The decision to buy a car may not seem like a tough one to many people, but to me it is a tough decision. At this time I have no car payment and really do not want one either, unfortunately I drive a full size pickup and the gas prices are not going down. For that reason I have to decide whether or not it is a good decision to buy a smaller car for daily driving .
In considering my possible choices the list I have come up with follows:
1. New car
2. Used car with warranty
3. Used car without warranty
4. Fix Jeep that is in garage not being used
5. Keep driving the truck
In order to evaluate the pros and cons of the possible choices I have created a worksheet below:
Possible choices | Information needed | Pros | Cons |
New car | Price of car and amount of monthly payments including insurance costs. | · Mechanically sound · Less maintenance cost to begin with · Warranty | · Monthly payment · Insurance cost |
Used car with warranty | Price of car and amount of monthly payments including insurance costs. | · Warranty · Price of car would be less than a new car | · Monthly payment · Insurance cost · Unknown mechanical and maintenance needs |
Used car without warranty | Price of car and amount of monthly payments including insurance costs. | · Cost of car less than first two choices · Possibly able to buy car without monthly payment | · Monthly payment or amount needed to pay cash · Insurance cost · Unknown mechanical and maintenance needs |
Fix Jeep that is in garage not being used | Cost of fixing Jeep and registering through DMV, also insurance costs | · No payment or large cash amount to purchase | · Older (1963) · No AC · Mechanical concerns · Less MPG than a car · Insurance cost |
Keep driving the truck | Nothing | · No payment or large cash amount to purchase · No added insurance costs | · Gas mileage · Maintenance costs · Putting miles on truck |
After evaluating the choices and reviewing the pros and cons of the decision I have to make I think that my main goal is to save money on fuel expenses. At this time I am spending around $400.00 per month on gas, although that seems like a large amount of money after looking into the prices of new cars and the payments for them it does not seem quite as large. As far as my choices listed above that include purchasing a car it would seem that after paying a car payment of $150.00-250.00 per month and insurance of $50.00 per month, then adding the cost of fuel for the car I would not be saving any real money. I would save money on gas compared to driving the truck but once you add the car payment and insurance payment up the total out of pocket cost would be about the same as continuing to drive the truck. Fixing the Jeep would not cost as much as purchasing a car and the Jeep would get better gas mileage than the truck. By driving the Jeep I would also be able to keep the mileage on the truck down making it last longer since replacing the truck would be costly.
At this time I think the best decision would be to do the needed brake job on the Jeep and register it to drive on the road.
My plan of action for implementing the decision to drive the Jeep is to first have the necessary brake job done and new tires put on the Jeep. Once that has been completed I then will register the Jeep with the DMV and add it to my insurance policy. At that point I will be ready to start driving the Jeep and keep track of the gas expense to see how much money I am saving over driving the truck.
Buying any vehicle is certainly a very tough decision because I just recently had no choice but to buy another car due to my son totally out our truck. Yes, he is ok, but stupid us, we had only basic insurance on the truck since it was paid off, so we had to buy another car.
ReplyDeleteYou are really lucky and this decision for you may not be all that hard since you have a great option of using your jeep.
Me personally, if I had another vehicle parked and it looked good, ran good outside of general maintenance, and got fairly good gas mileage, there would be no decision. It would be easy because think about this: no car payment, not as big insurance payment because the vehicle is older and even if you put more coverage on the jeep still would not be as much, and you can use the jeep as your fun vehicle as well.
Good luck with your decision and I hope that my comments have helped you somewhat.
Barbara
I agree with using the vehicle that looks in good condition and just needs some maintance. That saves alot of money and having no car payments. You seemed to really have researched your options and I agree with you on what you chose. The insuarance would especially be cheaper. Just think, with all this money you would be saving you could put that away into a newer car fund so when it comes time that the Jeep is no longer in running condition, you may ave enough saved up to put down on a nice care; then the more you put down and have saved the lower the car payement; again allowing for you to save some more money again. I hope I helped some what with this. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your "Tough Decision" Blog. I am in the same quandry: do I keep the car I have now or buy a new one?
ReplyDeleteMy husband loves to trade and doesn't mind payments. I on the other hand loathe car payments and do not mind having a car that is mechanically sound that may need a minor tune-up now and then.
I thought you did an outstanding job of thinking through every scenario especially when considering the car and insurance payment versus money saved on gas mileage. I usually find when I crunch the numbers that the better gas mileage/cost at the pump doesn't add up as quickly as the car payments do.
Thanks for sharing your decision making process on your blog and I wish you well with the Jeep!
Kattie
Good analysis...post us a picture of the jeep. I am with you on the payments....less is more. You can save that for something else.
ReplyDelete