Chronic car buying addiction

Kids - between the minivan (or whatever) and the redirected resources, coupled with the increase focus on safety/security. Of course I'm assuming your car problem involves the fun cars, and not some sort of itch for "strange".

Enjoy it while it lasts. It can come back when the kids are older, if it's not out of your system.

I wish I could afford this problem LOL

Same here. All I can say is that I used to be much worse and have gotten better about it. I always buy used and keep 10 years or 200K whichever comes first. Sounds nice but the reality is that we have 4 cars and a motorcycle and you're right about the ongoing costs.

Not me. I bought a new car when I was 23 and I'm never making that mistake again. I kept it for 7 years, but I should have kept it for 10-15. I paid $9700 cash for my current car 4 years ago and I plan to keep it at least another 6 years.

Yea, I wish I can keep my car for 10 years or to 200k miles. I always tell myself to do this but never lasts. My income situation has gotten better so o have bought couple of used sports car and luxury cars. I thought I’ve gotten them at a great deal since they’ve depreciated, but they have depreciated even more! And now I’m starting to worry about ongoing maintenance cost, but it’ll be such a waste with depreciation hit. I want to now switch to cheap cars, but who knows how long that’ll last. I’m trying to just keep my cars as long as possible and with one, I’ve made it a year and another one, I’ve only had it for few months. Yes, I have two cars to myself and wife has a car too.

When faced with a major buying decision for something I want but don’t need, I ask myself a couple key questions:

-will this give me an opportunity to be happier or be more of a hassle than it’s worth?

-will this improve my ability to do intended activity?

That usually sorts out my mind real quick. It’s all about the messages you tell yourself about his perceived desire.

I also have an interest in owning multiple vehicles. Ideally, I would own a few different vehicles for different purposes. I just bought a pickup truck last year and my eye has already started wandering to different types of vehicles because I don’t use the truck for truck stuff that much. Plus, it’s kinda big and city fuel efficiency is garbage.

It was easier when I had simpler interests and just was happy with whatever car I would inherent from family members. Oh well.

Yea, that's the thing with cars. You got a pickup truck b/c you thought that you would have intention to use more of its functions but end up not using it. I did this once when I had a pickup. Then, I traded in for more practical car, but then I got bored with it and wanted something more "exciting." Problem is, excitement wears out very quickly with cars for me.

I'm a huge car guy, so when I was out of school I kept buying fun cars yearly.

If you're buying Camrys and Accords, then you have a problem.. If they're fun sports cars, I get it.

Jeremy R wrote:

I'm a huge car guy, so when I was out of school I kept buying fun cars yearly.

If you're buying Camrys and Accords, then you have a problem.. If they're fun sports cars, I get it.

Yea, I do have enthusiast cars, and it's fun and all. But, when I see how much I spend on them, it gets to be ridiculous. Especially since I change out cars so frequently, I want to end it by getting a cheap econobox. But then, I don't know how long I'll last with them!

Buy one car that's really expensive so that you don't have money for more cars. Buy a Tesla.

Buy a classic car from a private seller.

Keep it for a year and then sell it for the same price you paid for it. (they typically will not depreciate if you barely drive it)

Then buy another classic car.

Repeat every year.

Then you get to own a number of cars for the price of one car.

Of course you have to have your every day car in addition to this.

But that will satisfy your itch for car buying and won't cost anything extra than buying a second car once.

Chronic Car Buyer wrote:

Jeremy R wrote:

I'm a huge car guy, so when I was out of school I kept buying fun cars yearly.

If you're buying Camrys and Accords, then you have a problem.. If they're fun sports cars, I get it.

Yea, I do have enthusiast cars, and it's fun and all. But, when I see how much I spend on them, it gets to be ridiculous. Especially since I change out cars so frequently, I want to end it by getting a cheap econobox. But then, I don't know how long I'll last with them!

Actually, I have a real thing for cheap econoboxes as long as they have manual transmissions. I'd be you but two factors save me. One is that whenever I talk about getting an "extra" car I get a look from my wife that makes me think it may not be worth doing after all. The other thing is that I really hate dealing with car salesmen and with the whole ordeal of paperwork that goes with buying a car. But if it ever gets to where you can get cars from Amazon delivered to your door all registered and ready to use all bets are off.

Yea, not using it as much as I planned. Part of the reason I got the truck was because I would go on these road trips and want to explore places and roads that my econo-vehicle just wouldn’t go. So I have taken a couple road trips where the truck was useful, hauled some items, and driving through the snow this year has been a breeze, but it’s kinda like do I need this thing more than a few times a year? Not really.

My dream car would be a sporty, fun to drive, fuel efficient, cheap to maintain, roomy hatchback that is FWD or AWD (just don’t want to deal with RWD in winter). Fun, fuel efficient, low cost of ownership, room for road trips. The Honda CRZ, if only it didn’t suck. The only downside of that scenario is that I lose out on the off road capabilities of my truck.

I heavily considered a Subaru or other AWD compact SUV, but those types of vehicles are ultimately cars at heart without true off road capability. I rented an AWD RAV4 for one of my road trips, and it just can’t handle it when the going gets serious. I imagine that a Subby is not much different, despite the marketing claims. They simply are not built to handle the type of stuff that a truck or Jeep can just roll right through.

And the way that I solved my desire for a sporty car is I got into motorcycles. THe excitement doesn’t wear out very quickly. If only I lived in a place where I could ride year round. Yippie.

Carvana, bro.

But the bureaucratic hassle of buying a car will never end because your state government has too much to lose by making car buying easier and less of a hassle.

This is your answer. Vehicle subscription service. They are springing up everywhere. For a not very low monthly payment, you can drive whatever vehicle you want from a menu of vehicles.

The other option is to open an independent car dealership. In most jurisdictions, managers/owners at car dealerships can use dealer tags to drive vehicles that are in their inventory. So, if you own a dealership, you can go to auction and buy whatever vehicle you want to drive and then put it on your lot to sell when you are tired of driving it. The mileage and depreciation are your dealership's cost and reduce your tax exposure.

So in that 7 year span where I kept buying "dailies" and projects, the first one I bought and still have a decade later is my 97 Supra Turbo. I'd recommend find that "dream car" and hold on to it/

And yes, I agree with the comment above of buying unique, enthusiast cars that have low to no depreciation.

For example, instead of buying a new(er) Porsche 911, but an older 911 Turbo (manual)

vivalarepublica wrote:

HRE wrote:

Actually, I have a real thing for cheap econoboxes as long as they have manual transmissions. I'd be you but two factors save me. One is that whenever I talk about getting an "extra" car I get a look from my wife that makes me think it may not be worth doing after all. The other thing is that I really hate dealing with car salesmen and with the whole ordeal of paperwork that goes with buying a car. But if it ever gets to where you can get cars from Amazon delivered to your door all registered and ready to use all bets are off.

Carvana, bro.

But the bureaucratic hassle of buying a car will never end because your state government has too much to lose by making car buying easier and less of a hassle.

Yeah. it would be so much simpler if I wanted to buy a few guns instead.

Yes to Addiction Issues, but not to cars.

I just ordered 3 pairs of shoes for my birthday.

I cured myself of car buying addiction by watching all the exotic car spotters on Youtube. Viewing California millennials doing donuts in tacky vinyl-wrapped Huracans turned me in to a self-loathing car guy.