Long commute, paid off non-efficient car, in-debt. Save money or replace the car

[dkisselev]

Here is a dilemma I need kickass advice on.

About a month ago I switched to MMM way of leaving. We still have a lot of debt to take care of and every saving today goes to repay it. As I optimizing every saving I start looking at our car expenses.

My wife commutes 120 miles round trip. Myself - 30 miles in opposite direction. She still using our already paid off 2006 Audi A4 to commute ~24mpg of premium gas. I stop driving and start using subsidized ridesharing (~$4 round trip). I felt that if replace her car with 2003-2006 Civic Honda Hybrid or something similar with ~38-40 mpg, we will save on gas cost and car maintenance cost.

Gas saving ~ $120 a month
Maintenance saving ~ $160 a month

My expectation that I will have to pay ~$2000 extra on over the resale value of Audi A4.

Does it make sense to continue driving A4 or do replace the car with Honda Hybrid?

DK

[cakie]

How many times a week does she commute? 60 miles each direction is a long way! Maybe work on improving that first...

Some ideas:

Can she work from home some days?

Can she get a job closer to home?

Even better: can she get a job near you and you move home closer to your work?

Can you get a job near her? (And you move home closer?)

Sent from my InFocus M808 using Tapatalk

[dkisselev]

Cakie thank you for ideas.

How many times a week does she commute? 60 miles each direction is a long way! Maybe work on improving that first...

Her commute is 5 times a week. Going against traffic helps, but it is a long way for sure. We leave in a Bay Area. Where a metropolitan area is pretty large and cost of living doesn't change much.

Can she work from home some days?

Nope. :( She manages warehouse which requires her to be there every day.

Can she get a job closer to home?

Working on that for sure.

Even better: can she get a job near you and you move home closer to your work?

I'm pursuing my employer to allow me to work from home.

Can you get a job near her? (And you move home closer?)

And that may allow us to move closer to her work.

[Laura33]

What does she think about the plan?  I have found that suggestions that we cut costs by asking my DH to give up something he enjoys do not tend to go over well. . . .

Also surprised that an Audi has that much less residual value than a same-year-or-older Civic.  But do the math -- how much longer would you reasonably expect either car to last, how many miles driven during that timeframe, cost of gas, comparative repair histories/likely future repairs over the remaining lifespan.  And where is the $2K going to come from/how much is it going to cost you?  If you have debt at 25-30% interest, even $2K for a Civic leaves you with $2K less to pay off that usurious loan, which is likely to cost you more than you will save in gas over the extra time it takes you to pay off that debt.