So, last December I made a terrible decision. I bought a brand new 2013 Ford Taurus SHO sedan. Some other facts.
- I paid for it with cash.
- I use it to drive back and forth to work (40 miles round trip).
- I am almost always its only passenger.
- It gets less than 20 mpg.
- Its insurance (liability + comp and collision) costs $101 /month.
So I think the only correct thing to do is to sell it and, since I am not yet in a position to bike to work (sorry), buy a used hatchback so I can get at least double that gas mileage. And do all that as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Is that correct?
Also, I paid a total of something like $42,000 for the Taurus. If I sell it for, say, $36,000 next month, can anyone help me feel better about the math for how long it takes me to make up the $6,000 of lost money wasted on buying the Clown Car for a higher price than I am selling it for six/seven months later?
I'm happy to be planning to put, say, $25,000 back into our liquid net worth (I'm thinking I'll spend ~$10,000 for my smarter car choice), but I'm also wanting to feel good that selling the Taurus tomorrow instead of two years from now is smart because it'll only take, say, 15 months for the savings from gas and insurance driving the cheaper car to make up for the $6,000 lost by buying high and selling low.
Plus I'm going to have to pay sales tax on the used car replacement even though I just finished paying gobs of sales tax to buy the clown car.
Thanks for thoughts.