Trains, planes and automobiles. A fabulous movie, if you like John Candy and Steve Martin and I do. But for Poor Farm blog purposes we'll just be talking about automobiles.
Our budget for 2017 in this area was $400/month or $4800/yr. Actual spent was $535.33 per month average for a total of $6432.91/year. Over budget by $135.33 per month.
What happened? Old vehicles happened. Keith's truck, an F-150 2002 Ford has 228,000 miles on it. My little 2000 Dodge Neon has 229,000 miles. As stated on Auto Blog , American cars are aging almost as fast as we baby boomers are. The average age of a car on the road is now 11.5 years. In 2009, this number was lower, at 9.4 years.
Our vehicles are 16 and 18 years old, as elderly as our oldest grandchild. This past year they both required some repairs. Of the total $6432.91, $2028.96 was spent on repairs alone such as new brakes and radiator for my car, new wheel bearings, manifold, spark plugs and other engine issues on the truck. This equates to $84.54 per vehicle per month for repairs.
Thus the remaining $4403.95 was gas, license and registration expenses** for both vehicles or about $183 per month per vehicle. Since it costs so much more for Keith to fill his truck, about $50, vs my car at around $25 and because the mileage is not so great on the truck, Keith does drive the car to work ( 24 miles round trip) whenever weather allows. My little car does not do so well in snow drifts.
Even with our expenses being over budget, when compared to the cost of newer vehicles, we feel we're doing ok nursing along the two geriatric modes of transportation. In the US today the average car payment is $503 a month, the average car loan is 68 months and the average auto loan is $30,000. When compared to our repair costs of $84/month/vehicle, it appears having a new or newer vehicle is not yet validated.
But, we are realists, and we understand more repairs are likely, so here is our plan for 2018. We've increased our auto monthly budget to $550/month which includes all fuel, registrations and repairs. In addition we are planning for life with just one vehicle. If the truck breaks down to the point that it makes more sense to purchase a newer used one, we'll purchase one and we'll hang on to the car until it does the same. But, if the car crashes first, we'll get by with just one vehicle, the truck.
A truck is truly essential here, for transporting hay and grain, for hauling home barn building materials, and for taking animals to the locker for butchering.
How about you? Car or truck? New or old? Tips on how we can save even more in this area?
** Car insurance is not covered in these numbers as we budget and account for it along with home, and life insurance. This is a separate category for our budgeting purposes. I'll blog about it soon in this series.
Oh yes.... automobiles!! A sore subject with me. I'd have a horse and buggy if I could get away with it. Cars/trucks are some of the worst investments in life, I believe. Worth less the minute you drive it off the lot, yada, yada, yada. I drive a 22 year old Mercury Marquis and our other car (which we bought new because it was only $12,000 brand new!) is a 2012 Dodge Caliber (a little cracker box on wheels). And when my Marquis goes we're not going to replace it. I never figure plates and insurance into our car "budget" because... well... it's an "always" thing, for as long as people own a car(s). That $84.54 is all I would technically count and man oh man, that's roughly $42/ per vehicle per month! Compare that to the cost of two new cars/trucks and doggie... you've gotten off mighty cheap. I read a looooong time ago that when you have aged vehicles you can plan on spending $1,000 each on them, per year, and it looks like that's exactly what you did. I think you're doing real good. Blessings~ Andrea xxx
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your reply and Leigh's below I am feeling thrilled about how YOUNG our vehicles are. It's all relative you know. it does take time though to keep old cars running and that is something that does not show up in the budget at all.
DeleteI really like your annual budget posts, because as you say, living on less is not all that easy. We are a little backwards compared to you all though. We just look at what we've got, set aside enough to pay bills, and then try to figure out the greatest need for the rest.
ReplyDeleteDan's old Chevy S-10 is now over 30 years old with over 400,000 miles. It's getting ornery in it's old age however, so now we mostly just use my jeep. I think it's about 20 years old. Needs work but runs better. So far we've been able to do the repairs ourselves, but if we ever can't, we may be up a creek.
30 years and 20 years ? That is amazing. And no way are you backwards in your budgeting, I just like planning and forms and paper which is all pretty nuts, cause I really don't even like math!
DeleteI have never calculated how much my annual transport costs, but I do know that petrol is expensive. I suppose one year I should write EVERYTHING down, and calculate how much just 'living' costs me.
ReplyDeleteSome days I am oh so proud of how well we track expenses but other days I ask, Really? Why Bother? Will they read the ledger at your funeral service and comment on your well aligned figure(s)? Will my kids have these books laminated for future reference? I hope not. Maybe after another year of this living cheap I'll relax enough to just see how we land each month. It's a thought.
DeleteI like Toyotas, I bought a 1995 carolla hatch in 2000 and kept it until it was 20 years old and still going strong.Traded that in on a 2013 Carolla hatch in 2015 really great cars overall....it helps that my mechanic for services is the Toyota certification for their used cars, so are looked after by an expert who is a small business and charges very fairly, Not a dealership rip off .
ReplyDeleteA good mechanic is everything. And mine never laughs at my car. At least not in front of me.
DeleteWe both have GMC Geoffrey the most stripped down model they made back in 2004 the Envoy basic and I have the Sierra XL pick up 1/2 ton a 2006 purchased prior to our leaving Fresno to pull the new livestock trailer. My truck has almost 230 thousand on it as it was used more in moving (twice) and at the first move I worked in a vet clinic full time for 4 years so there was commuter mileage. Not to mention I did make 2-3 trips a year to see the kids and grandgirls at 700 miles round trip. The Envoy has more like 55 thousand on it since Geoffrey did a lot of stay at home goat Dad stuff while I worked and then he went and got sick only 7 months after we landed in Nor Cal so his social calendar was/is pretty restricted. I love my truck and I would like at some point to find an older Subaru Forester keeping my 12 year for hauling supplies and the stock trailer. Figured that may be helpful in increasing its longevity until all the goats are gone at some point in time. But folks tend to keep those vehicles until the die and right now there isn't money in the budget for my grandiose pipe dream anyway. But it is a thought.
ReplyDeleteFrom 2014-2016 when I was back at the University of Illinois, I put on tons of miles too. About 120 miles round trip five days a week. Now I go maybe 60 miles in a week!
DeleteWe planned ahead quite well, we now have an 8 year old truck and a one year old nippy runaround, that I mostly use day to day but that is really economical for long journeys as our families live some distance away in England and Scotland, but it has the power to get us up and around the Welsh hills .
ReplyDeleteWe are hoping with care that both these vehicles will be with us for many years to come.
As my sons always tell me. Change the oil, change the oil, change the oil. Apparently that works miracles and so far it has.
DeleteI gave one of my old cars to my 'non-motor minded' son a few years back .. he never changed the oil, he didn't even TOP UP the oil. After 3 years he passed the car onto his brother, a trained vehicle mechanic, who immediately gave it a thorough going over and discovered it to be totally dry. He said one more long journey and the engine could have blown up.
DeleteI agree with you Donna, we do the same thing. We have an 02 buick - daily driver, and an 01 blazer - winter beater. It's so much cheaper to pay maintenance and repair versus a car payment. I'm really lucky as well as my husband is a master mechanic and can fix anything automobile related so it saves us even more.
ReplyDeleteOh you are lucky then! Keith and I did put in a new radiator for my Dodge Neon last spring and so far it hasn't fallen out, but we really only good for basic repairs, like taping the side mirror in place with electrical tape. It's a little wobbly.
DeleteOlder cars for both of us, Donna, and we have no immediate plans to replace either our 2004 Grand Cherokee Jeep (purchased pre-owned) or 2007 Jeep Liberty (purchased new). We do regular maintenance on both vehicles and while they do not have all the bells & whistles of the newest models, it's fine with us. And when the time comes to replace either one we will select a "newer" used vs. brand new. let someone else do the new vehicle break-in and pay the higher costs.
ReplyDeleteLast year the electric window mechanism on the drivers side of my car stopped working and I drove for months not being able to roll my window down. Finally we could afford to fix it and I still giggle like a happy idiot every time I can roll it up or down. It's the little things.
DeleteMr Shoes and I were raised to buy the best that we could afford, and to take care of it as if we wouldn't ever see another. We have one new car in our 30+ years together - a ford tempo that retired at 515,000 on the odometer. All other vehicles have been pre-owned. I drive a '99 Dodge Ram with over 330 K and Mr Shoes commutes to his money job 60 miles/day) in a 2002 Volkswagon Passat that is approaching 450K. Regular maintenance & repair keeps an older vehicle rolling - we have no intention of buying another vehicle until one or the other of these dies for good. I must add that I was completely against buying the Volkswagon - it's loaded with all the extras & I didn't feel we could justify the cost (even pre-owned). Mr Shoes said the Passat is his mid-life crisis - and I've had to eat my words because that car (who I orriginally called Helga) is about the toughest & tightest little rig I've ever seen. Living out in the boonies & making a lot of miles, there is possibly a higher ratio of unexpected vehicle/wildlife collisions. I mean, oddball collisions. Like the snowy owl that flew right in front of him one dark night - $800 damage & nothing left but beautiful feather. A goose flushed suddenly out of the ditch beside the highway & took out the whole windshield - that ran about $1000. I could go on - but I'll spare you. The care no longer has a name, she is just know as The German Death Machine.
ReplyDeleteI am so in love with your Volkswagon Passat and I haven't even met her! 450, 000 miles is majorly impressive. I'm going to tell my little Neon to stop her whining, she has miles and miles to go yet.
DeleteWe've always had new cars and that means payments. The last new car, was totalled with only 4 mos to go on payments. We had decided to keep that car. Fate had other plans.My husband wash in the rear by a teenager texting. With his insurance paying out, medical and the cost of the vehicle, we decided we were sick of payments and would purchase an older car and bank the rest for repairs etc. We are nearing 3 years with just one vehicle. A 2002 dodge sport caravan with 109,000 miles. Yes we have one vehicle and it takes planning but it's working. I take my husband to work on days I need the van. I'm a homebody anyway so there aren't too many places I am pressed to go to, during the day. We are saving so much MORE by only having one car. We might in a year or so, get another used vehicle. That's always a crap-shoot though. We got lucky with this van.
ReplyDeleteI am mentally prepared for just one vehicle as I too now spend the majority of my time at home. My only hesitation is being available when called to helped with my grandkids who all live so close. But truth is, we have a big family, lots of us living within 30 miles so there's always SOMEONE to call if an emergency.
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