Cost of a Car
I have applications on my iPhone for Lyft and Uber but find myself reluctant to use either service; using instead a rather lame excuse that they are too expensive. Then the other day an old friend commented about his “new” car. Not new, but nevertheless a luxury vehicle with around 7,000 miles. The negotiated price was around $39,000, which was a savings of $10,000 from a vehicle with an ephemeral new car smell. Nice! And, I’m sure, a comfortable ride for groceries and a few other errands.
For some strange reason, thinking about that, I did a quick calculation. Since I don’t own a car, use public transportation for my errands and shouldn’t drive a car because of my failing eye-sight, I probably save a minimum of $500 per month when gas, insurance, parking and maintenance are added to minimal monthly payments. Quick arithmetic tells me that applying all of the $500 to just the raw price of my friend’s new car, it would take around 78 months (I’ll be lucky to live that long … ) to pay off assuming no interest and, importantly, assuming that I kept it in a free garage, didn’t drive it and take a chance on a fire, flood or other misfortune destroying my investment. Meanwhile if I forget the purchase of a vehicle and just use Lyft and or Uber, I could comfortably budget an expense of $200-300 a month for the rest of my life; however long that may turn out to be.
Now, can you or anyone else do that? Probably not. For one thing you likely live where public transportation is not particularly convenient. Shame on you and shame on your community. Making a choice to live in a suburb or even certain parts of a city can make use of public transport daunting. Rush hour can be exceptional, but that really only serves the needs of your employer for which you get to pay a premium for riding. Mid-day, evenings and weekends are cheaper but also generally much less convenient or sometimes not available at all. You are stuck, at home, with no groceries. Don’t be so cheap. Call Uber or Lyft! With just a few minutes wait, get into a warm (or cool) clean, reasonably new and at least nice smelling car and relax with a competent driver taking you wherever your heart’s desire. Your real cost is probably a lot less than you imagine.