I've been looking at a 2004 golf gl for a while, that has under 100,000 miles, and is $3495 upfront. The cost of insurance/liability is around $300/mo or $180/mo without vehicle coverage. That plus $750 for gas a year (rough estimate).
I've been told that's pretty good, but it's still an increase to what I pay right now for transportation. I live about 1.5 miles away from my work, which is fantastic in the summer, I can easily walk/bike. Winter is slightly less convenient, I spend around $100-150 on bus fare a month, and spend a significant amount of time just waiting for the bus in negative temperatures.
I rarely go out/hangout with friends because if it's not the bus line that goes past my apartment, it will take me more than an hour just to get there, not to mention getting back. Avoiding spending $20-30 for Uber would be great too.
I also depend on my roommate for rides to get groceries. For everything else I have to walk or just not go. I live within a 4-5 hour range of visiting my hometown family & friends, but I don't I don't have the time to see them as it's 8-9 hours by bus (and $75-100 per trip) which makes it not worth going down for a weekend, which I'd like to do more often.
I'm also (maybe) coming to the end of an $17/hr internship, and I'm worried about transportation in possible job search process.
At this point can justify the cost of a car for the flexibility, mobility and time savings, or should I just tough it out, stay in and keep saving?
TLDR: Would like more flexibility/mobility of a car, but is it worth paying an extra $1,900-2,000 a year on $17/hr?
December 13, 2017 at 01:07AM
