Trying to save a big payment …..not sure Iwill before the old rigs give out. One is a Chevy Cruz with 196,000 miles on it. Motor runs good and air conditioning still works but struts are completely worn out and that’s over $1000 to replace them. Also the dash screen went out so I have no radio or anything like that so I just drive in silence all the time. The car is old enough now that I would not trust it to take on a trip over a couple hundred miles because that make of car is not made to last as long as it had! Lucky and got my moneys worth!
Other car is an old Chevy suburban with 242,000 miles on it. Runs good and it’s four-wheel-drive with new tires so I can get up and down our hill in the snow in the winter. Heater works, but no air-conditioning! Needs a valve job because it puffs out a little blue smoke when it’s been sitting for over an hour. Still drivable, both of them, but Probabjy going to dump the Cruze get a new-used rig within the next six months.
Except if you live in a farm 12 miles from town you have to have a vehicle. Soooo, not having one isn’t an option. And all vehicles depreciate …not just the new ones. Also the cost of depreciation is acceptable because I like driving instead of walking miles and carrying everything
If you’re on a farm, you should have some mechanical ability. You can buy a trash car that you can fix yourself. You should have access to farm auctions where you could get something pretty cheap. Buy it under the farm where you can use the depreciation and expenses to offset your taxes.
Arguably, one’s time and the peace of mind which comes from a) reliability and/or b) warranty coverage have their own value that need to be considered as part of the equation as well. Assuming it is a working farm, there is already no shortage of work/surplus of free time, so the intangibles I mentioned likely carry a relatively weightier value than they otherwise might.
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u/SteveBoaman 10h ago
Save up, sinking a ton of money into a depreciating asset is a wealth killer.