My husband wants to buy a car and I think that's a bad idea - what do you think?

range wrote:

What problem is he trying to solve with a new car?

Is he worried that the current one won't last long and may throw a major bill soon? Does he think the current one doesn't reflect his status? Does he want to go drive offroad? Is he bored of the current car? Is he thinking about more kids and that you'll need more space? Does he just want to spend some money?

I think all of the above. Our car is pretty beat up and he was worried about using it for longer distances, when we visit his family across the state. The look and status of it play a part, too, I think. His dad has a bunch of really nice cars and when we go to visit, our car stands out for sure. And we are thinking of having another child soon.

All valid reasons. OK, I can see that I was not being very understanding with him, I'm glad I posted on letsrun!

He works full time and I work part time to take care of our son. I was working full time until the very last day (got into labor at work).

I don't believe I contribute less.

My husband works hard, and so do I. In any case getting a new car doesn't seem like a bad idea anymore after reading all your responses.

I'll support his decision.

With your incomes, if you buy Audi or Lexus, you're buying for status and/or luxury. You can get essentially the same quality, and possibly even more reliability, with other more practical brands. A good compromise to consider, as others have mentioned, is buying a new car, but looking at the non-luxury lines - Honda instead of Acura, Toyota instead of Lexus, etc. If he's leading you toward Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Volvo, etc, then he's probably angling for more than just a vehicle to get from here to there.

Unsure frugal gal wrote:

You might be making a joke, but I didn't get it.

He's looking at Lexus, Audi, Nissan...

Do your homework. SUVs are overpriced and some of the brands that people recommend are not really that reliable. Did you know that Buick and Hyundai are in the most reliable tier? Subaru and Nissan are not. None of the German brands are.

I work in the automotive industry (I know that this does not make me an expert on YOUR vehicle decision or your finances but I do think about vehicles and vehicle decisions as a career so that is something at least...). Vehicles are made better than ever. When I was a teenager, I got a 5 year old Chevette. It was basically falling apart in front of me and by the time it had 30 thousand miles on it, the engine needed new bearings -Sold it. After the Chevette, I owned a mustang, both headgaskets needed to be replaced at 60K miles - sold it. The car that I drive now is 12 years old and is tight and has really no issues. Cars have come a long way in quality over the past 30 years.

Anyway, I feel that buying a new car is typically a bad financial decision. Buying a vehicle that is a few years old is usually a good idea. Allow a previous owner to get the initial hit on depreciation. I typically try to find a car that is a few years old with 25k to 50K miles. Finding vehicles that hold their value after a few years is fantastic.

Oh, drive a few vehicles before buying one. Some people like Toyotas but I personally feel that they are the dullest, most boring vehicles out there. They last a long time but the ones I have drove were extremely unenjoyable (noisy engine/powertrain, bad performance, cheap interior surfaces, badly designed infotainment..).

If you are looking for practicality and value but need more space, I don’t think anything beats a Kia Soul.

Also used cars are very expensive right now relative to new cars. Getting a car that’s a couple of years old is usually the way to go, but right now might be the exception. Just look at prices on Carmax relative to invoice price for the same new car - for most cars there is hardly any difference.

And I would get a loan on the purchase. Even if you just put the money you save into munis, you should come out ahead of you can get a loan <2%. And you will really come out ahead if stocks correct, at which point you can switch from munis to stock.

I agree. Shop around and make offers on the same car at 3 different dealerships. You will be amazed at how much of a discount you can get on a new car. I beat my cars up and trade them in after 3 years. The next guy will not be happy after owning those cars for a year or two.

You husband should look into Subaru's.

We have our second Forester and it's a great SUV kinda car were you can haul around a lot of stuff, have decent high road clearance for rugged dirt roads and it's 4 wheel drive, perfect for snowy areas.

On the bigger picture, you should ask him why he wants to replace your current car.

Talk to him, he is your husband :-)

Unsure frugal gal wrote:

I told my husband that it's a bad idea to get a brand new car since it depreciates instantly.

That instant depreciation only matters if you are going to turn around and try and sell it the next day. Are you planning to do that?

If you keep the new car for 8 years, the value of it will be much more than if you bought a 4 year old car and held it for 8 years. You then have an 8 year old car with some value vs a basically worthless 12 year old car.

And the first 4 years of a new car feels real nice on a daily basis plus only require oil changes.

You get a used car and you will get to the more expensive maintenance items and issues more quickly.

Car threads appear to be more popular than diet threads as of late... certainly generate a lot of pages.

funny how people can such opinions on whether someone buys a car and what type of car they should buy.

Withhold sex until you get what you want!

0/10

There are no women on letsrun

financial $ wrote:

Do your homework. SUVs are overpriced and some of the brands that people recommend are not really that reliable. Did you know that Buick and Hyundai are in the most reliable tier? Subaru and Nissan are not. None of the German brands are.

Subaru had quality control issues at its Indiana plant and made a big update on the 2020 Outback. They have been aggressively working on the quality control issues and ironing out the kinks on the big update. I would take the reliability score for Buick with a grain of salt. Hyundai has always been a solid vehicle in terms of durability, but that is in part because they are under-engineered and have clunky transmissions and suspension etc. The German manufacturers over engineer everything on the vehicle down to even the motors that roll the windows up and down. When things go wrong on a German drive train, they go wrong in a big and expensive way. In the end, if you need AWD, Subaru is the best value by far. If you do not need AWD, buy a Toyota.

I generally hate SUVs, but bought an Outback for family reasons. I also have a Prius. There are so many SUVs on the road right now that I will probably get rid of the Prius in a few years and buy another SUV. There are real crash compatibility issues between SUVs and sedans.

New vehicle do depreciate rapidly over the first two years. But over the course of a 5 year auto loan, a new vehicle can be a better value over used. Especially if you want to keep a vehicle for 7-10 years. The used market right now is very short on inventory and pricing is not very competitive. You do not get as good a deal on a used vehicle as you would have a year ago. Also, there is a lot of value in the initial bumper to bumper warranty. Extended warranties and service contracts are over priced and do not offer that much additional protection, especially if you put a lot of miles on the vehicle. But the big issue is when you get to the 5-7 years, 100k+ miles. Even the most reliable vehicles will need brakes, tires, and have other wear and tear/no warrantable issues in the later stages of ownership. So, the cost of maintenance goes up significantly as you get into the later stages of ownership. Also, the trade value for vehicles bottoms out pretty quickly once you get into 100k+ miles and 7+ years of ownership. When you buy new, you get into the later stage of ownership when the vehicle is paid off and you have the extra money to pay for repairs. With a used vehicle, you will more than likely still be paying the note when you start getting bills for repairs. Then, when you get to the point where the vehicle is no longer trustworthy as far as long road trips and risks big repair bills, you will have had 3-4 years of no payment ownership on a new vehicle and some decent trade value. But on a used vehicle, you will have nominal trade value and will probably have had to make a few big repairs. That can be a swing of $5k+ on a vehicle that cost $30k new or $25k used. That eats up the advantage of buying used to have someone else take the initial equity hit. And with used vehicle prices at highs and adding in finance incentives, you may very well come out better with a new vehicle.

Unsure frugal gal wrote:

He works full time and I work part time to take care of our son. I was working full time until the very last day (got into labor at work).

I don't believe I contribute less.

My husband works hard, and so do I. In any case getting a new car doesn't seem like a bad idea anymore after reading all your responses.

I'll support his decision.

Great! Make sure and check in with a bunch of pubescent strangers for all your other important life decisions as well.

Everyone has their own standards, but there is no way I'd buy a new car in your situation.

The only car we owned for years was my wife's. It was 15 years old. When we got tired of coordinating who got to use it, we bought another used car for 8k. We had a combined income that year of over 400k.

Put off buying a car as long as possible. They are money drains. I am well past raising kids, and make a very good living and invest and save most of my income at this point (grew up poor, and err always on saving and investing).

I don't buy new cars. I could afford most any care on the market (or two of them). I purchase low mileage used cars at Carmax (not the best price but i tend to know what I am getting with Carmax). My recent purchase was a LIncoln MKC Reserve, 2017, with twenty thousand in mileage, for 24,000. I like not to spend over 25k. No car payments, take excellent care of my vehicles (again not cheap), and the cars I have are about as nice as anyone needs.

One thing about guys like Dave Ramsey. A number of things he teaches don't work for me. And I don't share his religious worldview. But reading his works is valuable because he reminds of the importance of saving and investing. And his advice on some topics is excellent - particularly on matter such as long term care insurance and avoiding timeshares. Finance is both technical and personal, as the original poster makes clear. Use the information out there wisely, and with an objective personal filter.

How long has he wanted it? If he just decided this then I would ask him to wait a month or two and see if he still wants it then.

Regardless definitely go for used.

One of the questions that has not been asked of the OP is how old is your current car? The improvements is safety tech that has been made in the last 5-10 years is very significant. With a relatively young child that you will probably be driving around for about the next decade and a half, safety should not (pardon the pun) take a backseat in the new car considerations.

Blind spot monitoring, stability and traction control, adaptive cruise, auto braking, side airbags, etc, all are worth the upgrade.

I'd agree with the previous suggestions of a certified pre-owned Toyota. Most of the benefits of new with a lower price tag. Great interest rates make this a reasonable buy with your combined stated income.

financial $ wrote:

Why do you have student loans with that income. Pay them off immediately. The look at reasonable new cars instead of used SUVs. You can buy something like a new malibu for $22k.

Why not wait for China Joe and the Ho to forgive the student loan, it would be bad financial planning not to at this point.

BTW, "Frugal Person" OP needs to get onboard with the new ways at the U.S. Capitol and start referring to the significant other as "spouse" and not "husband".