Author Topic: >$50 per day savings compared to sucka SUV driver  (Read 3967 times)

BCBiker

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>$50 per day savings compared to sucka SUV driver
« on: February 05, 2015, 04:35:41 PM »
I just finished up this post and even I was amazed at the numbers!!  I thought the Mustachian Community would have some interesting thoughts...

http://www.businesscasualbiker.com/monetary-impact/

BCBiker

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Re: >$50 per day savings compared to sucka SUV driver
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2015, 06:46:27 AM »
I did a follow up to the first article.  It is very much parallel to the Mr Money Mustache classic, http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2013/06/13/bicycling-the-safest-form-of-transportation/

But with a new analogy.

http://www.businesscasualbiker.com/common-rationalizations-risk/

Enjoy! Let me know what you think.

maizefolk

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Re: >$50 per day savings compared to sucka SUV driver
« Reply #2 on: February 17, 2015, 03:13:16 PM »
While I completely agree the cost of maintaining and driving a car vs biking to work is substantial,  I think a couple of assumptions used in your calculation are unfair:

  • The serious quibble is that counting both depreciation AND car payments is essentially double counting the same costs. Even if we consider the value of the car to be zero after 4 years, depreciation still creates no additional cost to the owner beyond the cost of making the car payments over those four years. On the other hand, if the owner payed cash for the car, they would make no car payments each year, but would have to factor in the decreased value of the car each year as a result of depreciation.
  • The incredibly nickpicking quibble I have is that you're making no allowance for the depreciation of your bicycle. Does this make a huge different in the headline number? No it's probably a few cents/day at most but it would be a more even handed approach.

BCBiker

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Re: >$50 per day savings compared to sucka SUV driver
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2015, 12:23:12 PM »
While I completely agree the cost of maintaining and driving a car vs biking to work is substantial,  I think a couple of assumptions used in your calculation are unfair:

  • The serious quibble is that counting both depreciation AND car payments is essentially double counting the same costs. Even if we consider the value of the car to be zero after 4 years, depreciation still creates no additional cost to the owner beyond the cost of making the car payments over those four years. On the other hand, if the owner payed cash for the car, they would make no car payments each year, but would have to factor in the decreased value of the car each year as a result of depreciation.
  • The incredibly nickpicking quibble I have is that you're making no allowance for the depreciation of your bicycle. Does this make a huge different in the headline number? No it's probably a few cents/day at most but it would be a more even handed approach.

Thank you for this comment.  You are absolutely correct on point 1. Scroll to post script to see me correct this.  On point 2.  Depreciation = (purchase price - gains if sold)/year.  I have a bike that I bought for $0. It could be sold for probably $50-100 so I actually have negative depreciation.  You could depreciate components potentially but its just too complicated.  I agree that if you bought an expensive bike you would need to depreciate it!  It is certainly a biased post in that I am taking a real situation (my biking costs last year) compared to theoretical car commute.  Anyway, it has stimulated a ton of discussion.

I have been explaining a lot of ideas related to this on another forum.  Here is the link... http://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/994258-your-bike-commute-could-save-40-per-day.html

JLee

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Re: >$50 per day savings compared to sucka SUV driver
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2015, 12:26:33 PM »
While I completely agree the cost of maintaining and driving a car vs biking to work is substantial,  I think a couple of assumptions used in your calculation are unfair:

  • The serious quibble is that counting both depreciation AND car payments is essentially double counting the same costs. Even if we consider the value of the car to be zero after 4 years, depreciation still creates no additional cost to the owner beyond the cost of making the car payments over those four years. On the other hand, if the owner payed cash for the car, they would make no car payments each year, but would have to factor in the decreased value of the car each year as a result of depreciation.
  • The incredibly nickpicking quibble I have is that you're making no allowance for the depreciation of your bicycle. Does this make a huge different in the headline number? No it's probably a few cents/day at most but it would be a more even handed approach.

Thank you for this comment.  You are absolutely correct on point 1. Scroll to post script to see me correct this.  On point 2.  Depreciation = (purchase price - gains if sold)/year.  I have a bike that I bought for $0. It could be sold for probably $50-100 so I actually have negative depreciation.  You could depreciate components potentially but its just too complicated.  I agree that if you bought an expensive bike you would need to depreciate it!  It is certainly a biased post in that I am taking a real situation (my biking costs last year) compared to theoretical car commute.  Anyway, it has stimulated a ton of discussion.

I have been explaining a lot of ideas related to this on another forum.  Here is the link... http://www.bikeforums.net/commuting/994258-your-bike-commute-could-save-40-per-day.html

I have had negative depreciation on the last three vehicles I've sold as well ($7390->$8200, $4500->$5500, $12,000->$13,000). :)

BCBiker

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Re: >$50 per day savings compared to sucka SUV driver
« Reply #5 on: February 18, 2015, 01:32:37 PM »


I have had negative depreciation on the last three vehicles I've sold as well ($7390->$8200, $4500->$5500, $12,000->$13,000). :)

That is pretty badass! I am interested in details!

Jack

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Re: >$50 per day savings compared to sucka SUV driver
« Reply #6 on: February 18, 2015, 01:50:33 PM »
I have had negative depreciation on the last three vehicles I've sold as well ($7390->$8200, $4500->$5500, $12,000->$13,000). :)

That is pretty badass! I am interested in details!

I'm interested in details too.

I'm currently shopping for a car -- an old Miata for autocrossing -- and one thing I've noticed is that they're a lot more expensive than they "should" be (compared to book value) and that they're a lot more expensive than they were a few years ago. I think that maybe between "cash for clunkers" and the recovery from the recession, there's recently been a general trend of used cars becoming more expensive. Plus, in the specific case of the Miata, the new ones aren't as good (for autocross) so the old ones are holding their value. I wouldn't be surprised if I'd be able to re-sell the Miata for a profit in a few years, assuming I find a good deal now.