcqdnaWPcryAa5XV...@comcast.com...
>> Jeff wrote:
>>
>>> Who has any recommendations on vehicle choices?
>>>
>> It depends on what the occasional use might be. If it is a few times/year
>> the most sensible thing to do would be to get a normal car and dump the
>> truck and have the item delivered/rent a truck for the day etc.
>
> My Honda CR-V (which gets pretty decent mileage) has come in pretty handy
> for some of the types of hauling people use a truck for.
I've got a friend with an Element, seems to be pretty versatile.
Don't know how it would go for hauling beds and furniture around.
One of the friends does that a few times a month (picking up
furniture to set up houses for rent) He needs something big enough to
move bedroom sets and such, and would need that a few times a month at
irregular intervals. Probably needs a truck like vehicle 15% of the
time, often enough that renting would be a pain.
Naturally, I'm not
> going to load it up with a bunch of fill dirt or something like that, but it
> can definitely transport lots of items a conventional sedan can't.
>
Sounds like it deserves a look. What kind of mileage? I was in a
Saturn SUV (is that a VUE?) recently and that seemed a good vehicle with
decent mileage, but probably too pricey.
Jeff
>
George
> Chloe wrote:
>> "George" <geo...@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:rcqdnaWPcryAa5XV...@comcast.com...
>>> Jeff wrote:
>>>
>>>> Who has any recommendations on vehicle choices?
>>>>
>>> It depends on what the occasional use might be. If it is a few
>>> times/year the most sensible thing to do would be to get a normal car
>>> and dump the truck and have the item delivered/rent a truck for the
>>> day etc.
>>
>> My Honda CR-V (which gets pretty decent mileage) has come in pretty
>> handy for some of the types of hauling people use a truck for.
>
> I've got a friend with an Element, seems to be pretty versatile. Don't
> know how it would go for hauling beds and furniture around.
>
> One of the friends does that a few times a month (picking up furniture
> to set up houses for rent) He needs something big enough to move bedroom
> sets and such, and would need that a few times a month at irregular
> intervals. Probably needs a truck like vehicle 15% of the time, often
> enough that renting would be a pain.
Thats where a trailer works well. You hook it up when needed and leave
it in the driveway when not not.
Jeff
I've been out a few times lately looking for vehicles for friends.
I've looked at a lot of cheap cars that did not look right to me. For my
girlfriend it took 5K to find an 8 year old mustang that had been well
maintained (it'd been fleet maintained and the engine sounded/looked
right). In two years it's just needed minor maintenance. The other
friend got a *rear* wheel drive Intrepid for 2K or so. Lucked out on that.
OTOH, I have another friend that has been through a series of $1K - $2K
cars and poured money in all of them. She seemed thrilled with all of
them when she first had them. Many models have known problems, and will
cause trouble sometime no matter how lovingly cared for.
>
> As for new car dealers having the best used cars...dunno about that.
> When I traded in my 93 Festiva (they gave me $100 for it) they turned
> around and advertised it for $1999.
I would have given you $200!
But if you can find the "original
> owner" who has all the maintenance records, you can see 1. where it
> lives 2. who the driver was.
You don't see much of this. You see primarily individual resellers
and dealers that need to move inventory. You have to look carefully
either way
>
> Right now I do have 2 vehicles, my 87 Nissan p/up I paid $1100 for
> from a person who works for the same company as me...I use it as my
> "weekend warrior" truck.
That sounds like a good truck and a good deal.
And the 07 Yaris which is my daily driver.
I think they are all a long way from another new car.
Jeff