Hey, r/frugal! I was planning on doing this post several months ago, but then I kind of got distracted and forgot about it. Someone recently posted asking about buying a used car, so I thought I’d share my experience in greater detail.
TL/DR: Buying an old, used car for cheap can be a great way to save money. You have to know what to look for and be willing to do some repairs yourself, but if you don’t mind learning to do these basic repairs, doing your own research, and driving an ugly car (https://imgur.com/gallery/JqJFDfg), you can save big.
Since I’m guessing most of you don’t want to read this behemoth, I’m going to put my findings at the top here and the calculations out below.
To get a running, registered car: $1210
Total for 25 months and 50,000 miles (INCLUDING gas and insurance, which are over half of these costs): $12395, or $496/mo, or $.248/mile.
Subtracting off the difference in gas and insurance, as well as costs that would be incurred driving any other car (tires, oil changes): $3525. That would come out to a monthly payment of $141 for 25 months, or $.071/mile.
For those that are curious and want details, I bought this car in February of 2017 for $600. Best investment of my entire life. It had just under 210,000 miles and was completely beat to hell. I got it from two teenage boys that just wanted it gone. For what it’s worth, I am not a mechanic at all.
The center console was completely ripped out, all of the wires cut in a botched attempt at installing a new radio, which was gone, the driver’s door panel was half gone (ripped off? I don’t know), one of the tires was the spare since they had slid off the road and damaged the rim and tire, the windshield was cracked, there were tons of cosmetic flaws and dents, and there was basically no oil in the car (I realized this later. I was dumb and didn’t check that, ironically enough). Pretty much the only thing going for it was that it was cheap and didn’t have the check engine light on. I checked for a head gasket problem, but I didn’t really know what to look for. They said that their grandpa was a mechanic and said the head gasket was fine. I took their word for it and crossed my fingers.
To get it registered, I had to get an exhaust leak repaired, the windshield, and a new tire and rim. That cost:
$80 exhaust leak
$300 windshield replacement
$70 new tire
$60 new rim
$100 Registration fees and all that crap
$600 purchase price
So to get a running, registered car, it was around $1210.
Because it was already in poor condition on the exterior, I only have collision insurance. I pay roughly $60/month for that.
On top of that, it was due for scheduled maintenance of the timing belt, water pump, etc. I paid around $700 for all of that plus replacing the A/C belt and a CV axle. This was around March of 2017.
I also had my brother help me wire the car for a sub and put in new speakers. It took around 7 hours because there was a short somewhere (and we had to strip all of the wires they had cut to make a harness), but we finally got that all done.
All in all, I’ve put on 50,000 miles in around 25 months, so I’ve spent about $6250 in gas (I was in a long distance relationship where I’d drive about every other weekend, and I have done probably 8 trips across several states. I also frequently drive 2 hours each way home from college. It averages around 25mpg highway).
I’ve also done around 12 oil changes. I did 10 or so of them myself, and I’ve always put in full synthetic, high mileage oil. She burns/leaks a lot of oil, but I’ve found that it’s worth paying for more expensive oil, even if it leaks out, since she has kept on running.
The other expense would be tires. I have gone through about 1.5 full sets of tires, plus I’m ⅓ of the way through my current set. I also have a set of snow tires that should last another season or two. All of those cost a total of around $1100. Rims for the set of snow tires were an additional $170 (I bought a junk Subaru for $215, had it towed for $80, took the rims, and sold the rest to a scrap yard for $125. I also pulled off a part of the rear panel for replacement and some other minor but useful parts).
If you care, here are all of the other repairs I’ve done or had done:
In April 2017, I came across a door panel for sale on eBay, and the store was located in California, where I was about to take a trip. I messaged them and asked to pick it up there. I think I paid around $60 and installed it myself with no prior experience (other than the speakers install).
In August, I felt it shifting rough when I’d put it in reverse, and I took it to a mechanic. He said it was fine (which I later found out was wrong and fixed it), but since he was a nice, old man that wasn’t going to charge me for the diagnosis, I paid $120 for a transmission fluid flush.
I also got a full inspection and found out that the struts/shocks were really bad. I didn’t want to pay over $500 for this replacement and still haven’t had the repair done. The car drives fine, with the only noticeable effect being a bumpier ride and slightly uneven wear on tires. It also sometimes shakes when on turns going about 65mph. I probably should look into that...
In October, the car would jerk violently when I’d put it in reverse and the engine was cold. I took it to a mechanic, and they found that the transmission mount was broken in half. I ordered the part online for around $20 and paid around $80 to replace that.
In March 2018, the backlight of the speedometer went out. I fixed it myself for like $5.
In April, the CEL came on for the P0420 code. I did some research, didn’t want to buy a new catalytic converter, and tried replacing the PCV valve and hose by myself. Cost about $25. The code went away for a while. I also replaced the brakes (paid someone like $100 to do it). I’ve been able to get the code to go away for periods of time using different products and haven’t noticed any negative effects on driving or fuel economy.
In May (on my honeymoon!), I was an idiot and drove in some mud against the advice of my wife. We got stuck, and I knocked the front bumper loose getting out of it. The “repair” didn’t cost more than $5, but that’s why there is all of that glorious duct tape on the front. Here are the links to the car (like I mentioned, I planned on posting this around 10,000 miles ago)
https://imgur.com/gallery/JqJFDfg
In September, I had some lights burn out in the instrument panel. I replaced those myself and got some extra bulbs from the junkyard. I also bought and replaced the headlights $80. Doing so caused a short somewhere, which I paid $120 to a mechanic to fix.
In January 2019, I decided to replace the radiator since it was leaking a small amount of coolant around the edges. It turns out that it was the original radiator that had made it 250,000 miles. Replacing it was actually a mistake, since the new one leaks even more. I don’t want to pay to replace it, even if I get a non-defective one for free, so I’ll just keep adding coolant. This repair was $120 and the parts were $105.
So all in all, here is how much it cost to run and maintain:
Scheduled maintenance and general upkeep done professionally (tires, oil changes, etc.): $2535 ($1270 in tires/rims, $60 in oil changes, and $1205 on other repairs)
Non-scheduled repairs done professionally: $730
Gas and insurance: ($6250 in gas and about $1500 in insurance)
Repairs that I did: $175 + $310 for oil changes, for a total of $485
Registration (3 times now), purchase price, other: $895
Total for 25 months and 50,000 miles: $12395, or $496/mo, or $.248/mile.
Over half of that is just in gas and insurance though, so let’s see how that would compare. Assuming I bought a 2018 Subaru Outback and had the cheapest insurance plan but with comprehensive, it would be about $1130/yr, which would be an extra $850. However, it gets 32 mpg highway where I only get 25, so I would save approximately $1370 in gas. Overall, I’d save $520 by buying a new, more fuel efficient car. Additionally, subtracting off the cost of tires and oil changes (which I would also pay for with any other car), the total cost is $3525 (12395-6250-1500+520 [since this is directly how much more I would pay for having an old car instead of a new one] -1270-60-310). That would come out to a monthly payment of $141 for 25 months, or $.071/mile.
Also, KBB values the car at $2252, though I wouldn’t get nearly that much given its outer condition. Let’s assume I sell it for what I bought it, $600. That means that if I sold it today for $600, my cost of ownership for that used car instead of a new one (aka excluding gas, insurance, tires, and any other factor I would have to pay for regardless of the car), is $2925. That’s just $117/month for 25 months. If this car makes it 5 years, it would come out to a monthly payment of $62.
Lastly, this discussion wouldn’t be fair without a discussion in reliability. It’s true that one of the hidden costs of buying a used car are unpredictability. A new care carries with it confidence in always starting up and driving well. In the 2 years that I’ve owned this car, there have been only 3 times when it hasn’t started. The first 2 were back to back days in 2017 when I thought that I left a light on and the battery was dead. I got a jump, and the car started right up. The next day, I had the same problem, so I knew I didn’t just leave a light on. It turns out, one of the connections was loose. The battery was fine. I tightened that down, and didn’t have a problem for nearly a year and a half.
Just this last week, the car would die as soon as I turned the key. I thought it might be the fuel pump or something major, but after some digging on the internet and talking with a friend, I decided to clean the battery terminals and try it again. It started right up. Both times, it was caused by simple electrical problems that were easily remedied with some basic maintenance. For me, reliability hasn’t been an issue whatsoever.
The only other issue worth mentioning is how quickly I burn or leak oil. I probably go through nearly an extra gallon of oil per oil change, which is pretty substantial, and I also check my oil level nearly every 100 miles and fill up. Subarus are notorious for having a bad or leaking head gasket, and mine is no exception. I make sure to always keep it filled up so that I don’t ruin the engine. I’ve probably spent an extra $150 on buying oil, but given all of the other money I’ve saved, I think it’s worth it.
March 08, 2019 at 03:59PM
