The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: fsohn on May 15, 2017, 11:20:57 AM
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Hello Mustachians:
My sister, who is in need of a new-to-her car, has offered to buy my car from me, and I'm wondering if anyone has any advice to offer on whether it is a good idea. Here are the details.
The car is a 2011 Honda Civic Hybrid. I've had it for about 3.5 years, and have put less 7000 miles on it during that time, for a total mileage of about 43,000 now. Most of that has come from a few odd road trips to visit friends in other parts of the country. On a day to day basis, I drive to the grocery store twice a month, to visit my parents in another part of the city, and to pick up and drop off my dry cleaning. All told, if I'm being efficient, I am driving less than 8 hours per month. The car cost me about $17,000 all in when I bought it, and is currently worth about $6,000 based on a "good" condition trade-in price, which is what I'd charge my sister.
My expenses for the car are about $800 a year (gas+insurance+city/state registration), not to mention repair costs that occur when people hit me and don't leave a note (something that has happened twice and cost me over $1K in repairs since I've had the car).
My question is this: does anyone have experience with actually living with a ZipCar-type service in lieu of a car in a big city? How annoying is it? What are your actual costs, and what do you think they would be in a situation like mine? FWIW, I wouldn't plan to buy another car until electric cars become mainstream enough to make used versions affordable.
I am leaning towards selling it to her, but I would like to know what my fellow Mustachians think first.
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Sounds like a charity event if you are giving it to her for trade in value.
Other than that observation I have no suggestions.
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Good golly that's been an expensive car for you!
You sound like a perfect Uber/Lyft customer. I'd say go for it.
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Sounds like a charity event if you are giving it to her for trade in value.
Other than that observation I have no suggestions.
I second this opinion. If you sell it to her for "good condition" trade in value at $6k, you're taking a $1k-$1.5k hit on retail sale price (aka Craigslist), and she's getting a great deal.
With repair costs, it looks like your annual costs are about $1085, (and dropping every month you don't need a repair). Do you think you'll spend less than $90/mo on transportation should you get rid of your car?
You've already eaten the large majority of the depreciation on the value of the car. If it were me, I would keep it.