Posted: 8/27/2009 11:22:28 PM EDT
Recently I bought a piece of shit econobox.. 1990 Nissan Sentra 2dr. Fun to drive and pretty nimble tin can of death  Can't complain for $500... runs beautifully after a tune up. Has a new clutch and cv joints too. Anyways today I ran some numbers to see what my net savings will be, and the results fell into the wtf category... as many know I daily drove a lifted Suburban, still have it and it is still my baby.. I've put 32k on it since I got it in February 2008. So between the end of June and end of July I drove roughly 2000 miles and bought 187 gallons of gas at an average price of $2.70 a gallon and I spent $503  I'll do the math for you.. that's 10.7 mpg average. 35's and aerodynamics that resemble a brick don't help at all.My 2nd tank through this car, first one not counting, I got 25 mpg doing mostly city style driving, I'm expecting about 30 on my mostly highway 26 mile one way commute to work. I'm expecting my mileage figures to remain the same when school starts.. on days off I usually drive into the city anyways so. So 2000 miles a month at 25 mpg amounts to 80 gallons of fuel and at today's current price of $2.89 is about $230 a month in fuel. Additional insurance is going to cost $70 a month for a net savings of $200 a month.. So if this piece of shit lasts me 3 months I'll break even, and I'm figuring she's got a lot of life left in her with good compression in all cylinders, a good clutch, and a trany that shifts smoothly. Now if I can just leave this bitch alone and not put money into making it a little piece of shit rice burner tuner I'll be good to go  Why didn't I do this sooner  |
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I always new I was spending some money on gas.. but $70-$80 a fill up didn't seem "bad" till I added them all up in a month period.. I keep meticulous records of every thing I do to my vehicles, including fill ups, so I was able to get a pretty good idea as to how much I'll save, not to mention less wear and tear on my baby. I think once I run this one into the ground I'll look for a 91-95 B13 Sentra SE-R |
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I got a Geo a few weeks back for 100 bucks... I've already put about 300 dollars into it (including insurance)... but at 40 some odd MPG I don't give a shit... I'll have to put gas in it maybe sometime in late september... I mean sure it's a Geo but when you only have to put gas in it once or twice a month it's fucking gold. |
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Quoted: <snip> Why didn't I do this sooner Wow, nice analysis. But I wonder what the return on investment looks like for a Cash for Clunkers new car with $10,000 to $20,000 of it financed. Probably take a decade to 'break even'. So what makes the most sense is to BUY CLUNKERS––at least Japanese ones––not trade them in and end up with a new debt to go with your new car. |
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Why didn't I do this sooner Because you knew the suburban afforded you personal protection the car didn't? This isn't directed at you: Lots of people drive a roller skate with an eye single only to the fact that they are saving a few bucks on gas with no thought of the consequences of a teen girl texting into them at 50 mph. Much worse if she's driving mom's suburban. Those people are always quick to point out the fact that nobody has crashed into them in 25 years, yet they are unwilling to cancel their insurance. Insurance goes beyond the purchasing of a policy. There are many factors to it, not the least of which is choosing what (and how) you drive.
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Quoted: Only reason I have insurance is cause I don't want to pay the ticket for it in the event I get stopped... Quoted: Why didn't I do this sooner Because you knew the suburban afforded you personal protection the car didn't? This isn't directed at you: Lots of people drive a roller skate with an eye single only to the fact that they are saving a few bucks on gas with no thought of the consequences of a teen girl texting into them at 50 mph. Much worse if she's driving mom's suburban. Those people are always quick to point out the fact that nobody has crashed into them in 25 years, yet they are unwilling to cancel their insurance. Insurance goes beyond the purchasing of a policy. There are many factors to it, not the least of which is choosing what (and how) you drive. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Why didn't I do this sooner Because you knew the suburban afforded you personal protection the car didn't? This isn't directed at you: Lots of people drive a roller skate with an eye single only to the fact that they are saving a few bucks on gas with no thought of the consequences of a teen girl texting into them at 50 mph. Much worse if she's driving mom's suburban. Those people are always quick to point out the fact that nobody has crashed into them in 25 years, yet they are unwilling to cancel their insurance. Insurance goes beyond the purchasing of a policy. There are many factors to it, not the least of which is choosing what (and how) you drive.Only coverage I have is what's required by the nanny state.. liability. Defensive driving and not doing shit other than driving while you drive both play enormous factors in whether or not you get into an accident, even one that is caused by another driver, other than a rear ender or something along those lines.. |
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You two are missing my point, and it wasn't insurance related.
No matter how defensive you drive, when someone plows into you, through no fault of your own, do you want to be in a large vehicle or a small one? I'm merely pointing out that this thought is way down the list in many cases compared to saving gas. |
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Quoted: You two are missing my point, and it wasn't insurance related. No matter how defensive you drive, when someone plows into you, through no fault of your own, do you want to be in a large vehicle or a small one? I'm merely pointing out that this thought is way down the list in many cases compared to saving gas. It's just a risk you take.. just like the guys on motorcycles. If your a regular pedestrian you take a risk just entering an intersection.. I've seen so many people blow a red, right in front of a marked patrol car, and then have no clue why they were being stopped. |
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Those people are always quick to point out the fact that nobody has crashed into them in 25 years, yet they are unwilling to cancel their insurance. Insurance goes beyond the purchasing of a policy. Not a fair point at all. If the law allowed, I'd have no car insurance. (Savings are for things like accidents.) As it is, I have the minimum allowed by law, and guess what, liability doesn't cover my vehicle whether the accident is my fault or not. So I'm already "not covered" by insurance in your line of thinking. Is it possible I'll get injured in an accident in my subcompact? Sure, but the odds are remote. Is it more likely that I'll get in a fender bender that doesn't hurt me? Yup. It's not that people don't consider what'll happen in an accident, it's just that they practice risk management. Likely threats are multiplied by the damage suffered and the same is done with unlikely threats with more serious consequences. In the end, the really terrible threats are often rare enough that they become a minority when looking at the whole expected risk situation. Those who place undue significance on an unlikely scenario just because of how terrible things could go, aren't making rational decisions about risk. And they're the people who are perfect candidates for the insurance salesman. 
But my point isn't really about insurance: Quoted:
You two are missing my point, and it wasn't insurance related. No matter how defensive you drive, when someone plows into you, through no fault of your own, do you want to be in a large vehicle or a small one? My point is that some people make incorrect assumptions about risk just because they don't like how bad the bad can get. |
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Did the same thing in 2005. Here is my math from 2007.
Here's the reality check on my experiment. In two years I've driven 35,000 miles that would have been added on my truck's mileage. I put 14,000 miles on my truck over the same period. Figuring an average of $2.75 a gallon for gas over the past two years I saved $3200 in gas money alone ($6400/2). The difference in depreciation on my truck is $1,775 from mileage I would have put on it otherwise. Additional insurance was $720 over the past two years, and oil changes were a wash because I needed to change the oil at the same mileage rate, regardless of which vehicle I drove. In the mean time the volvo decreased in value from $5,500 to $4,400, and I spent approximately $600 on maintenance. Here's the math. Saved = $3200+$1775=$4975, within $25 of the cost of the car. Costs = $720+$1100+$5000+$600= $7470. I spent $2,495 more than I saved, less the value of the car now of $4,400, for a net savings of $1,905 if I sold my car today. I did better than I thought I would. I'm way ahead of the curve now, as that was November 2007, so I figure I am up about another $7,000 in gas savings. |
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Those people are always quick to point out the fact that nobody has crashed into them in 25 years, yet they are unwilling to cancel their insurance. Insurance goes beyond the purchasing of a policy. Not a fair point at all. If the law allowed, I'd have no car insurance. Fair enough. The flip side of the coin is all the people that don't have insurance even though the law mandates it. It's not that people don't consider what'll happen in an accident, it's just that they practice risk management.
Some people participate in risk management while others go merrily on their way with no regard for such things. How and what one drives is a part of the risk management program. I carry insurance not because the law says so, but because I'm not immune form screwing up. Just because I haven't screwed up in a long time doesn't mean I'm not going to. even though the risk is small, I'm covered. I'm not anxious to lose all my shiz because I screw up. My savings isn't large enough to come out of pocket if I drop the ball big time. |
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Quoted: Did the same thing in 2005. Here is my math from 2007. Here's the reality check on my experiment. In two years I've driven 35,000 miles that would have been added on my truck's mileage. I put 14,000 miles on my truck over the same period. Figuring an average of $2.75 a gallon for gas over the past two years I saved $3200 in gas money alone ($6400/2). The difference in depreciation on my truck is $1,775 from mileage I would have put on it otherwise. Additional insurance was $720 over the past two years, and oil changes were a wash because I needed to change the oil at the same mileage rate, regardless of which vehicle I drove. In the mean time the volvo decreased in value from $5,500 to $4,400, and I spent approximately $600 on maintenance. Here's the math. Saved = $3200+$1775=$4975, within $25 of the cost of the car. Costs = $720+$1100+$5000+$600= $7470. I spent $2,495 more than I saved, less the value of the car now of $4,400, for a net savings of $1,905 if I sold my car today. I did better than I thought I would. I'm way ahead of the curve now, as that was November 2007, so I figure I am up about another $7,000 in gas savings. That's figuring for a half way decent car.. this thing is a piece of shit that runs great but isn't really worth more than what I paid for it.. but it will never go down in value as long as it keeps running Even though I put 31k on my burb.. it too will hold it's value. One of the nice things about driving older vehicles.. and the burb is very, very solid.Here's the beater  and my driveway looks like the lcr used car lot.. except all but two vehicles run.. and you can't see those  |
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Work vehicle and Commuter vehicle. It really is that simple. what about... vehicle the wife unit will take when she hits you with the unexpected divorce? Do you have a risk management plan for that? huh huh? do you?
Dude...................Silly_Look is a master of contingency planning...................he has a shovel. |