How Much Should You Spend on a Car?

How Much Should You Spend on a Car?

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[JohnDoe_]

Please do a show about men after divorce. the biggest risk to a Man’s retirement is divorce. Midlife divorce destroys a man’s plan to retire. All the probabilities boil down to the 50% chance you will lose everything.

[jeffsmith]

My Shelby gt350 was the best $60K I ever spent. Smiles per gallon.

[stevenspencer]

Prices are crazy right now. I'm looking to finally get rid of my 25 year old Honda Accord. A 5 year old used Accord is 30 grand. 5 year old trucks are running 25-60k. Following 20-3-8, someone making median US income around 65k, can afford a car with a sticker price around 16k. Most of the US should be looking for 10 year old beaters at that price. A 5 year old vehicle of a reputable brand is a luxury now, not to speak of actual luxury brands.

[fuzzy]

an F150 could approach $90k these days. They're replacing the BMW's and Mercedes's, since few people are buying cars. I bought an F150 Lariat 4x4 for $50k in 2018. That same model sells for about $70k today.

[samanthab]

…this was about why you shouldn’t buy a super expensive car and didn’t actually address the question in the title. Annoying.

[jeremykeller]

In the United States the idea of living without a car is unthinkable. Americans are trapped in this assumption. If you could choose a place to live with decent public transportation and rent a car for weekend trips, your retirement account could easily become the envy of most Americans.

[jimmyhemi]

Weddings should be talked about as well. My wife and I were married at our church after service with grandparents and close family there for free (took about an hour of planning). Furnished our entire house for $50 per item (still have the majority of the appliances and furniture). Kids don't care if the couch or the refrigerator door they just slammed was expensive or not 😂. I know lots of couples still paying for weddings and house furnishings.

[agrego]

Wife and I have a net worth of approx $1.6m (ages 38 & 35); I just gave up my 15-year old Honda Accord for a $50k pre-owned BMW. It made me nervous but I wanted to upgrade a bit and love it! You have to live a little if you're a decent accumulator of wealth.

[me]

No car for me. It's bicycle, bus, or train for me.

[getinthespace]

My philosophy is don't buy expensive things that depreciate quickly. It is essential lighting money on fire.
I want to buy a 4WD crew cab truck, buying a new one starts at basically $50-60k.
I have found 2-3 year old used trucks with 30k miles on them for a 40% discount from New.
Problem is most manufacturers are having all sorts of reliability issues with engines and transmissions... so I'm holding off.

[taloweryus]

My personal philosophy is that a car is a tool that gets you from point A to point B. It should do that safely, relatively inexpensively (including maintenance), reliably, and ethically (if that's important to you). A car should never be something that defines you or tries to tell others who you are. Would you pay extra for a diamond studded, gold plated screw driver?

[terrencetroope]

I got a 6 year old/30k mile corvette at 26 years old. Paid $27, 000 out the door. Just need to look for a good deal, save and put down a big down payment

[grega]

If its a toy, pay cash. If you NEED it, you buy the MINIMUM vehicle that will get you by on a 3 year note or less and run it until the wheels fall off. If your NW is say 100K with a mortgage, you cant afford a 5-7 year payment (which is insane) and there is NO NEED to have one.

[IrisP]

We are a single income household with two small kids.
We purchased our 2021 Tesla model Y for $60K.
Our interest rate is 2.49% and the payment is $520 a month.
It was definitely worth it. We plan on keeping the car for at least 10 years, if possible

[spencerl-yfbg]

If you are going to buy anything better than a lightly used budget car, then you should spend no more than 1% of your net worth on it. And only buy with a low interest loan (under ~4%) or cash.