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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
MSN points out why so many Americans are broke: they're spending too much
on their cars: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...oureBroke.aspx One more reason to ride a bike! Matt O. |
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#2
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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
On Sep 20, 2:39 pm, Matt O'Toole wrote:
MSN points out why so many Americans are broke: they're spending too much on their cars: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...onaCar/TheReal... One more reason to ride a bike! Or drive an old car. Mine was paid for 15 years ago and still passes emissions testing with only 5% of allowed nasties. I can't believe the amount of money people **** away on cars. I can understand wanting a decent car that's pleasant and reliable--but you can find one of those for pennies on the dollar used. What I find even crazier are people that buy houses 40 minutes from work in this town to get 2x the square footage--but a more miserable lifestyle and tons of pointless emissions spewed while crawling on the freeway. |
#3
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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
On Sep 20, 9:57 pm, landotter wrote:
On Sep 20, 2:39 pm, Matt O'Toole wrote: MSN points out why so many Americans are broke: they're spending too much on their cars: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...onaCar/TheReal... One more reason to ride a bike! Or drive an old car. Mine was paid for 15 years ago and still passes emissions testing with only 5% of allowed nasties. I can't believe the amount of money people **** away on cars. I can understand wanting a decent car that's pleasant and reliable--but you can find one of those for pennies on the dollar used. What I find even crazier are people that buy houses 40 minutes from work in this town to get 2x the square footage--but a more miserable lifestyle and tons of pointless emissions spewed while crawling on the freeway. There is definitely a "sweet spot" as far as value for money goes in used cars. A good used car can be orders of magnitude cheaper to run per distance than a new car. Even a crappy one is cheaper. And not all old cars suck either. More than the folks who commute "only" 40 minutes in a new car to some suburb, I wonder about the folks who live in dangerous slums but chose to **** away huge amounts of money on new cars with expensive accesories presumably with a high interest credit-risk type loan. Joseph |
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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
Matt O'Toole wrote:
MSN points out why so many Americans are broke: they're spending too much on their cars: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...oureBroke.aspx One more reason to ride a bike! As long as you don't buy the bike with a credit card and never pay it off :-) Dana |
#5
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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
On Sep 20, 3:34 pm, "
wrote: On Sep 20, 9:57 pm, landotter wrote: On Sep 20, 2:39 pm, Matt O'Toole wrote: MSN points out why so many Americans are broke: they're spending too much on their cars: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...onaCar/TheReal... One more reason to ride a bike! Or drive an old car. Mine was paid for 15 years ago and still passes emissions testing with only 5% of allowed nasties. I can't believe the amount of money people **** away on cars. I can understand wanting a decent car that's pleasant and reliable--but you can find one of those for pennies on the dollar used. What I find even crazier are people that buy houses 40 minutes from work in this town to get 2x the square footage--but a more miserable lifestyle and tons of pointless emissions spewed while crawling on the freeway. There is definitely a "sweet spot" as far as value for money goes in used cars. A good used car can be orders of magnitude cheaper to run per distance than a new car. Even a crappy one is cheaper. And not all old cars suck either. My local craigslist has several German and Japanese cars for $2K that look to have plenty of life left in them. $5K gets you a ten year old luxury car. Have it detailed and install a satellite radio for less than the price of a Kia. More than the folks who commute "only" 40 minutes in a new car to some suburb, I wonder about the folks who live in dangerous slums but chose to **** away huge amounts of money on new cars with expensive accessories presumably with a high interest credit-risk type loan. While appalling, it's understandable to want a status object when you've been living in poverty and a few more coppers his the coffer. It's stupid, but not shocking. In my neighborhood, I'm known as that crazy bike guy--because the rednecks think that spending more than $100 on a Walmart Bike is something incomprehensible. "Who does he think he IS!?" |
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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
How many times will $100 fill up the tanks on an F350?
The Featured Article didn't exactly show their work... I mean to say they didn't break it down to what it cost to own a car versus what it costs to drive and maintain it. One of the numbers they bandied about was 15000 miles per year. I don't have a clue as to an average MPG, maybe 20? 750 gallons per year or around 15 per week - that kinda sounds in the ballpark doesn't it,unless you're using a 3/4 ton truck to haul yer ass to the office. Gas is going for a little under $3 right now, say $2.75 - that's about $2k just for fuel. Your gonna need to change the oil three times over that 15kmi, $150? A set of tires might go 60kmi and probably retail for $80 a piece - four tires/four years how convenient, batteries, wiper blades, belts... it looks like about 40% of their $7k a year was spent making the thing go and a little more than half in just owning it (amortized purchase, registration, insurance, did they include storage?-) Still, I can save enough in gasoline alone to buy a nice new bike every year, and a bike will hold up better'n a car - my '72 LeTour is still serviceable whereas my '87 Benz is on its last leg. If I could just figure out how to get bicycle tires to last four years. |
#7
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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
On Sep 21, 12:16 am, DennisTheBald wrote:
If I could just figure out how to get bicycle tires to last four years. Use your car more? ;-) Joseph |
#8
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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
If I could
just figure out how to get bicycle tires to last four years. Use your car more? ;-) yep, that'll do it - but cheap car tires are still more than twice what expensive bike tires cost, and there's twice as many of 'em... Or are there? If I were to switch to a trike would I get 50% more flats or 33% better tread wear? |
#9
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The real reason you're broke: spending money on cars
I live out in the suburbs and commute about 40 minutes... well it was
30 minutes to cover the same commute 10 years ago, but you can't expect a guy my age to hold the pace that he did a decade ago. I kinda figure that the amortized purchase price of a car, before insurance, cost of opportunity, taxes, etc... is about $2k a year. Those craigs list ads for $2-5k probably DO have some life in 'em, sometimes there are some bargains but mostly you get what you pay for... A new car for $20k doesn't sound unreasonable, and if you take good care of it it will probably give you 10 years. If you can buy a beater for $2k and it provides a year of service (without buying parts) you're right on schedule. I'm thinking that the fuel and the purchase price of the car are probably a little more than half of the total outlay though, or so it seems. If I bought a $2k bike and ate $2k worth of extra snickers bars to fuel it every year I think I would come out ahead of the motorist (Bike jerseys?, shoes? little elastic straps to keep my pants leg outta the chain) I just can't imagine trying to east $2k worth of snickers bars, I'm willing to give it a shot in the name of science tho.. The biggest fly in this ointment would be my wife wanting me to get rid of a bike every time I got new one and me wanting to keep 'em till they were worn out. |
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