I'm not sure if this is the right community but I figured I'd try and ask for some financial advice here.
Partner and I have very low overhead (mortgage debt and school loans only). We are minimalists with little spends here and there, 401Ks are maxed annually, we have our rainy day funds, etc etc.
I drive about 1200 miles a month with my 15 year old BMW x5 thats worth about 2.5K. Monthly gas is about $310+/-. Car requires maintenance just about every 6 months now. It costs anywhere between 800 to 1800. Miles are high at 175K. The only things not recently replaced are the transmission and the engine. I suspect the transmission will go out soon, have had some transmission alerts come and go.
So my question is this... Where does one draw the line? Mathematically it costs about $60 more a month for a "new car" (best case, no transmission work) and worse case, I save $200+ a month for a "new car" since i avoid the maintenance costs. Am I doing the math right?
+Do I keep driving the car at $310 monthly for gas, shell out 2k a year for maintenance and eventually repair the transmission when it goes out. Probably 4-5K extra.
+Or sell the car now for 2.5K and buy a 25K car with better gas mileage. Based on my estimates, gas would cost me $150 less a month and I won't have the high costs of car maintenance... however a car note may offsets any savings. At least until we factor in the possible major transmission/engine work....
Help Reddit. Thanks!
Submitted September 20, 2019 at 12:03AM by sher5hop https://ift.tt/2V6DbNl
