Quote:
Originally Posted by georgere
for $76K in 7 years and 200Kmi something is missing. What I mean is if you compare it to leasing, you will be pretty much at the same cost which doesn't make sense.
Example: a friend of mine drives on average 20-25Kmi/year (mostly on business). In 2007, he leased a BMW 328xi coupe with Prem, Nav, and Sat radio. His payment was $600/month. He also prepaid for the extra miles (included in the monthly bill).
Now, maintenance free, repairs free - well mostly, and in 3 years a new car...
in 7 years he would pay ~$50K for 3 cars + gas @ ~$27K. this is about the same you paid for your car ownership. No need for lift, tools, garage and no time invested in repairs.
So is leasing a better option?
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What's missing is I drive 38,000 miles a year not 25,000. Using the little knowledge of leasing I have, but I see advertized lease payments for a 3-series for about $380/month for 3 years and 36,000 total miles. I think I've seen extra mileage gets added on at around $0.30 per mile (for a 30,000 mile overage for each car). So I calculate all that to be $87,000 for 200,000 miles over 3 leased cars and with $27K in gas cost included. Add in $4,500 in tires that I bought (you didn't account for that), and you are up to about $92K vs. my $76.5K. Besides, the lift, tools, garage and time invested in repairs is part of my hobby, not what I consider a necessity to keep a car for 200,000 miles. The other two cars I took to 200K I did not have the lift and garage, and I had a somewhat less elaborate tool set.
So I've saved $15K more than your friend, have a cool garage to play in on the weekends; and I still have a nice car with no monthly payment.
And I have my car after 200,000 miles and will get another 50,000 out of it, if not another 100,000 miles.