So in my younger days I always wanted the new fancy truck or car, but as I get older, it just doesn't matter anymore. Plus, I can spend more on old rifles!

My new whip:

[img]https://goo.gl/photos/HpJvnowdR2XU4k5Q7[/img[/img]

1990 F250 4x4. 7.3 diesel with 155,0000 kms (96,000 miles). Paid about $3400 in US funds. My daily drive to work is an 2001 Benz E430 with about the same mileage. Into both for about $10,000.

Hav'n a hoot driving this old girl......turns all the old timer's heads as I loudly go by.

Cheers,

R

That's a nice looking truck. I'm a big fan of having no vehicle payments as well.

Yes, when young, cars were our identity. Kids would spend their meager paychecks hopping up their Roadrunners, Corvettes, Barracudas, Chevelles, etc. Now that I'm over 60 and could afford nice cars, I couldn't care less. I usually buy out my kid's trade-ins so they don't get burned, and then drive them into the ground for the next 10 years.

I'm the same. I could care less about a new pickup. I'm driving a 97 Ford F150. I use the money on hunting trips. I use my old 30/06 for them.

My younger brother buys "paycheck" cars, he works construction and does a lot of highway miles. When he needs a replacement car he looks until he finds a reliable car that is no more than a 2 week paycheck. He normally gets 2 or 3 years out of them until one of the kids hits a deer.

All 4 of my vehicles are owned by me, youngest one is a 2004. I cant imagine buying a new one now, new pickups going for 4 times the cost of our first house.

Those were good Fords.

That old 7.3 was probably Ford's best diesel...

DF

I have a 99 F250 & a 98 Tahoe. Both have over 300,000 miles and purr like a kitty.

What I don't have....is a car payment.

I had a new truck about every 5 years, but when you having to drive across country with your important shiet, it pays.

Now we have a 2012 truck and a 2014 car and no car payments. We've put 6,000 miles on the car in about 2 1/2 years and I'm doing about 7,000 a year on the truck.

I should be good for another 10 years.

Both of our vehicles are paid off and have less than 50,000 miles on them. Both are 2011 models. One is a Toyota, the other is an Acura. Both clean up to look like new.

I'm currently waiting for an old Toyota or Honda van to turn up for sale. I'm going to yank the back seats out of it, throw in a mattress and use it to escape to the local camp grounds on occasion.

My dream vehicles have become meager offerings. Right now it's an early 2000's Honda Odyssey for under $3500 with less than 200,000K that doesn't look like it's been hit by a train.

I have been over 10 years without a car payment and at 308k miles my 04 truck is till a good runner. Wife's 01 Mustang GT conv. Looks and runs like new but after 16 years and 160k she is worried it will leave her stranded.

In my search I located a sweet 2013 Mustang GT convertible with only 12200 miles, owner is at 26k a little over blue book BUT it's perfect and was an originally sticker of over 45k. That's more that the cost of our first new home but should last her a decade or two...

I have s 89 jeep and a 2004 Dodge 3/4 truck. All paid for. Wifey has a new caddie, but she likes a new one. She pays for her own cshit.

Been fortunate enough to pay for all vehicles in the last 25 years ( even the new ones..) before I drove them off the lot. Comes from a conservative " if you can't pay cash for it, you can't afford it" upbringing..By keeping a clean and careful driving record and paying for liability only insurance, I literally saved enough to pay cash over the years for two new vehicles....
Vehicle payments and their accompanying full coverage insurance are just another form of legalized scam...

And oh yes, Ive driven some older used vehicles for a loooong time, and driven some new ones till I eeked out every last bit of value in them, amortizing them to a standstill!

Those 7.3 were great motors. I had a 97 that I put 300+K on before selling it. At that point it needed a new trans and brakes all round, which would have cost more than it was worth.

No vehicle payments is a very good thing. We have two sitting in the garage currently. 2006 Chev Trailblazer with ~96 K on the odometer and a 2000 Chev S10 ext cab pickup with ~76 K miles. Both are 4x4 and in pretty good shape. Both have been paid for for nearly 10 years. Between the two, we now put on about 3 K miles per year total - my bride is retired and I work from home and as we get older, staying home is a very desireable option . . .

Good looking older F250, BTW - enjoy!!!

Car payments are far from sinful, especially when you can get 0% interest.

And, in some cases leasing can be an attractive option.

If you don't drive a zillion miles it makes sense.

Sales tax, often nearly 10%, is tacked on the front end of a purchase, then the total is financed. With leasing, the tax is on each payment, paid forward, not up front.

And, in 3 yrs. no tire/battery purchase, some ddealers even offer free service for 2 yrs. or so; you always have a nice vehicle ready for any trip.

DF

leasing has never made sense in my mind. Pay for the vehicle and drive it until it won't go any longer which usually means many years without a car payment, where as leasing is a car payment forever.

Can see leasing as a write off, but I'd much rather be debt free and one can depreciate it if business related.

Leasing is often a bad idea, sometimes it makes sense. My wife leases her large SUV but we deduct virtually all of the cost of the lease in connection with her home based business. Plus, we used the money we had saved up for what we originally planned as an SUV purchase (plus trade in for her old car) to help pay our mortgage off this month. The free service (oil changes, washes, etc.) help soften the blow a bit. Not sure we'll do it again when her lease is up but it made sense for us at the time.

Yeah, I didn't mention the business write off which sweatens a lease deal.

Otherwise, I agree. Buy one, maybe a good used one, and drive it as long as it'll drive...

DF

I can agree with you there....never said it was a sin. If I could afford the payments and drive it long enough where depreciation and maintenance etc. were manageable to me, I'd have no problem doing that.

For those of you who don't know, this is a pretty cool site about everything car/truck/motorcycle etc:

Jalopnik

Cheers,

R

I've never needed a fancy car or truck, I've always seen them as tools that get me to and from places that I need to be. They need to be reliable, comfortable and economical that is about it.

Yep. I drive an old 73 Ford.

Ed, I hate to see you driving that old jalopy. I'll trade you my 2013 sedan (work car) for it straight across.

Leasing a car is a great idea

That way I can buy the returned car with low miles at a deep discount

When my mother quit driving 10 years ago, I bought her Pontiac Montana. A minivan isn't stylish but it's very handy and it runs great. It has about 160k on it now. I was able to pay cash for a 4 year old Dodge 2500 diesel about 4 years ago. It had 60k on it but that's nothing for a diesel. It just turned over 100k and unless I screw it up, it should be good for many years yet.
I haven't made a car payment in close to 20 years.

Technically, 0% interest wouldn't be usury by even the narrowest of definitions. When you're right, you're right.

Sweet old Truck RVB.

Nothing wrong with buying new and making payments if you're smart about it. I could have paid cash for the last 3 vehicles I bought, but it would have cost me more money from lost interest income than I paid the bank in interest over the life of the loan. I have investments paying 7-8% interest and got car loans under 2%. I'd be a fool to pull that money out to pay for a car.

Two out of the last 3 purchases resulted in LOWER insurance rates even though the vehicles were either new or newer. Also, 2 of the last 3 vehicles I purchased saved enough in fuel costs to pay for 1/2 the cost of the vehicle in less than 200,000 miles.

An old truck that gets 15-17mpg will burn $25,000-$30,000 in fuel to drive 200,000 miles at todays prices.

I buy a new 4Runner every 95k miles. No breakdowns, no problems, life is good.


mike r

I've got a 2001 E430 as my commuter, great car but God help you if you need repairs.

If I could find a reasonably priced used 3/4 ton diesel I'd gladly get a used one, but anything under $10,000 has issues and a clean 10 y/o truck with over 100,000 miles is pushing $20k.

I actually prefer hopping into my '99 F150 that resides in Idaho over my 2014 Tundra here. It has just over 100k and has been issue free.

Stole it!


A 3-4 year old diesel in nice shape with similar miles would be close to 10x what you paid.


And the turbo could go out tomorrow and I bet it would be over $3400 to replace.....


And the tires on your pickup look good, hell that's a grand right there.




We just paid off my wife's Explorer(18k miles, plan on keeping it for awhile...).
Only payment we have left is our mortgage. Couple years that's gone and we can try to buy something else(real estate).

Payments on things that depreciate suck. Payments on other things pay off.

I have not had a car payment since I was 19. I have driven a lot of junk! I never paid more than $3800 for a car until age 45 when I purchased my Chevy Equinox.

Current fleet:
2001 Yamaha Zuma 50 scooter - lots of fun! Keeps miles off of the daily driver.
2008 Chevy Equinox - Paid $18,500 cash for it in 2010. Daily driver.
1988 Chevy Silverado - For when I need a truck. Gets driven about 3,000 mile per year.