> There's an incredible amount of value in simply not worrying if your car will run when you need it to.
True, being able to know for sure you can get to work (or wherever important) is a huge peace of mind. And more than peace of mind, can be critical to remaining employed, etc.
A new car does not guarantee you that. I've had partners who are way more into new cars than me and those new cars have failed to be usable in various ways.
A brand new EV was in the shop for 3 weeks. Oops, can't go to work.
A near-new car had an ECU lock up so no way to start it. Call a tow truck to the dealer ($$$) and took a week ($$$$).
A near new EV had an EV-specific problem: it refused to charge. Car ran fine, but couldn't charge so only so many miles left. Drive to dealer, took a few days. At least warranty covered it.
> In many cases it might be better for someone to go deeper into debt on the car if it means they will be able to focus and perform better at work.
Going into debt for a car (a fast depreciating asset) is always a terrible idea. If you're super rich and can afford it, fine, have fun. But for anyone counting money, it's the second worst financial decision you can ever make (second only to carrying credit card debt).
Back to having reliable transportation, which is super important for most people.
Solution? Buy two used cars for way less than half of a new car which can still fail.
I only buy cheap used cars, but always have more than one available. Occasionally one needs maintenance and is out of commission for a few days. That's fine, I have another one (actually a few more, but even one more would do). All my cars put together cost no more than an average new car today. And insurance is way cheaper since they're all old beaters.
It's like servers. You can spend gazillion on the highest end server but it can still fail resulting in downtime. Or you buy a few cheap servers for redundancy and accept that failure is ok and redundancy is in place.
Oh, I read that quote the opposite way (wrongly, I think now) –
> > There's an incredible amount of value in simply not worrying if your car will run when you need it to.
> True, being able to know for sure you can get to work (or wherever important) is a huge peace of mind.
If you don't worry about it not because you trust it, but because you just think you'll take it as it comes and don't particularly care if it doesn't start one day, there's also a lot of value in that you could save a lot on used prices and servicing!
While I have always tried to live my life by your assumed philosophy, I think they were simply saying that since (on average) a more expensive vehicle often means a more mechanically sound vehicle less likely to break down. It’s not just the peace in being less likely to have to deal with that situation, it is the stress when it occurs. If you have to buy a $1000 car, you aren’t likely to have savings sitting around available to you to fix your vehicle when something needs replacement every month or two. Knowing that entire situation is constantly looming is just another slice of the high background stress pie. Newer (more expensive) vehicles will tend to have more wear left on operational parts, so they tend to have less mechanical breakdowns and less parts that need be replaced. Many are the breakdowns that “could” happen with any vehicle, but a lot more are just parts wearing out from age; brakes here, CVs there, gas pump one day, a battery another. They all add up quickly, especially for someone who can’t fix their own car (a single mother of two just trying to get to her jobs, for example), especially when it not only costs you money, you may not even get paid because you couldn’t make it to work and had to call out (and if you’re lucky, don’t get fired because it has happened too much). That entire situation isn’t stress that you can just casually ignore — or at least, that was my experience while being poor.
Two of the three warranty covered it. I don't remember why the ECU repair was not fully covered by warranty (that was over 25 years ago) but I do remember the sting of paying for it since we were younger and poorer at the time.
I've never had a dealer provide any loaner car. The best I've seen is they give a coupon for $xx off a rental from the car rental place next door.
That's strange. Even when I had a Hyundai, I would get a loaner/rental from the dealer and it was not some exceptional dealer as I moved across the country with that vehicle so I dealt with two different dealers (and the second one has not even sold me a car).
Not even close. For example insurance on my early 90s Mazda is $192. Insurance on my partner's three year old VW is almost $900. I could have a fleet of four older Mazdas and still be cheaper to insure.
I assume the difference here is that the newish VW is all-risk covered (theft, damage to own car, etc) while the Mazda is covered for liability only and that it would be possible to insure the newer car for liability only for about the same amount as you pay for the Mazda.
Technically it has comprehensive as well although it's a moot point. My deductible is $1000 and they'll just say the car is worth less than that, so they'll never pay anything.
I guess I should reduce it to liability only but it'll probably save me like $2, so haven't bothered.
I used to use the two car method. I was single and carefree, so I had a Corvette and a hot rod El Camino. Perfect for a young shade tree mechanic.
Then I was taking a long trip in the El Camino and overheated, cracking the heads. While the machine shop work was underway, one of the half-shafts driving the Corvette broke loose, severely beating the underside of the car.
It was bitterly cold January, and I was left going to work on a bicycle.
I sold both classics and bought a new Saturn. Much less style, but much more reliability.
True, being able to know for sure you can get to work (or wherever important) is a huge peace of mind. And more than peace of mind, can be critical to remaining employed, etc.
A new car does not guarantee you that. I've had partners who are way more into new cars than me and those new cars have failed to be usable in various ways.
A brand new EV was in the shop for 3 weeks. Oops, can't go to work.
A near-new car had an ECU lock up so no way to start it. Call a tow truck to the dealer ($$$) and took a week ($$$$).
A near new EV had an EV-specific problem: it refused to charge. Car ran fine, but couldn't charge so only so many miles left. Drive to dealer, took a few days. At least warranty covered it.
> In many cases it might be better for someone to go deeper into debt on the car if it means they will be able to focus and perform better at work.
Going into debt for a car (a fast depreciating asset) is always a terrible idea. If you're super rich and can afford it, fine, have fun. But for anyone counting money, it's the second worst financial decision you can ever make (second only to carrying credit card debt).
Back to having reliable transportation, which is super important for most people.
Solution? Buy two used cars for way less than half of a new car which can still fail.
I only buy cheap used cars, but always have more than one available. Occasionally one needs maintenance and is out of commission for a few days. That's fine, I have another one (actually a few more, but even one more would do). All my cars put together cost no more than an average new car today. And insurance is way cheaper since they're all old beaters.
It's like servers. You can spend gazillion on the highest end server but it can still fail resulting in downtime. Or you buy a few cheap servers for redundancy and accept that failure is ok and redundancy is in place.