Author Topic: The Road to Mustachian is sometimes filled with Stupidity....  (Read 2615 times)

GordonsGecko

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In a fit of mindlessness, several months ago I traded in my current "new" car purchased (financed) in November of 2011 for a "bigger" new (also financed) car.  I convinced myself that I needed something bigger than a Mazda 3 due to my GF's growing 7 y/o and is penchant for kicking my seat. 

I now have a 2013 Nissan Alitma SV (2.5) with 4500 miles that is worth perhaps 18k.  I owe 20k on it. 

Question is... do I sell it and eat the loss.... and utilize my taxable stock portfolio to cover the difference and then buy a used car? 

I have about $14k in various stocks that I could easily liquidate.  I'm certainly not in terrible financial shape, but my Money Mustache SHOULD be a lot larger given my income. 

I do not travel much.  18 miles r/t to work each day.  About 9k miles total per year.

I am not the most mechanically inclined and all these cars I see on local craigslist sites (southern Maine) for $3k-$5k have 150,000 miles on them.  I have a very real fear of downgrading and ending up with a P.O.S. vehicle that breaks down within a year.  Would love a Subaru or something similar, but used car prices just seem so very overpriced. 

Thoughts? 






Paul der Krake

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Re: The Road to Mustachian is sometimes filled with Stupidity....
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2014, 08:41:56 PM »
In your situation, I would sell and buy something in the 5-8k range. Think early to mid 2000s, low miles.

But unless southern maine's market is very different than the rest of the country, you should be able to get cars with a lot fewer miles than 150,000 in that $3-5k range. Be patient- most people on Craigslist either inflate the prices on purpose hoping to settle for a lot less, or are just clueless about the real value of their car.

Try telling your friends and family that you are in the market for a used car, you may be surprised by the number of people who knows someone.

avongil

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Re: The Road to Mustachian is sometimes filled with Stupidity....
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2014, 09:30:41 PM »
Please use my spreadsheet.  Considering you only drive 9K per year, an Altima vs a Mazda 3 vs a cheap beat up economy car might be smaller than you think.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ajeg4z5XrypmdE0yanpJSTlLTHFjbmV1eEU4cE9Ma0E&usp=drive_web#gid=0