What cost more feeding the car or the family

Interesting q, riversider.

Hands down, car. For us: the monthly cost of keeping a car in a garage, monthly depreciation, gas, insurance > monthly groceries for a family of 5 (eating very well).

A 2009 survey put food at a higher percentage than gas: http://www.creditloan.com/infographics/how-the-average-consumer-spends-their-paycheck/

Those're people trapped in suburbs, though, so have to drive.

You could've just gone downstairs to Jubilee and not driven at all.

I miss the pure-consumption luxury of keeping a car in town. Reserving ahead with ZipCar or HertzOnDemand feels is a hassle, though it's little more bother than calling the garage an hour ahead of time.

I wonder if Manhattan car registrations have gone down in the four years since the downturn.

Car is a total money pit, I agree, but I plan to keep mine until I can't afford it anymore. Just being able to cruise to see friends in LI or CT, or to head away for the weekend without hassle of renting really is a huge luxury. I estimate it costs me about $1,200 to park and operate a (modest) leased car in Manhattan, which is criminal really, but I can't pry my hands off the keys...

$1200/month? LOL
At that rate, you can hire taxi service every time you want to go to LI or CT !

Will never understand the leased car thing. A good quality and maintained "purchased" car can easily go over ten years, unless a few scratches bother you.

Gosh. I filled up my gas tank or actually just the 1/8 to get it full. And you know what?, it is way cheaper than buying a week's worth of groceries ( of course this was fill my two freezers with meat and fish week, and yearly caviar fill) but still has gas gotten this cheap?

Why pay a hooker to whank you off Riversider when your right hand can do it for free?

"Will never understand the leased car thing. A good quality and maintained "purchased" car can easily go over ten years, unless a few scratches bother you."

Leasing a car makes sense if you always want to be driving a new car.

W67: You're disappointing me. Aren't you going to point out how much $ you save by renting over the last 5 years and how $12-20k/year on fast cars is de minimis?

Leasing a car makes sense if you always want to be driving a new car.

Inonada, Thanks for making the conspicuous and salient point, but again, will never understand the mentality.

you are an idiot.

how about someone who drives a lot of miles every year?
how about someone who doesn't want to hassle with maintenance issues of an older car?
how about someone who doesn't want to take the risk of breaking down?

how about someone who likes new cars and has the money to spend?

idiot.

Columbiacounty, you forgot to mention this time that you drive a really expensive car. Tell us again how you are supposedly embarassed and you don't need an expensive car, but you drive it anyway up the Taconic to Columbia County. Tell us again about your expensive car.

by the way columbiacounty, since Riversider was quoting inonada and expressing his lack of understanding of inonada's point of view, you do realize that you were calling inododo an idiot, right?

Actually I'm wondering what the fuss is about, $20K in groceries or $20K gas bills... -shrug- I bought 160K shares in Sprint at $2.40.....

I'm thinking I've got better than 50/50 (maybe even just 51% chance) of it making money over the next few months/quarters/years (I plan to double down on Margin if it hits $1.2).. that's called "Investing".... knowing that I'd lose my entire dp on a $2MM 3bdrm coop/condo over the next 5 yrs (that's a guaranteed loss versus renting)... that's called sleeping well at nite no matter what.

I also just unloaded CWH at $20.5 after collecting $14K in dividends and buying in at $17.00. That's on 16K shares... $28K plus $14K, but lost $12K on covered calls that got called.. OH well...

Good nite all.

"Inonada, Thanks for making the conspicuous and salient point, but again, will never understand the mentality."

There's a difference between understanding and sharing the mentality. Your inability to understand the mentality is pretty myopic.

I don't lease my car BTW.

So when w67thst told us this summer that he was all in cash when the market was plummeting, he wasn't telling the truth? what a surprise.

rs, There are people who buy the latest fashion clothing every year for every season and complain that they are poor. Hopefully, this recession has put some sense into them.

Car leasing can make sense, in the same way that renting vs owning can. For me, the advantages include: always driving a vehicle under warranty, the ability to drive something new every few years, freedom from most maintenance - the first few years of a car's life are just a few oil changes, keeps vehicle expenses predictable and does not require large up front cash hit to acquire a car. Also, there is no risk of being "upside down" in the event of a total loss - most leases include gap insurance. Finally, in New York State, you only pay sales tax on the payments, not the total value of the car - so you are not paying 8.875% tax on the total value of a depreciating asset, just the amount of the asset you will use during the term of the lease.

Hey 300, did you catch where inonada made a statement about car leasing and then Riversider quoted him verbatim, and then columbiacounty called Riversider an idiot and gave several reasons why "Riversider's" statement was wrong? Oops. One can't wonder for too long why columbiacounty seems to be out of w67thstreet's inner circle.

oh, is that incident just above?? Yes indeed it is. Poor poor columbiacounty, when w67thstreet wants to show off his brokerage statement, he'll show it to inonada or falcogold1, but not columbiacounty.
So lonely up in Columbia County.

If you lease a car, a finance company fronts the money to buy the car, you get to use it so long as you make the payments, and if not they take it back from you. At the end of the lease, you turn it in and get a new one.

If you buy a car using a secured loan, a finance company fronts the money to buy the car, you get to use it so long as you make the payments, and if not they take it back from you. After a few years, you turn it in and get a new one.

Big picture, the two are the same. That isn't to say that the details don't matter. However, most of the details are subject to negotiation; in the end in commercial contexts the choice usually comes down to accounting appearances.

Anyone who can't understand why it would make sense to lease at the right price doesn't understand the basic mechanics of the finance industry. Renting and secured lending are just variants on the same basic transaction -- no more different than coops and condos.

So their prices cannot stray too far without inviting consenting capitalist transactions that tend to bring them closer. That's one key reason why real estate bubbles don't last forever.

There are a few who lease because they don't have the savings(same goes for some who rent) to purchase, and because they are constantly leasing never save any money and wind up spending over a ten year period far more than someone who purchases and maintains the vehicle.

and you can look down on them from your lofty perch.

all the while munching on cream cheese.

"There are a few who lease because they don't have the savings(same goes for some who rent) to purchase, and because they are constantly leasing never save any money and wind up spending over a ten year period far more than someone who purchases and maintains the vehicle."

And there are the many who lease because they do have the savings (same goes for some who rent) to purchase, but they decide they get more value by leasing / renting. After 10 years they wind up spending far less & saving far more than someone who bought equivalent-quality cars / apts.

Of course there will be those living in lesser apts driving lesser cars turning their nose up at their non-owned lifestyle. Said leaser / renter will shrug their shoulders, wondering why owner living in lesser apt driving lesser car with less money saved up feels superior.

>all the while munching on cream cheese.

provoking

Why?