Have you ever wondered what is better? Should you be driving a new car or a used car. A new car is so expensive compared to a used car. However, with used cars you have to pay more in repairs and when it comes down to it... a new car is the way to go...

or is it...

Today I am going to show you what it has cost me to drive my 1997 Chevrolet Lumina for the past 9 years and the repairs I have put into. I bought a 1997 Chevrolet Lumina in 2009 for $2000. This means the car was already 12 years old when I bought it. It only had 89,000 miles which is low for a 12 year old car.

I definitely think I got a good deal on it.

I know it is not the most stylish car but it has saved me a lot of money. I have owned it since then and have put almost 100,000 miles on it. I am still driving it today.

Now when people think of all the money they need to put into an older car they usually just go ahead and buy the new car or an expensive used car.

The only way to really tell is find someone who has driven a used car for over 10 or 15 years and have them do what I am about to show you.

I wrote down each repair I have done for my Lumina over the years that I have owned the car. Each year I have had a small or large repair. From 2009 to 2015 I had no idea how to work on cars. The repairs were more expensive during these years because I had a mechanic do the repairs. It was actually one of my car repairs that I had done by a mechanic that frustrated me to a point that I stopped going to mechanics and have slowly taught myself how to work on my car.

By 2016 and 2017 my car repair bills drastically decreased. Why? Because I educated myself on car maintenance.

Now I did not include the basic maintenance things that you need to do on new cars such as tires, brakes, windshield wipers, oil changes or anything that should be replaced periodically on both a used and a new car. Once I had down what repair and how much it cost me each year I then added up all the costs of owning this car. I then took the total amount of months I owned the car and divided that into the total cost of the car. This gave me an estimated monthly payment for my car. It turns out I have paid on average $49 a month to own this Lumina. Now I guarantee you, you are not going to find a $49 payment anywhere on the market. This is over 9 years for a total of $5300.

Also something else you have to consider is the insurance.

Insurance companies charge less for older cars. Ask me how I know… I have three of them...

On average I have paid around $400 a year for car insurance for just my Lumina. Typically insurance for someone my age for 1 car would be around $700-$800 for someone in my area. That is a total of almost $400 a year saved. Over 8 years I saved $3200 on just insurance.

Let's go back when I bought my Lumina and compare if I were to have bought an expensive used car.

In 2009 if I were to have bought a 5 year old car and someone put 10,000 miles a year on it the car would have 50,000 miles. Five years earlier from 2009 they did not make the Lumina so a comparable care would be The Chevy Impala.

If I were to have bought a 2004 Chevy Impala in 2009 it would have cost me between $14,000 to $18,000. This is an estimated price for the base model with 50,000 miles. The MSRP for a brand new '04 Impala is around $21,000, Id say $14,000 is a good estimate after 5 years.

If it were to have cost me $14,000 I would have had to have taken a car loan out. I would have put the $2,000 I had as a down payment and had a $12,000 loan. I probably would have taken a 5 year 3% loan and that is a low interest rate.

After 5 years in 2014 the car would have been paid off. I would have ended up paying over $15,000 for it by 2014. That 04 impala today in 2018 would have around 130,000 miles at 10,000 miles a year. I imagine I would have started to put some money in the car at around 100,000 miles for repairs.

Lets say from 2014 to 2017 I only put $500 a year in it for unexpected repairs. In the end I would have paid around $16,000 to $18,000 for the Impala if I were to have not bought the Lumina.

Taking that number and averaging out a monthly payment I end up with around $150. That is more than 3 times as much as the Lumina. Oh and remember that I would have paid $3200 more in insurance as well for this Impala. Think about it, some people pay $20,000, $25,000 or $30,000 for their car. Imagine how much they could have saved if they were to have driven an older car.

Now compare if I were to have bought a brand new Impala in 2009. It would have cost me almost $24,000. With a $2,000 down payment I would have financed $22,000. Let’s assume in the 9 years of ownership of the car I kept up with the maintenance and I had no unexpected repair bills. It still would have cost me, if I average it out, well over $200/mon.

Oh yeah… and insurance would have been even more expensive than the 2004 impala comparison.

Ok... so…. you might be telling yourself right now... I don't know how to work on cars that is why I'm going to buy a car that is newer. Well… I didn't know how to work on cars either… but I taught myself.

In 2018 there is so much knowledge available online to help you. Even if you do not have time to do the work yourself... if you educate yourself... you can go to the mechanic with confidence and know if he is trying to sell you repairs you don't need.

So what can you do… right now? You can figure out what I just did and run some scenarios with my calculator I put together. I put together an easy to use calculator just for you. Whether you have never owned a car, whether you have owned an old used car like me, or an expensive used car or new car you can use this calculator and see how much cheaper it is to drive an older used car.

I want you to know how much you have spent over the time you have owned your car.

What has your average monthly payment been?

Can you beat $49 a month?

You probably fit into one category or the other.

Just try to estimate what it would have been if you were to have been on the other side of the aisle.

You can get that calculator here... click the link

Buying a Used Car

James Avery

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