Thread 28611237

I got my license 150 days ago.
I've spent 1100 euro or $1300 on car sharing apps in 142 days. This includes gas and everything else.
That makes it on average 7.7 euro a day or $9 a day.

I guess I could buy a cheap beater car and it would be more cost effective, but I dont really want to drive old cars.
With car sharing apps I always drive 1-2 year old max spec cars, which is really nice.

it's really up to you. everyone is gonna tell you BUY A CAR WHY ARE YOU RENTING ARE YOU STUPID. but as of now you're looking to spend about 2900 euros over a year on renting cars, which is like 250 a month and that's way less than a lot of people in the USA spend on their car note alone.

what matters to you? dropping the car off and walking away without any sort of worry? or would you rather have a car on hand 24/7 to use but also have to handle the added complications of insurance/registration/parking stuff, etc. a lot of people rent cars when they need them and enjoy them, while some people could only ever to think to own a car outright, and then there are a bunch of people in the middle

From a financial perspective you'll be saving money without a car almost always.
You're paying for convenience and freedom, to not depend on ride sharing apps. You can go hop in your car and do things you never thought of before because you had no reliable way of getting there.

>>28611237 (OP)
Average cost and devaluation of an average priced car is $3k at the lowest. That's driving 10k miles with an average cost of $3.50 a gallon gas, and $2k in devaluation of a basic Toyota car that doesn't lose too much value. So at the cheapest you'd lose $3k in car ownership unless you had an old beater that basically doesn't lose value because it doesn't have any. I haven't even factored in insurance and registration which are also lower with the beater.

If you have to worry about budget, you're probably better with the beater, and by that I mean a cheap older reliable car that gets good gas mileage. Car ownership is a luxury for us worker lemmings and the costs never cease, but I've already done the math sans insurance and registration which are about another $1k a year for a non-old vehicle. Shit, it's honestly seeming like car ownership is no longer the best option on a budget... we really will own nothing...

>>28611250
Let's say you can buy a "cheap" 15k used car and entirely pay it off. I'm using this as an example because it's what I did with my shitty 10 year old old Corolla and I've already done the math. Here's a breakdown of costs without a car payment:

>car loses $2k in value every year, if driven only 10k miles will taper off towards the end and be worth nearly nothing in 20 years if it manages to survive that long
>10k miles per year with an average gas cost of $3.50/gal is $1,060. Bear in mind I don't drive the national average and live in a cheap gas area.
>insurance, the cheapest shit coverage I could find was $260 for 6 months so $520 a year. This does not cover you, it covers other cars you hit, doesn't cover theft either. Full coverage for those things runs over $700 for 6 months (the insurance company will lie to you and say you're getting full coverage then put you on a basic coverage plan, you gotta log in and check your coverage online or just buy it online and understand/research each coverage you're buying).
>registrations by state but mine was around $600 per year
>with no car payment and a huge $15k chunk of my savings gone, I lost $4,180 a year. This is with the cheapest non POS car I could find (that still ended up being a falling apart POS with transmission and suspension issues), barely driving, and rhe cheapest gas and insurance I could budget.

I lose even more now because I fell for the hybrid meme without doing the math. They devalue at double to rate of a gas car so I'm losing $4k right off the bat. I've already looked it up in KBB and I've lost $8k in resale value in 2 years of ownership of a fucking 10 year old used POS. Do not think car ownership is cheap, it may not even be viable for people with minimum wage jobs anymore.

>>28611237 (OP)
How does insurance work with ride sharing apps? Do you have to carry your own policy or is it covered by the app company?

As someone who recently bought a car because i bought a house in bfe, cars are not reliable and the structure of risk for ownership makes *owning one* if it's not a personal value you have, virtually worthless. Whether or not you finance or buy outright, repairs and maintenance come out of pocket. Finance or cash, you need total coverage because of other drivers. Financing you sometimes pay less cash down, and in the future you can get dealers to pay down the difference if you upgrade (cars are not reliable remember so you will NEED to upgrade). Buying a car outright is almost never worth it for the average person. Leasing may have more expense than financing but have more covered.

You vill own nozzing and you vill be happy

>>28611648
Everything is covered, even accidents. At least so they claim.
You just download the app, enter your info, add credit card, find a car, press a button on app and drive wherever you want.

>>28611237 (OP)
I paid $20k in cash (on the dot, including sales tax and registration fees) for my car three years ago (it was a great deal tbf).
I've spent a total of $1.5k on maintenance and repairs over the past three years.
I spend about $70 per month on gas. My car only takes premium and gets sub-20 mpg (it's a sports car) so you'd probably spend less.
Even the cheapest, base model, heavily modded, 100k+ miles version of my car goes for a minimum of $20k today.

Assuming that I'd only break even if I sold my car today, that'd mean that I spent $3.75 per day on my car.
If you don't get your own car in the next month then you are a retard with high time preference who deserves his lot in life

>>28611237 (OP)
If you can get a car from the app realiably when/where you need it I think you're good OP. It's different if you're commuting every day, or have kids, or have no alternatives. If it's working for you, keep at it.

>>28611237 (OP)
There is no such thing as a "cheap" beater car. Any cheap beater will require investments to keep it running, otherwise youll eventually discover the joy of being stranded in the middle of a busy highway waiting for a tow truck. Or you may even get in accident due to shit like tie rods or ball joints breaking. If you live anywhere where it snows, the cheap beater will also be rusty as shit, and some part of the body WILL eventually snap because of rust (thats from personal experience btw) and youll be left with an undriveable car with an unrepairable body thta you wont be able to sell other than as a cheap ass parts car. So, if you need something to drive for two months and then dump it, then maybe its an option, if you want a car to keep for a few years, then it makes more sense to invest more money in a better car.

>>28611237 (OP)
>>28611760
To bring the point home even further, if you discount repo retards then the average person keeps their car for 10-12 years. Given my current spending habits on my car, I could literally blow it up at the end of those 10-12 years, get no insurance benefits, and save money compared to your current spending habits.
Even leasing would be a better option than whatever scam you're subjecting yourself to. How can one person be so stupid?

>>28611760
This is a stupid argument because different cars depreciate or appreciate differently. A Ford Taurus and a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR didn't gain value proportionately, for instance, despite being contemporaries. Sport cars tend to depreciate a lot less, it also helps that the automotive market has been all kinds of fucked for years now which can make used car prices borderline nonsensical at times, however expecting it to stay that way far into the future might be a bit of a gamble.

>>28611845
Refer to >>28611798
There are tons of very reliable cars that were made in the past decade, have under 70k miles on the odo, and were competently maintained for $10-15k on the market right now. At the rate OP's paying, he'd come out on top with a car like that even if he got a shitty interest rate and drove it into a ditch in a few years

>>28611770
If you wrench it’s cheap af. It’s rare for me to spend more than a few hundred bucks in a year on parts and tools. I think the only exception was when my A/C went out and that was only $700 including paying a shop to drain and refill it.

>>28611886
Idk man back when I owned an utter shitbox I ended up spending on it more than I bought it for just in parts and consumables, and like 90 percent of the stuff I bought was absolutely neccessary to make it somewhat safe and reliable. It never left me stranded or broke down in any serious way, but I ended up losing all that money when the rear subframe said goodbye due to rust

>>28611932
Were you getting most of your parts from vatozone after covid? I rarely get anything from brick and mortar stores. Rockauto or parts geek 95% of the time.

>>28612916
Im not american, but I was shopping for parts online and did my best to find the best deals and bought good used parts whenever it made sense.