The Real Cost of Cars
Okay, so you've made all the right moves in planning your next car purchase. You've kept your current car until it's a borderline antique. You've come up with two or three viable options of cars that don't just look good; they also get good gas mileage and have good safety ratings. The cars you're considering are a couple of years old and you've done some comparison-shopping among used car dealers and private parties. All set? Not quite. There's more to consider such as the projected cost of maintenance and repairs. A recent Wall Street Journal article noted that with some cars even minor fender benders could lead to big repair bills, which impacts the cost of insurance. It reported on low-speed crash tests conducted by the Institute for Highway Safety on 11 luxury cars--the cars you would think are built the best. The total repair costs from four minor accidents ranged from $5,200 for a Saab 9-3 all the way up to a whopping $14,000 for an Infinity G35.
Matt's View
One of the best online tools for figuring out how much cars really cost is the Edmunds.com True Cost to Own calculator . Since you, of course, pay cash for your vehicles, you can just ignore the financing figures and compare different vehicles based on the estimates for maintenance, repairs, fuel, and other factors. You can get separate fuel estimates along with information about greenhouse gas emissions here . And call your insurance agent to get a better feel for how much insurance will cost.
This article filed in: Vehicles
Managing Money by The Book
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