Trade it or drive it

I'm in awe of those miles. We've got about 57,000 kilometers on our 2010.

 

We have 125k on our 11 and it will be 4 years old in January -- I bought it with the 5 year 0% -- so I'm running it out. It may need front brakes by then. I'm about 3k under water on it -- not that that matters. The car has been rock solid and I would drive it anywhere -- and I can't say the same for some of the german cars I have owned at that milage.

When I no longer feel conformable driving a car -- they go.

 

An American expression? What does that mean?

 

"Under water" in this context means you owe more on something than it is currently worth.
In this case, presumably the payout on the lease exceeds the current value of the car.
In real estate it would mean that the payout on the mortgage exceeds the value of the property.

 

Let's just play out the two options:

Option 1: Trade
For easy math assume $5000 Trade-in for a $24,200 Prius OTD.
You'll pay $400 a month for 48 months. (You said your 2011 is paid off so I assume a 4 year loan is doable for you plus you'll have to do this again in 4 years so you should stick to that)

Option 2: Keep the car.
The most money you can lose on the car is $5000 if it goes bang. You might be able to get something for scrap metal.

$5000/$400/month = 12.5 month

Will your car last another year? I'm going to say even the most unreliable car can last 5 years, a Prius for sure. Will a Prius last 190k miles (Projecting what you will have after another year) without a major repair? Maybe, maybe not. Will the repair be less than $4000? I think that's a safe bet. (I'm assuming a 5 year old Prius with about 190k miles will be worth $4k)

In other words, keep the car. As long as the repair does not exceed the value of the car, you'll come out ahead.

 

As many miles as you put on a car per year, it is better to think of cost per mile rather than depreciation. It will help you to sleep better at night. I'll try some simple math let's say the car was 22k new, trade in or release brings back 5k, that leaves17k, divided by 150 thousand miles. So depreciation cost per mile is 11+ cents per mile, not bad.

 

I hear you about German cars, they don't make them like they use to.

I had a bmw when I was in high school and beat the crap out of it, abused it, drove it like I stole it. Never had a problem with it.

Parents had Mercedes when growing up, no problems.

Today, had a VW, drove like a normal person (grown up now), and they thing always needs repairs of some sort. What a money pit!


iPhone ?

 

It is what others have said -- the amount of the loan exceeds the value of the car. The Prius was 0% for 5 years -- I financed the whole thing including the tax .. Toyota made my fist payment. Whenever a manufacturer is subsidizing -- I take as much as possible with 0 down. Also, the car is fully covered with GAP insurance. So... any money you put down .. is lost if the car is totaled.

The same goes for a lease. I just leased a Lexus CT. Lexus was trowing about 4k at the lease and almost nothing at a purchase. I took a 4 year lease at 10k miles vs a purchase. I wanted a longer term and low miles to keep the payment low .. the car costs me $310 per month vs the $530 for a purchase of a Prius 5 w/o tech package. If the car is totaled or stolen at the end of a year -- I paid $3720.00 .. no matter how many miles I put on the car -- the GAP pays the loan. Take that out four years -- $14,800.00 in payments .. if I factor in the money I did not put out 48 x $220 = $10560. With a buyout just over 16k -- I'm at almost the same place as the11 Prius -- think I own around 7.5 k . So a bit better .. but I have to factor the last year money factor -- and thats not much. Lexus has financed the whole vehicle for 4 years for 14k ... the crazy thing ... insurance will value the miles on car to determine the worth of fixing .. but they pay the GAP regardless of the difference.

 

Well you could always baby that car up to 200k miles with no problems, just keep on top of your maintenance and you should not have any problems.

 

You are in the lowest cost per mile section of car ownership. Milk it for all it's worth.

 

Never trade in a vehicle. The stealership will never give you anything approaching what it's worth, and if they do, then you know you're paying too much on the new vehicle. Better yet, avoid the stealership altogether unless there is a recall/campaign that needs to be performed.

 

^^^ I don't agree, if you keep your car in top condition you will very often get what the car is worth, I always do!

 

In many states a trade offsets sales tax on the new one -- so a 20k car in a 7% state gets you $1400.00 in tax savings on the new one. I keep my cars a long time and our business cars have a lot of miles on them. When I finally get rid of them they are not worth much ... I'm going to get rid of an 01 MB C240 with 140k on it -- it not worth much. Cars only worth a few K are better to sell privately -- the dealers don't want them. I normally sell mine cheap -- just to get rid of them with little worry and if anything happens soon after the other party got a good deal regardless of the outcome.

 

I agree with the other posters here. If the '11 Prius is paid off, and more importantly, the wife is fine driving it until it falls apart on her, then just keep it until a major fix comes up. In the meantime, all that money you saved not paying off a new loan will help you to buy another car.

Unless you have money to burn, it's not a good idea to drive a brand new car for 3-4 years, only to then get another new one again.

 

Drive it , take the amount of a new car payment , say $300 a month open a savings account , bank $300 a month ,, see in a year if you can afford it , then close the savings account ,,, hello money for down payment
,,, a year latter the 2015s should be a bargain

 

I agree with the keep her, crowd. Very much so. Given the longevity of the prius, seems like a very safe bet. JMHO.

Just a thought but I would avoid leaving any car idle for 8 weeks. Just from reports & research here, it seems that Prius particularly benefit from constant use. I base this on high mileage drivers here and taxi companies getting 400 and 500K of life out of 'em. Not from personal experience.

I bought my Prius with 237000 miles and have put 3K on her in a month and am just amazed at what a great car. I fully expect to get another 100K, at the very least.

Just my 2 cents and am brand new to Prius.


Best wishes for Mrs. D's knee procedure. Please post how she is doing?