The repairs were for new calipers, wheel cylinders, pads, wheel bearings, shocks, etc — all warranted to last at least 30k miles, and some of the parts to last 60k miles (or life). I see nothing stopping me from driving this truck for another 10 years — as long as it stays properly maintained. A big maintenance item that people neglect on cars is the transmission fluid (about a $100 job) — replace that fluid as dictated by the owners manual or you will have some severe transmission costs, upwards of $2,000.

If in the market for a used car, try to find one with under 80k miles specifically because of the transmission neglect — and immediately have it serviced to bring the maintenance up-to-date (if the previous owner didn’t provide the records).

Save the money and drive it into the ground!

I think the 10% rule is a good one – and it’s about what we used when buying our cars.. Don’t be fooled folks, there are plenty of good cheap reliable cars out there, you just need to do your research.

Also – if you save up an emergency fund – you’ll be ready if you do have a repair bill for your older car. Even with a few hefty repair bills you’ll still end up paying less than you would for a new car.

Another thing to think about. “Normal” cars put on about 20k miles/yr. Cars have an intended lifespan of about 10 years/200k miles (as indicated by the maintenance schedule). So any car with under 200k miles is still fine even if you aren’t a super-mechanic. Start your search with cars that are half way though their life (5 years, or 100k miles, right where too many people get rid of them) and I think you will find the 1/10th rule more manageable than you think.

I have a very close friend who is an automechanic, who has told me a ton of secrets.

This isn’t the 80′s folks. Cars build in the 90′s and later are much more dependable than they were.

It seems cars are always an issue with people who otherwise are very smart with their money. There’s just something about cars and the American culture that cause people to think irrationally.

And the whole 1/10th rule, it’s just a suggestion everybody, don’t take it to heart if you don’t want to. The only thing I have to say about it is that typically cars can be found for a bit cheaper than what people usually think.

I also didn’t say that an older car (with extra repairs) will cost as much as a new car. My point is that it will cost more than the “10%”.

“(New cars get maintained, too.)”

Precisely. We must always remember that ALL vehicles will have maintenance costs… not just used/older vehicles (which I’m pretty sure Four Pillars is quite aware of, just didn’t mention).

Regarding the saved $15k – absolutely. If one has that much saved for the purposes of buying a vehicle, then by all means… go buy it. BUT – If that same person has not fully funded their yearly retirement savings, has high interest debt, or has some other *fundamental* money right they should take care of first… then they should use a portion of those savings for that before spending it on a car – IMHO.

“…it’s never going to help our 22 year old impress women into glitz. Thus it is made of Win.”

LOL!

Also, to my thinking (not sure if Matt would agree or not), if you have $15K saved up for the purpose of buying a car, then it doesn’t matter what your salary is — go buy a car for $15K. But if you are doing it all through financing then you need to consider if it’s more important to have a new(er) car or to do other things that you enjoy doing that cost money (assuming you have disposable income). I’d rather go out on the weekends and drive an older car and not have debt, but I am clearly not in the majority.

I’m not saying you should buy a brand new car to save on repair bills but I think someone who doesn’t make a ton of money (ie <$50k) will quickly find out that their "10%" car could soon be their "15%" or "25%" car after a few big repair bills.

And that makes me wonder what makes the Cougar ‘unsafe’. And why you bought and drove a car for a year that you felt was unsafe. And why any lender lent money on an unsafe car, and why an insurance company covered an unsafe car.

To too many of my clients, when I worked at Consumer Credit Counseling, felt that the only way to be safe on the road was to own the biggest car on the road, or the newest car on the road. Thus I’m worried you mean that the Cougar is in good mechanical shape but you want a Big Honking SUV of some sort, just because it’s a Big Honking Vehicle or want a shiny new car because you feel that any car over a certain number of years old is defacto ‘waiting to die’.

Both of those ideas are, in my never humble view, fallacies. In fact, our ‘newer’ car, bought used and for cash, is a ’99 Ford Contour. Smaller even than your Cougar. It gets us where we are going, it is FAR from the largest car on the road, and it’s never going to help our 22 year old impress women into glitz. Thus it is made of Win.