How do you scratch the new car itch?

[Railrust]

Originally Posted by wtd
I just have to look at the prices of new vehicles these days and my "itch" goes away. My last new vehicle was my 14 Mustang GT which I've had for 6.5 years. I'm also retired so buying a new vehicle is probably not the smartest thing to do living on a fixed income but at some point I will have to start spending my 401K and at that point, I may buy one more new vehicle.


You sound like my dad; he's been retired six years and hasn't touched his 401k yet (now 68). And that's probably been a good thing with the way the market has performed since he's been retired - I think we've only had one down year in the last six - he retired with somewhere around 300k...I imagine now it's up around $470k-$500k.

My dad leases now, he spent his whole life buying and driving clunkers. Now he just goes into the dealer and trades his lease in every two years. Low mileage leases, customer "loyalty rebate", whatever other "deal" they run...and he usually walks away paying between $200-$250 a month for a loaded Honda CRV. He likes doing it because he doesn't have to worry about car repairs anymore...no more tire replacements or check engine lights, brakes, exhaust. Nothing. He just turns them over with 20,000 miles on them and he's into the next one. Probably not for everyone, but it's stress free for him.

 

[Railrust]

Originally Posted by AZjeff
Originally Posted by supton
I'm 43 and I hate to say it but I'm starting to feel entitled.....In many ways I'm beaten by middle age. .


Holey sheet man, you've got young kids, no time to back off now. According to the Oxford English Dictionary middle age is between about 45 and 65 so you aren't even there yet.

No reason to drive 2 hours/day, 30k/year in a penalty box if you don't absolutely have to.




And I understand exactly what the both of you are saying...was/am in the same situation. Drive a lot, big commute...probably 28,000 miles a year...in my 40's. And I did this for a long time in an old Honda Accord. Bare bones car...kept it till 289,000 miles. At some point I just realized...hey, I'm spending two hours a day in this thing. Everyone is enjoying their lives - or at least tryin to - I'm spending two hours a day in my car, why don't I enjoy myself a little bit? You can't take the money with you when you go...wife has a nice car, my kids have nice things...I'm the one making most of the money...why not do something for myself? So I sold the Accord and bought a Lexus LS460. Kept that five years, traded it in for a new truck. Now I'm two years into this truck...my "itch" is gone, practical me is back...and I kind of wish I bought something used at half the price.

We go through phases - sometimes it's best to allow them to happen - then reassess where you are and what you feel like doing. Me? I'm going to drive this truck all the way to my retirement (13 more years). The truck will be 15 years old at that time with 350,000 miles. I have a feeling I'll get the "itch" again way before that. Lol.

 

[MCompact]

I bought my '02 on eBay. I bid and didn't expect to win it. Had to tell my wife, "Honey, did I mention I bought a 2002 on eBay?" She was cool with it- and it ended up being my son's first car.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

Originally Posted by Railrust
Originally Posted by ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted by supton


Originally Posted by wog
Do a lease

I could but what else would I drive? I do about 30k/year.


I just saw the 2 hour commute you posted otherwise I wouldnt have even made the Murano lease tease

I had a 1 hour 10 min to Wilmington Ma one way.

That was my limit.

Now I just quite working last November Im putting 7K a year on the car so I can do these short mileage give-a-way leases.





Small world, I do a 1 hour commute to Wilmington everyday. Been doing it for 6 years now.


I had to get off 495 S in Andover at 133 and go through town to get to Ballardvale street the back way.

Too much traffic down 93S or up RT114.

Funny and sad about that "accident a day" merge at Dascomb Road due to breakdown travel permitted.
If the State was interested in safety they would move that daytime breakdown permission up a couple exits.

Also If you are in left or middle lane its 80-85 MPH not 60 ! Moron public!

See now I have commute PTSD!

 

[supton]

Thanks all, good input.

Spoke with the wife and she pointed out that now is a good time to buy new, if I was going to. Her car has another 3 to 5 years before it will need replacing. We wouldn't want two payments at the same time. BUT. There's the rub. If anything happens to her car between now and then, we're stuck having to buy her a new car--she really can't deal with a beater, I mean, I have rudimentary DIY skills and "know" what ought to be done when it breaks down. She doesn't.

So it makes more sense to wait until car buying becomes something I can do out of pocket money OR it becomes absolute necessity. Sure is nice to think about though...

 

[DejaVue]

Originally Posted by supton

What do you guys do to avoid trading excessively?

I vacuum the interior of my current one(s).
Clean floor mats, seats, and no dust on the dash give the impression of a new car.

And thoroughly clean the windows inside and out.

Suddenly, with little effort, being in the car is a nicer place to be.

Super-clean windows also means from the outside the top half of the car look better than the top half of 99% of other cars.

 

[Alfred_B]

The thought of dealing with a car salesman very quickly keeps me away from getting a new car

 

[Malo83]

Originally Posted by Alfred_B
The thought of dealing with a car salesman very quickly keeps me away from getting a new car

Best way to buy a new car is thru the Dealer Internet Mgr. bought my last three vehicles this way, find the car you want and haggle on your computer, only time you spend at the dealer is to pick up your new car,

 

[FordBroncoVWJeta]

Originally Posted by Malo83
Originally Posted by Alfred_B
The thought of dealing with a car salesman very quickly keeps me away from getting a new car

Best way to buy a new car is thru the Dealer Internet Mgr. bought my last three vehicles this way, find the car you want and haggle on your computer, only time you spend at the dealer is to pick up your new car,

I did that with my Jetta. Car was sitting in the show room waiting for me. Didn't waste much time at all and I feel like I got a great deal on it.

 

[emmett442]

As has kind of been mentioned, the only real answer to this question besides buying a new car is keep some long term financial goals in sight. If you have none, then the itch will never go away. But, if you have a real goal that you are working towards, a new car will barely be a fleeting thought that'll be incredibly easy to forget.

Works for me. I have other plans for my money besides sinking it into what is the rabbit hole of upgrading cars. Reminding myself about investments, other sources of income, vacations, kid's aspirations, retirement, etc. all make the new car itch seem insignificant.

 

[pandus13]

Supton/OP,

If you cannot have the new/new-ish truck, what would be the next vehicle on the list?
May i recommend something with good seats?

Also, in your area, what do you see in the long commute range? mid-size/full-size... Just to know where you would be in 2-3 years.

Also, would the truck be ok to be replaced by a minivan (covered truck)? until kids fly from the nest?

In my case I kept the Yaris for 10 years - 64kmiles and sell it to Carmax in pristine shape (even with 1 accident 8 years before).

I got tired and bored about it, so I got the GSW as a 2-years old, 5k miles, demo for 1/2 price.($15k)

 

[supton]

Originally Posted by emmett442
As has kind of been mentioned, the only real answer to this question besides buying a new car is keep some long term financial goals in sight. If you have none, then the itch will never go away. But, if you have a real goal that you are working towards, a new car will barely be a fleeting thought that'll be incredibly easy to forget.

Works for me. I have other plans for my money besides sinking it into what is the rabbit hole of upgrading cars. Reminding myself about investments, other sources of income, vacations, kid's aspirations, retirement, etc. all make the new car itch seem insignificant.


I'm tired of long term goals... I thought planning 5 years into the future was a long time, now waiting 25 years for retirement... when I was 18 I thought 4 years of college was a lifetime (might as well have been, let's face it, I was a different person at 18 than I was at 14). 25 years now is still a huge portion of my lifetime--it's 5 years more than I've been working! Sure feels like another lifetime.

Our kids keep us too busy for vacations, and I didn't bother to save for their college bills, so nadda there. About the most I am hoping for is to shave 5 years off our mortgage so that it's done when I retire.

Originally Posted by pandus13
Supton/OP,

If you cannot have the new/new-ish truck, what would be the next vehicle on the list?

I'm back to just keeping my old car and running it. There's a chance I'll get my wife's Camry in 3-5 years when she gets a new car.

I'm toying with downsizing the Tundra into a first gen Tacoma, a 2WD model, maybe extended cab. Low bed height and could pull into the garage. Seems like it'd be the same price as any cute ute but easier to repair and with an I4 it might do ok on mpg if I had to drive it any distance--but very likely a lousy (loud) ride at that.

Quote

May i recommend something with good seats?

Also, in your area, what do you see in the long commute range? mid-size/full-size... Just to know where you would be in 2-3 years.

Most everyone has cars less than 10 years old.

Large number of crossovers if anything.

As I mull over options I'm not against a minivan but the last time I thought about it, everyone on here said to go new or to not bother--they get too beat up and they are not reliable at high miles.

If I had to pick a budget, it'd be zero--sell my truck for $10k or so, immediately push $5k into a Roth to "hide" it, then split off a repair fund of a grand or two, spend the rest on something for runabout beater (like a 2WD pickup). Seems foolish to have a net sum zero plan though, which is why I haven't executed on any plan.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted by Nick1994
Originally Posted by AZjeff
Originally Posted by Nick1994
With cars getting rusty in your area, I know it's been discussed before but in the long run it's probably best to find a car down south and then drive it up or have it shipped. Probably $800 to have it shipped from FL to NH. I'm sure you could find a BITOG'er to go look at a car for you, myself included, although I'm quite far away.

If someone looked at it for you and it checks out, you could buy over the phone and either have it shipped or get a cheap flight and drive it home in 2 days.


That's a really nice thing to do but would you make a $10-15k buying decision based on a stranger's once over? Not me. And if something is wrong with the car or goes wrong? Less money for 1 way (or round trip if you don't like it) airfare and you know what you're buying.
People are doing it all the time now with Vroom and Carvana. JustinH on here just bought an Escape online without ever seeing it.


Yeah but it's their decision alone and they can give it back in 7 days if they don't like it. Try that with a car that some guy on a forum checked out for you and you bought it and had it shipped.

 

[ffhdriver]

I have a similar itch. Ever so often I start looking for a new electronic "something".

 

[Saabist]

For me the best salve for the itch if it manifests itself is to think of the payment book. That's a cold shower right there if there ever was one. I haven't bought a new car for about 35 years now (and only bought that one due to a car allowance from my then-employer) and have no desire to get back on that treadmill.

 

[Ws6]

Originally Posted by supton
To keep myself from going down the path, I usually do my best to search for problems with the vehicle, and try to run the math against my budget, but lately I've been feeling the need to change vehicles, again. I don't know why but i'm getting tired of driving a 20 year old Camry 2 hours a day--I'll drive my truck for a bit, see if that scratches the itch, but by golly it is nice to go into my garage and go, no need to scrape the windshield--and the truck doesn't fit in the garage, period. [No joke, I think I've gone all winter so far w/o cleaning my car off once--wow is that nice or what. And to get in&out while out of the weather...] I know the truck is suffering from sitting all the time. Stuff rusts even just sitting. Also... we've all griped about it--the move to SUV's and trucks means darn near every vehicle on the road is blinding me now.

Anyhow. What do you guys do to avoid trading excessively? Do you just keep modifying your car, keep changing it into something slightly enough different?

I don't do so well with it honestly. That said, I typically have issues with vehicles and that leads to a trade, or my lifestyle changes and I need a different kind of vehicle.

How I currently stay in my cx5 turbo vs trading for a rav4 prime or something, is that it does everything I need it to do, its comfortable, and has all the things I want, and I know as soon as I get "the next best thing ", the next best thing will arrive a year later. Its dumb to chase that. So, I plan to keep my vehicle for 8 years/250k miles, and then move on. At 250k miles, if it's still running, I'll have trust issues due to miles alone, honestly.

 

[Andrew1972]

In the future never buy a penalty box like that. My neighbor commutes to Boston over an hour in their 2002 Lexus ES300 and loves it.

 

[Duffyjr]

I decided along time ago I would never buy new again (1988ish). Ten years later I decided I would never take out a loan on a depreciating vehicle again and eventually that became rule of thumb for anything I want to buy, cash only. To many nice used vehicles out there, you just have to find them.

 

[wtd]

Originally Posted by Railrust
Originally Posted by wtd
I just have to look at the prices of new vehicles these days and my "itch" goes away. My last new vehicle was my 14 Mustang GT which I've had for 6.5 years. I'm also retired so buying a new vehicle is probably not the smartest thing to do living on a fixed income but at some point I will have to start spending my 401K and at that point, I may buy one more new vehicle.


You sound like my dad; he's been retired six years and hasn't touched his 401k yet (now 68). And that's probably been a good thing with the way the market has performed since he's been retired - I think we've only had one down year in the last six - he retired with somewhere around 300k...I imagine now it's up around $470k-$500k.

My dad leases now, he spent his whole life buying and driving clunkers. Now he just goes into the dealer and trades his lease in every two years. Low mileage leases, customer "loyalty rebate", whatever other "deal" they run...and he usually walks away paying between $200-$250 a month for a loaded Honda CRV. He likes doing it because he doesn't have to worry about car repairs anymore...no more tire replacements or check engine lights, brakes, exhaust. Nothing. He just turns them over with 20,000 miles on them and he's into the next one. Probably not for everyone, but it's stress free for him.

I've only been retired about 2.5 years and I'm almost 53 years old. I retired with about the same amount in my 401K as your dad did and It's done okay since.

 

[ediamiam]

That new car itch will go away really quick after dealing with car salesmen. Got stood up twice at the same dealership with an appointment both times, checkbook in hand. Sent a nastygram to the salesman and his manager saw it. Got a 3rd salesman and he said they didn't have the car on the lot I was looking at but could get one in 48 hours. No response. Done with those fools, high volume dealership and the price was good.