Well, it might be time to put the old girl out of her misery. My current car has 120K miles and is 11 years old. I am sure it has a bit more life in it but it is getting to that magic point where without a mechanic on permanent retainer it is just getting too unreliable for my comfort. I do a lot of travelling and I work odd hours at an out of way place.
Anyway, I haven't completely made up my mind but I am leaning in the direction of getting a new car.
One good thing is that I work for a very large corporation which has corporate pricing for autos. SO I am looking at a 2008 Honda Civic EX. The corporate price I qualify for is aobut 3K below retail list. Not bad. Hondas also have a good resale value so when I go to sell or trade it in a few years it will still be worth it. (yes I know I should run it into the ground but this car is not my ideal car and it is for the short term. Yes, I also realize I should buy a used car if I only plan to keep it a short time but I do not want to inherit someone elses problems)
new car?
September 27th, 2007 at 12:30 am
September 27th, 2007 at 12:40 am 1190850016
We have a 97 Honda with 180k and it has plenty of life to it.
We buy used cars for cash and run them until we have the cash to replace them, so that would be what I would do.
September 27th, 2007 at 01:21 pm 1190895670
September 27th, 2007 at 02:14 pm 1190898863
September 27th, 2007 at 03:57 pm 1190905037
September 27th, 2007 at 04:40 pm 1190907604
And DH commutes for over 3 hrs a DAY!
ALL the people we know who make less than us (sometimes half as much) always get new cars (about every 3 years) and mainly use them for recreation (driving to work in Manhattan is just a bad, bad idea)
Our little workhorse did not give us any trouble so far besides the alternator (400$).
Everything else we have to spend on it - routine maintenance, parking tickets, repair after a crush... would have been the same for a new car (probably more for fixing it after a crush)
Not to mention that dings and scraches that are guaranteed to appear on a city car that always has to be parked on the street would drive us crazy if it was new.
October 24th, 2007 at 06:45 pm 1193247953