petitefrancaise

perspectacles as someone says....

tom169

Debt.

jammiie

I presume you paid straight cash for your house then yeah?

mrken30

$1.19T of debt. That's a big number and a lot of cars.

tom169

Nope.

However, it's one of those appreciating assets.

We did buy both the cars with cash at a level of car we could/can afford.

Pulaski

Ultimately it doesn't really matter if you borrow to buy a car, or a house, or a boat. It is all to do with your overall financial picture, how much you have borrowed, whether you hold appreciating assets, what you income is, etc. Pairing off assets and liabilities is misleading and unhelpful, it will lead to disfunction all decisions.

We recently financed a car, a relatively modest one, but we decided that financing was a better deal than liquidating assets to pay cash for it. We have the income to make the payments (we also have more than enough assets to pay cash for it if we had wanted to), the interest rate is low, and our other three vehicles are not financed (two were bought for cash), under our circumstances there is nothing wrong with financing a vehicle, and I don't consider us to be part of "the problem" in America today.

tom169

Throughout the thread I've mostly attacked leases as a bad financial decision.

The bigger picture of a debt culture with people wanting more than they can afford, keeping up with the Jones using finance is what I see as (okay) one of the problems today in the USA - certainly amongst the middle class.

With car payments averaging over $500 per month I just couldn't imagine having that.

If God forbid we both lost jobs tomorrow I don't have to think about making a car payment. Sure I have a house to try keep.

I've said my opinions here and read everyone else's and I will be unsubscribing.

Jack8602

Yeah, that doesn't work in Texas.

rbackhouse

You haven't lived here long have you :-)

The potential next house market crash might be a wakeup if you are depending on this

mrken30

Generally houses do appreciate in value, it may take some time in some states

https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hous...ic/values.html

bearclaire1

Hi All,

With all your infinite wisdom on used cars, what would be the best reliable make of car I should be aiming for? And what should I realistically budget for to get one?

I have $5k cash, and looking at finance for the rest. I think it needs be be under $15k for my monthly budget. I could probably have more cash to buy something outright if I could find something that’s not going to be a money pit😵

There is only three of us the majority of the time, but need to seat 5 comfortably. Be comfortable for long distances.
As we are going to south GA, I don’t need to worry about snow.

Here in the U.K. we stay clear for high mileage cars, but over there it’s not unusual to see 100-200k of Miles.

Many thanks

Jack8602

Worms in a can = officially opened.

I can't speak for a family car, but someone who can will come along shortly -
Everyone's opinion will vary and more than likely favor what they themselves have - $15k will get you a very decent motor, make sure you haggle, i find you have to do so more here than in the UK when it comes to buying cars.

Pulaski

It depends exactly what you mean by "seat five comfortably", but if you mean for road trips carrying suitcases and children's "stuff" then for around $15,000 I'd be looking at 2012-2014 Ford Explorers with around 80,000-120,000 on the clock. I checked Autotrader.com and that is what you'll get for around $15,000 in the Savannah area, and they look very nice too, the ones with higher mileage have a lot of toys, such as a DVD player and premium entertainment system.

That Explorer (which is still a current model) is based on a Ford Taurus (saloon car) floor pan, so it is really a jacked-up estate car on oversize wheels more than it is a traditional SUV (4×4), and handles nicely compared to older SUVs built on a truck chassis. Another related vehicle you might consider is a Ford Flex, which really is a big estate car based on a Taurus floor pan, but the styling is, er, .... unusual, some might say "ugly".

You are right that vehicles rack up astronomical mileage here - I am commuting daily in a Honda Accord that we bought new in 2002, and has 337,000 miles on it. Much of it is still orginal, though we did change the engine after 296,000 miles. But the suspension (shocks and springs), gearbox, and even the exhaust system (excl the cat) and the clutch are still original. The current brake pads have 260,000 miles on them, and the current set of tyres have 97,000 miles on them.

bearclaire1

Thanks, yes for road trips. I won’t be commuting more than 40miles a day once I can get a job.

I do like the explorers, just been weary for the amount of miles. I guess I just need to make sure the big services have been done and check the obvious things?

I don’t think I could bring myself to driving a Flex. I am one of the people who thinks it ugly. Too boxy for me.

I am very impressed with those stats, good old Honda.

Pulaski

Yeah, it can be tough to think of buying a vehicle with 100k on the clock as a nice vehicle with many years of reliable service ahead of it, but that is the reality of many vehicles in the US.

Certainly check the service records, but even one that has been serviced poorly and abused is probably going to reach 200,000 miles anyway. Look after it and it will likely reach 300,000 miles.