Right now I’m driving a 2005 Mercedes Benz C230. I got it as a birthday present from my husband 2.5 years ago. I love it! And I want to keep it forever…. but there’s two things that bug me about it.
- I want to sell it and buy something cheaper. Entering the depreciation in our books each year makes me cringe! While I know that it has already taken the biggest loss per year in the first two years, I still think we could do better.
- Fitting two kids in carseats in the backseat is one thing. Leaving any room for the adults in the front seat is another. To fit the kiddos, the front passenger seat is almost all the way forward. Good thing I’m short.
Everybody Loves Your Money wrote an article about Money In The Bank – Cheap Cars In The Garage. He sold his 2006 car and bought a 2000 to generate some extra money.
I actually planned to do the same a few weeks ago. I don’t like the drain that cars put on our net worth as depreciating assets. I would much rather have cheaper cars and put the money into investments, however, neither one of us is good at fixing cars. Reliability is an important feature for us.
So I passed my wants on to my husband (he is the car department at our house). I want a new-to-me car with the following features: cheaper than my current car, super safe, low mileage, big enough for an expanding family, gets good gas mileage, looks “cute,” and is not a minivan.
Result: Nothing.
Trying again to meet as many categories as possible landed us in a Chrysler Pacifica. The areas that slid were the gas mileage and the price tag. So much for saving a bundle.
I determined that my car is worth $22,000 (with snow tires thrown in). I figure if I can sell it and buy a Pacifica for $20,000 I’ll be happy, I wanted to go a bit cheaper, but I’m just not willing to give on some of the other things.
The only problem…. it’s going to snow soon here. No one wants a sporty car going into winter. So I guess I’ll wait it out until spring when I can sell it. I’m not sure how the math will work out in six months, though.
So I guess my car isn’t for sale…..