Whether I am living beyond my means or not isn't the issue. If it is lower and I need to, buy a car, note, I said "need" not "want" and I am buying a car within reason, where is the issue?

Ya think?

That is the "Rumpelstiltskin Solution". I name the demon and it goes away into the night. Don't misunderstand me. Education is important. It also comes in many ways. In class, we have physics to show us what happens when a larger object hits a smaller object. In life, we have a simpler example of what happens when you decide to pick a fight with Mike Tyson. When I see your bloody body and a missing ear, I say to myself "This man choose poorly". I learn from your stupidity. Maybe, you will learn from it or not but someone will. Those that won't, become object lessons for those that will especially when they are killed for bad decisions. What does this all mean? CONSEQUENCE. No consequence, no lesson. When you spare the rod, you will spoil the child. When you allow someone to simply declare bankruptcy and walk away, you ALSO tell the NEXT guy "Here is your get out of jail free card.". OTOH, when you make the SOB suffer for his decision, he becomes an example of "What NOT to be". Will it work in every case? Of course not. Those that it doesn't work on becomes examples.

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01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

My sister's 190e has low compression on 3 of the 4 cylinders and is leaking things all over the engine, and barely runs. She's dumping it tomorrow for a brand new 2012 Jetta. Sigh. Pretty nice car though. I will be acquiring the car and looking into a diesel conversion.... The disease continues! 4 cars now... Anyone have an OM601 + manual trans available?

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

Glad to hear that Cash for Clunkers didn't do too much damage

One day when I was working at the junkyard I checked the ages of a sample of cars and found the average age was 24 years. Most of those could have been kept on the road if the owners had been willing to spend a little more on maintenance. In my last civilian wrenching job I commonly encountered 30 to 40 year old cars, frequently in excellent condition. You can keep a car a very long time as long as you maintain it.

My cars average 35 years old. My fleet averages 25 if you factor in the bike. However, the '71 has major issues and will probably be going away in the next few months.

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Whoever said there's nothing more expensive than a cheap Mercedes never had a cheap Jaguar.

83 300D Turbo with manual conversion, early W126 vented front rotors and H4 headlights 400,xxx miles
08 Suzuki GSX-R600 M4 Slip-on 22,xxx miles
88 Jaguar XJS V12 94,xxx miles. Work in progress.

That is if you don't live in the rust belt. Actually, if you don't live around the Great Lakes.
My newest car is '00. Then there is the '98 Cherokee, actually two. '88 Comanche. '81 MB 240d. '75 Bricklin. '74, '73, '72, '69 Saab Sonetts. I am not sure how many of the Sonetts will live. The '73 is probably a gonner. It lived up in WI. The frame broke in half. The '69 is actually in the best shape.
I do think Cash for Clunkers did a lot of damage. From what I have heard, there were a lot of nice vehicles, that got scrapped. Also, some bad one too. It made used cars more expensive. Especially, Jeep Cherokees.
I do think from the early 80's the rust prevention on cars improved greatly.
Tom

You paid off your cars, you didn't use the equity to purchase new cars.

With the instability in the country, there's no way in hell I'd use my home to buy a car. But, my home is paid for. I wouldn't risk anything that would cause me to lose my abode.

My wife wants to take an equity loan on the house so we can do some improvements. When I explained how easy it is to go from employed to no job at all, she quickly saw the light. I'll continue to work and save for the projects. I'd rather have a house that isn't picture perfect than to lose a house that looks like it should be on a magazine cover.

I have a friend that bought new cars constantly...he was always trading them in for the next model, and was always upside down in his payments. His wife talked him into getting a second on the house to get out from under the payments. He then traded his truck in on another, and promptly lost his job. They took the cars, and foreclosed on his house because he couldn't keep up with the payments.

I'd rather be without a car and take public transport than to be without a home and live on the streets. When you start messing with the equity in your home, you start putting your home at risk.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

My average is 25.14 years old for seven cars/truck. Newest is the 2000 Excursion. Strange thing: people are not really repairing their cars as much anymore. Friend's dad owns a salvage yard. They are going out of business. Just nobody buying parts any more. I am hearing that all over the place. Wierd.

I agree. This would NOT be a smart thing to do.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

Aklim,

You are an OBVIOUSLY smart fellow. I think this gets down to almost a financial philosophy type issue.

Personally I would never DREAM of financing a car that almost always depreciates by putting a home which often can appreciate in hock.

I wouldn't do it, because my goal is to get debt free, and paying off my mortgage as soon as possible was my goal in my younger years.

I apologize for agreeing that it is a dumb thing to do. It just doesn't at all fit the way I choose to manage my money. Being out of debt is a wonderful thing.

For those who don't mind being in debt, managing for the lowest interest rate for your purchases does have merit.

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2001 SLK 320 six speed manual
2014 Porsche Cayenne six speed manual

Annoy a Liberal, Read the Constitution

^x2

Usury is not a part of my beliefs.

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Jim

If you have a paid-off home and want to borrow against the equity at a low rate to finance things that may be more expensive to finance by themselves (used cars, student loans), why not? Borrowing > 75% of the value of the home isn't a good idea. But taking cash out of the home isn't a bad idea BY ITSELF! Debt isn't good or bad. Debt is a tool that's often abused.

When you can take a few months and save for the purchase versus taking on debt, it's even better.

I've been eyeball deep in debt in the past, and vow to never get that way again. as long as I can save for something, I will.

It's called living within your means. The whole "keeping up with the Jones'" mentality is part of what has screwed up our economy. I see people dropping perfectly good cell phones for the latest and greatest, when the old one was perfectly fine and worked quite well. I've seen people do the same with cars...it happens all the time, and they wind p getting deeper in debt for it.

Hey, if you can afford to throw good money away like that, then go for it...just don't go into debt for it.

When someone defaults on a loan, it drives up the cost for the same product in the future...companies need to recoup their legal fees somehow.

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1987 560SL
85,000 miles

Hell no. Not going to do that unless it is on YOUR credit card. In which case, if there is grass on the field, play ball.

Not at this time, no.

In that case, it depends. Is the improvement necessary? If the roof is leaking and about to collapse, yes. To put a new deck, no.

I'm shocked that it happened to them. Shocked, I tell you. Even in the boom economy, it will catch up to you sooner or later and you can't simply print money like the govt does. They don't work for the govt, do they?

Me neither unless that car is the difference between keeping the job or losing it.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

Tell that to the wife. She sometimes looks at me like I am talking greek.

That is why I don't want to buy a new car. I want a V12 Biturbo but I'm not biting. I buy a car that came off lease that has good treatment and been used for a bit. I'm the kinda guy that would let you take the major depreciation and not even have the goddamned common courtesy to give you a reach around. Paraphrased from Full Metal Jacket

Yes it is but I was saying that when it is not possible, it might be better than simply getting a car loan and not being able to deduct the interest and have a lower interest. Just like a Payday Loan. Better not take it but if you must, pay it off ASAP. Morons just pay the interest and that puts you 1 interest payment from a default.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

It is part of my belief when I am holding your debt. Not so when you are holding my debt so the answer is "It depends". Do you wanna pitch or catch? Well, if I had to choose with a gun to my head, I'd rather be pitching than catching.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow