OT-cost of buying a car and parking the truck

But when gas went up to about $2/gallon, I decided that putting most of my second vehicle miles on a small car would work out better. I found and bought an old Mazda Protege with only about 60K miles on it for $2K. It consistently gets over 30mpg and works just fine for my needs. I do have to insure it, but with only the coverage required by our state law, it doesn't add that much to our insurance bill, especially when adding the Mazda caused the pickup rate to go down somewhat.

So now the pickup just sits there most of the time, ready when I need it, but not costing me much to own. At this rate, it will probably last for the rest of my life. I do keep a trickle charger on it, so the battery does not go dead.

I keep my wife in a fairly new, low mileage car, and she seems to put about 25K miles on it every year. I want her to have something that is totally dependable and which meets our family's needs, as well as getting good mileage. Our Pontiac Vibe does that very well, and I am able to use it when we go somewhere together or plan to go long distance.

Over the years I have had good luck in buying cars that were several years old, but which had fairly low mileage. I am always looking for what I think will be a good deal.

For a long time, I thought I would upgrade my pickup to a newer diesel. But at the high price of diesel now, and the relatively low number of miles I HAVE TO put on a pickup per year, I don't think I could EVER come out on it. So I have decided to just keep my old pickup, which might get a new paint job one of these days.

As for the number crunch'n. My point about a car or small truck has always been the extra oil changes and tires you can not realy count. If you drive your ton truck on trips you could have used say an S10, the 3 times a year you change the oil in the S10, thats 3 more times you would have to change the oil in the ton. My S10 I had used 4 quarts of oil and the filter was $4, my ton takes 6 or 7 guarts and filter cost $8. Same with tires, I got tires put on cavalier and my ton truck the same week back if December. Both sets will be good for about 50,000 miles, one cost $225/set the other was a little over $800. Taxes on my cavalier cost $60/year. Drop'n the car from my farm bureau insurance would only drop my bill by $125 a year. With fuel cost today it cost $.32/ mile for the ton (3.89/12) and $.11/mile for the car (2.29/30) with the "extra" cost of taxes and insurance I can not aford to get rid of my car.

Diffrent strokes for diffrent folks. Some people will always drive a heavy 4X4 truck 50 miles a day to work and some will always have a drive way full of cars.

Dave

On the rare occasions I need somenthing real big hauled I pay my friend to use his big truck and trailer.

One more note about little 2WD cars. My daughter-in-law tried to sell her 2001 Hyundai. It had 40K miles on it - but no options. Manual steering, five-speed manual, no AC, etc. Perfect condition, California car (she recently moved here). Finally sold it for $800. Recently I sold my mother's car that had been in storage for a long time. 87 Chevy Cavalier- southern car, 2 liter engine, very low miles, and got over 30 MPG. Roll up windows and sun-faded paint. Finally let it go for little over $200.

THE MATH:
1. 20,000 miles of maintenance a year is 20,000 miles of maintenance a year whether you have 10 cars or one. Lets say $1000 a year, 5 cents a mile either vehicle.
2. It costs me 1.3 cents a mile to buy 4 $800 truck tires every 60,000 miles. It costs me .07 cents per mile to buy 4 $400 car tires every 60,000 miles.
3. I paid 18,000 for a nice used truck that will last 150,000 miles total miles. It had 40,000 on it so I will get 110,000 out of it. I will resale for 2,000 when I am done. costs 14.7 cents a mile
4. I paid 12,000 for a nice used car that will last 150,000 miles total miles. It had 40,000 on it so I will get 110,000 out of it. I will resale for 1,000 when I am done. costs 10 cents cents a mile
5. At 15 mpg truck versus 30 mpg car and 3.50 for avg. gas I spend 23 cents a mile for truck gas. I spend 11.5 cents a mile for car gas.
6. I used to spend 1,000 to license and insure one truck, 5 cents per mile. I now spend 1,500 to have a primary car and a secondary truck with one driver for both, I now pay 7.5 cents per mile.
7. I keep my car clean enough to take the wife out, and don"t worry if the truck is dirty on Saturday night, or if it has some dents and a milk crate with 5 grease guns in the back.

The only thing I would add is that 20,000 miles of maintaenance is not the same for a car and a farm type truck. My car holds half the oil and the oil filter is only half as much. To me, the only thing that is the same is the 1/2 hour of time that it takes me to do each. Money out of my pocket, the car cost half as much to change the oil every 3,000 miles.

Dave

I've had a 2000 4X4 chevy for the last 8 years and the best it ever got was 15 mpg. A few years ago we bought a 92 Camry with 103k miles for $1000. It needed a window regulator, an engine mount and hood struts when we bought it. Since then we have put about $1500 into it for maintenance and repairs, but we have put 43000 miles on it. It consistently gets 25 mpg, no matter what.

At an average of $3.00 a gallon and assuming 14.5 mpg in my truck, I saved $3736.55 in gas. Subtract the $2500 and add back in the $2000 or more that the Camry is worth and I'm still up about $3000. I haven't put tires on it either.

Now that I sold the truck and bought a Suburban, my gas mileage has went up a little. The point is, for me, since insurance and plates are cheap on the Camry, it saves me money every time I drive it instead of the truck or Suburban. Saves me about $1000 a year.

Granted the truck and Suburban depreciate, but they are necessary evils that I need to keep around for hauling kids and toys.

The other thing to consider - if you drove the truck you'll have to put tires on it too (same as changing the oil) - tires for MOST cars are lot cheaper than those that go on a truck.

24,000 miles a year at 27 MPG -vs 12 MPG. Annual fuel cost for car (at $3 per gallon) $2666 - annual fuel cost for the the pickup $6000. Fuel savings of $3,334 per year. On the maintenance side you actually save money since you're putting CHEAPER tires on the car and they'll probably last longer then they would on a pickup. Oil changes (every 3000 miles in a car or pickup) will be cheaper on a 5 quart oil pan car instead of a 6 quart (or more) oil pan pickup.

The cost of the car, tags and insurance are "true" increases in the cost of ownership but the rest are dependant upon miles - miles that would be driven in either the pickup or the car - not both at the same time. I'll use $4000 for the car, $720 a year insurance and tags of $60. Four years gas savings = $13,336. Cost of owning the car 4 years $7,120.00. Take care of the car and sell it for $1400 and you true cost is $5,720 for 4 years. You are $7616 ahead owning the car. Not to mention how much more your truck is worth if it has 100,000 LESS miles when 5 years old. On most pickups that would easily be another $5,000 in increased value. Or instead of trading your truck every 5 years you trade it every 10 years - thats $10,000 or $15,000 in additional savings.

You maintenance numbers shouldn't be used because if you're driving the car you not paying for maintenance on the vehicle that's sitting.

I do agree that you won't get much of car at $2000, but if you spent $4000 you could get a pretty decent vehicle. I just bought a 2000 Mercury Sable with 73K miles and it averages the 27 MPG that I used above. If you wanted to go cheaper with better mileage you'd be looking at Neon, a ZX2 or a Cavaler with same mileage and a little better mileage.

As you said I based maintenance on 8K, but if you use 24k you will have to triple the maintenance figures I quoted on the car. And yes tires for cars are cheaper. Tires for my truck run $100, which is why I used $75 for the car. A tire rated at 60,000 miles should get close to that regardless of whether its on a truck or a car.

Bottom line, each person will have to figure out the economics of an additional vehicle according to their circumstances and there are many variables which must be calculated. You will have to calculate how much the car will be driven and all related costs. You will have to calculate how much it costs you to drive a truck and all the costs related to driving the truck. Then reduce your cost of the truck by the percentage that the usage would be reduced by driving the car, compare to the additional costs of the car to determine savings, if any, and if those savings are worth it. It can get very complicated. If you don't have the cash for a car whether its $2,000 or $4,000, then you have to figure in the extra cost of financing. Plus, if the car is financed, the financier will probably require full coverage instead of liability only which will also increase the cost of the car. Each person will have to do it for themselves.

I agree that every person needs to figure it for themselves. But the more miles you drive the faster you hit the break even point - especially with gas at $3+ a gallon and the "heavier" pickups getting such lousy mileage compared to small and mid sized cars.

Gerald J.

I think on this though, most everyone's situation is a little different. Myself, my "truck" is a 1-ton crewcab deisel dually 4x4. Has 4.10 gears and is lucky to make 16mpg unloaded on a flat highway. Takes 6 tires when it gets new ones...most other wear items like brakes, etc. are more expensive than say a 1/2 ton too, so cost per mile is pretty high, other than the fact that it has almost 150k on it already so trade-in value's pretty much not a concern anymore.

As for a little car, in my own situation, I've put in lots of years as a professional mechanic, and I see lots of little 4-cyl cars I could pick up for less than $500 bucks and with a little work make 'em very road-worthy, even have a few like that sitting around here already.....just need time to do it! So in my case, the difference would be quite a bit more than someone who parked a 1/2ton 2wd and spent a few thousand on a little car.

Factor in property tax for those states that have it, and it swings even further.

The veiw is much nicer from up here as well

Plus, when the yahoo trying to make the hour long commute up 95 north in the 91 Escort puffs the headgasket (as he inevitably will), I'll be able to pull his junk off the road freeing up the 20 miles of backed traffic while at the same time offering a lift to his carpool buddies.

Another friend drives a 150,000 mile $500 Geo Metro 40 miles per day and gets nearly 40 mpg.He has never broken down.

I drive a $1000 Buick Regal with 160,000 miles that gets 25 mpg.I keep it in shape and wouldnt be scared to drive it from NYC to LA.

Property tax on older vehicles is near nothing here.Most of us dont drive in heavy traffic and dont have clients to haul around.

I'd much rather burn 300 gallons of gas per year driving to work than burning 600 gallons.Thats nearly a $1000 per year less.Think what would happen if everyone burnt half as much fuel.

I see way too many fuel guzzling pickups being solely used as a car.

"simplify!"

Full coverage ins on my F-350 is 3 times higher than just liability ins on my beater.

My F-350's liscense is 4 times higher than the liscense on my old beater.

It makes no sense to drive a pickup to do a cars job.If you shop around decent old cars can be found for under $2000.I'll take 26 mpg gas at $3.00 per gallon versus $4.00 diesel at 13 mpg.