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Gas Mileage Is A Big Concern Of Mine

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coachfrigo:
Was a car salesman for 3 months or so up until recently. Glad to be out. But while I was in, one common theme among "frugal" people was that they'd be frugal to buy a new car with better gas mileage. Yeah, nothing better than spending $400/mo. to save $20/mo. in gas!

I can't wait to start my little side hustle of financial coaching, rather than being forced by my boss to not say anything when these people spout these delusions.

CoffeeR:
It is not unusual for people to purchase a new car to get better mileage, a new house to lower electricity bills, etc. The math always never works out. In general the cheapest car to drive is the one you own.

Indexer:
The one exception I've seen was a friend who had a long commute and drove a truck with a big V8. We did the math one day, and he could buy or lease a new Honda Fit and save more in gas than he would spend in car payments. I think he was getting <10 miles to the gallon, gas was $4.00 at the time, and he had a 40 mile commute each way.

His truck: 8 gallons/day X $4/gallon X 20 work days/month = $640/month on gas.
Fit(40 mpg): 2 gallons/day X $4/gallon X 20 work days/month = $160/month on gas.

Difference: $480/month.

Obviously, buying a used Fit or shortening his commute would save even more. He did shorten his commute a few years later.

Just Joe:
Yes, I recall someone dumping a gas guzzler during the $4 years ago and taking a beating on the price. Then went out and bought something more frugal that came with a brand new payment book. Every step of the way was expensive. I think they've had a good half dozen vehicles since then. Any excuse for a new(er) vehicle.

slugline:
In a similar way, I've found it funny to hear stories of people driving out of their way to fuel up at a gas station that's cheaper by a few cents per gallon.

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