Cheapskate

[sakon76]

My little sister moved up to the Seattle area about a year ago and is happily building her life there, having a career, buying a house, etc. In the last week she's upgraded her still very new sedan to a extremely new Jeep. Which is all well and good; it snows there sometimes, and she drives over to Spokane sometimes to visit her best friend, and it definitely snows in Spokane. So it's probably a better vehicle for her needs in that respect.

This, however, renews the bug in the ears of the rest of the family (ie, our parents and my husband) that I should have a new car. I started driving nineteen years ago and am only on my second vehicle ever (neither of which was new when I bought them). It's a 15-year-old 2-door Civic. It's dented and dinged in various places and the headliner is starting to go and currently has a mysterious oil leak that my uncle the mechanic doesn't seem to (yet) be able to fix. The headliner I know I need to replace, and plan to do so by the end of the year. The dents and dings I got priced, and repairs will be around 2K. I could maybe make a claim on our insurance for that and only have to pay the $500 deductible, but I don't like thinking about what that will do to our insurance rates. But that's merely cosmetic and I can live with cosmetic flaws. I've plenty of them myself.

The thing is, though, a new car costs $18-20K. Even a moderately used one is pretty close to that range. And we just bought expensive windows and have gaping holes in the master bathroom. (I'm also not keen on the fact that current vehicle designs mean I can't see the end of the hood.)

All of which boils down to the fact that I am politically liberal and financially conservative. And while I suspect there's something dark buried in my psychology which says you don't get to have nice things, I still don't like feeling pressured to trade up. Even if it's by family. Not for things I don't really need.

Comments

[synaltern.livejournal.com]

Sorry you're being pressured, but you have a major point there. If you don't need/want it, you don't need/want it. Stick with that.

I recently spent $6k on a 12 year old CR-V -- it'll need a few repairs over the next few months, but it's 12 years old and otherwise runs perfectly. Admittedly, better gas mileage would be awesome, but it is a lovely little compact SUV. Also, there are plenty of new, decent cars under $13k. Which is still a hefty chunk of change.

I think I'd be proud to be on only a second or third car. I'm on my fifth or sixth.

[morgie.livejournal.com]

I have a truck. It has issues. Sometimes, it has Issues. So, when I have to travel, I've decided to rent a car. Can I just say that going from a truck that I can see everything in - including the end of my hood - is a /huge/ difference from a car. I spent the entire trip trying to figure where the end of the car was, and if I was gonna run into things. Oy.

[mmouse15.livejournal.com]

We had a Toyota Corolla All-Trac that we bought used and kept for seventeen years. We sold it last year to a friend, and he's still driving it around. It's twenty years old at this point and runs just fine despite a few dents here and there.

The Civic is a fine vehicle, and if it's still running just fine, there's no need to upgrade when you don't feel the need. Just tell your family that when the time comes, you'll be reasonable and resist the pressure.

I have new vehicles for the first time in my life, and it's weird. I feel like my used vehicles did me just fine, and it's going to be interesting to see how well I do when I own the vehicle right out of the box, so to speak. Also, I truly hate having a car payment and can not wait until I don't have one (I hope it will be before this time next year, but trucks are damnably expensive vehicles).