Quote:
Originally Posted by Iixii
Good rule of thumb is spend 10-15% of your take home income on transportation. ....
|
Another good rule of thumb to add to that is the total value of all the things you have with motors and wheels should be no more than 50% of your annual income. Vehicles are, for the most part, depreciating assets so you are losing money on them.
To the OP, the advice you are being given is sound, regardless of your income level. Let someone else take the "new car" depreciation hit. That is what I usually do, the FR-S was an exception to my own rule on that.
When I make an exception its because I am fitting them into my "toys" category and pay the "new car" depreciation up front (which means a 40% to 100% down payment).
5 of the last 7 cars I have purchased had 30K to 110K miles on them when I purchased them. Of those 2 were still under warranty, and 3 were not. I basically "self insured" for warranty on the other 3. None of them had any major repairs required within the first 3 years/50,000 miles of my ownership. Was I lucky? Not really. I selected carefully, had a prepurchase inspection done by a trusted source, and took care of them.
So, in short, the advice you are being given is solid financial advice. Problem is, for nearly everyone on this forum, a car purchase is not just a financial decision. In the end, you have to be happy with the decision, and be able to live with it.