Hi Mustachians,
I was asked yesterday if keeping my beater car (which is in the shop for solenoid troubles) was still worth it, by a friend who recently replaced hers (and I think is still paying on a loan for it). Which got me looking - I've spent $2,679 in the last 15 months on it, which means 178.60$ / month, on my car. This means insurance, service and parts, gasoline, oil changes, everything. I have Mint so that is quite close - I might have missed a few purchases of fuel injector cleaner that got lumped as groceries or something, for example.
Is this outrageously high? I'm not about to take out a loan on a car; and I don't see that replacing my current old car with another old car would have fewer mechanical problems.
It's a 96 Ford Escort with about 170k miles and while it requires a few tows now and again (timer belt went out a few years ago while driving, etc) it's a pretty solid car. I drive about 2x a week to my second job and have a bus pass for most of my regular travelling, which I get for 97$ per semester through my university. That 97 isn't included above because if I didn't have a car I'd still get it.
Thoughts? Am I still in the right? Normal mortals might tell me 176$ / month is cheap.. but mustachians can actually tell me if I'm being stupid.