Alrighty, well I had a pretty great weekend with some great friends, family and perhaps drink of wine or two.. some card games, board games, and wine games were had. I’m also VERY pumped that I finally sold my winter car I’ve used the last two years as well, it’s been for sale since the beginning of the summer so to have it gone is a big relief, even if I didn’t get as much out of it as I thought it was worth – isn’t that always the way?
Hello Vibe!
As I was just calling to have insurance taken off of it, I started wondering about how much the car that I currently have is costing me on average per month, here’s what I’ve calculated.
Lease Payment – $375.00 (taxes in)
Insurance Payment – $85
Gas – $80 (roughly 2 fillups at $40 each one)
Oil Changes ($30 x 2) = $60 divided by 12 = $5 a month
Undercoating – $100 divided by 12 = $8 a month
So all in all that totals over $550 a month and that’s just what I can think of right now! That’s $6600 a year in case you wanted to know.
But before I decide to trade in my car and g
I do miss the Cobalt
et a used one, it’s interesting to note that to drive a used car sometime can cost quite a bit more depending on how lucky you get with the condition of it.
Car total cost = $12000
Years driven = 4 years?
Monthly Cost = $250
Interest Cost On Loan = 5% = $600 a year or $50 a month
Insurance = $50 (probably)
Gas = $80 (just a guess, but I’ll keep it the same)
Oil Changes = $5 a month
Parts/Problem = $500 a year (average) = $42 a month
Of course that last one is a very rough estimate as there are likely years that there are no problems, and then of course there are years that the damn thing never leaves the shop. That all totalled is equal to over $477 a month and this is for a $12000 car!?!
I don’t know, I’d really like to continue this discussion on the pros and cons.. I guess certainly a pro on the used car is that after 4 years you have no more car payment as opposed to myself whom will be faced with a $5000 option to buy it (or give it back and start over).
The pros’ on the newer car are pretty obvious as well with warranty being right up at the top, but other ones would be having something you really enjoy driving, better technologies in the car, better safety, etc.
What do you think? Any thoughts of comments are certainly welcome.
As a side note – I nearly got in 3 accidents today driving home for lunch as I watched as a person near changed lanes on Kent St. right into me (I was driving next to them), I watched the classic stop sign move of someone “following” the car in front of them right through the stop sign not realizing I suppose it’s supposed to be “one at a time”, and then my personal favorite was the person checking out their GPS system (on a one way street with a PEI license plate.. go figure), and turning right from the far right lane in front of me right next to Holland College.. I mean seriously.. wtf?? I won’t go into my “GPS on PEI” speech right now, cuz I do appreciate the devices and when travelling I find their usefulness infinite.. but for someone who doesn’t even drive off the Island? Ok nevermind..
**UPDATED INFORMATION**
I actually almost forgot another reason for posting this article.. it’s cuz I wanted to do the simple calculation of how much on a daily basis my ‘ride’ to work is costing me:
Now, on a tank, I can get.. say average of 450 kms.. and I fill up twice a month on average as well.. that equals 900 km’s a month. Since my monthly cost is $550 – that means that I’m paying over $1.63 every damn kilometer!
Judging by google maps, my commute to work is 4.8 kms.. and I do go home every day for lunch.. so in total, I drive 19.2 kms every day to work.. that means that for me to drive to work everyday in my car, it’s costing me $31.30!!!
Suddenly the price of $2 a way for the bus is lookin mighty fine eh? Of course.. to save that money I’d have to get rid of my car intirely which isn’t going to happen.. but wow.. that’s really nuts when you look at it that way.