Move to NYC for 1 year. Keep/sell car?

[cube.37]

Hi all,

My wife and I might be moving down to NYC for a very short period. We will probably be there for about 1 year, then plan on moving back out to a Boston suburb where we will be buying a car.

I don't know much about cars and was hoping someone here could help out who knows about both NYC and the cost of car transactions.

Would it be cheaper to keep the car for a year and find some long term storage somewhere, or sell it then buy a new one in a year?

We have no nearby family (closest is in Texas), and have a pretty new Honda CRV with about 40k miles (i think).

Thank you all in advance!

[fiscalphile]

Hi!

My now-husband and I moved together to NYC four years ago. I sold my car then, but in retrospect it was totally unnecessary to sell. We actually just bought a car here in the city a few months ago.

If you plan to live in Manhattan, the cost of parking is crazy! I would never bother with a car there. We live on the Brooklyn/ Queens border though, and street parking is plentiful and free. We can park 6 days in a row in any one spot before having to move our car for street-sweeping.

We prefer to have a car mainly to get out of the city on the weekends. There is so much natural beauty surrounding the city only accessible via a car. It is also nice for things like grocery shopping.

Hope that helps!

[Dollar Slice]

I agree with fiscalphile that it depends where in NYC you'll be living. There are places where you can park on the street without too much trouble. And there are places where you'd be happier not having a car.

I know two people who live in Manhattan and have expensive cars (one BMW and one high-end SUV) and they are paying $400+ a month to park it.

If you're moving to a denser neighborhood where parking isn't easy, I guess I'd look into the pricing of car storage where you live (or maybe somewhere cheaper than where you live that's in between BOS and NYC) and see if that is more or less money than you'd lose by selling and then re-buying.

[Ocinfo]

If in Manhattan, sell as it's too expensive to park anywhere. If you're outside the city then it's a bit of a toss up. I would still suggest selling unless you have a real need for a car. Can easily rent a car for weekend trips.

Since it's a newer car, take it to CarMax and get a quote (they can be really good for cars in great condition). You then have 7 days to list it on Craigslist for a few grand more than they offered. If it doesn't sell, take it back to CarMax and they'll cut you a check and out you walk.

If you keep the car and park on the street, expect your bumpers to lose a lot of paint and if you're lucky that's all that will happen. Good chance a mirror gets hit, etc...(source: park my car on the street in DC).


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[cube.37]

Thanks a ton everyone. We are planning on living in manhattan, probably between my wife's and my job so we can each just walk to work 5-10 min. I guess keeping the car with us is not the right choice then.

Do any of you know how much it would cost to sell a car, then buy a similar car 1 year later? I'm asking, because the other option would be to ship it down to texas (we shipped it up from Texas for ~$800) for a year, then ship it back up when we move out of the city for a total cost of about $1600.

Thanks again everyone for your helpful responses.

[madamwitty]

Don't forget about the cost of insurance and registration. Keeping it "just in case" is not necessarily cheap.

When I lived in Boston for a couple years I ended up transferring ownership of the car to my in-laws (and they drove it, insured it) and then they transferred it back to me when I returned.

[RobFIRE]

I'd agree that if you have to pay to park the car, sell the car.

If parking is free, it's a judgement between the cost of insurance, servicing & depreciation versus the transaction cost to sell then buy. If the stay in NYC could be more than a year I'd be inclined to sell. If you really like the car and would rebuy something very similar and the stay is not likely to be longer, I might keep it, bearing in mind most cars need to be driven every week or so or have a battery trickle charger attached.

[Dave1442397]

Sell it and buy a new one when you need it. I never owned anything but a beater when I lived and drove around NYC.

[250kto1million]

I live in Fort Hamilton, probably the most suburban area of the city and don't have a car. I don't know why anyone would. Parking, even though it's free down here, is still insane, what with trying to find a spot and dealing with tight spaces. I've never even felt the need to rent, what with Uber and Lyft and Zip Cars. My vote is, don't get one.

[Davids]

Sell your car. If you have the need to use one for a day the cost of renting for a day would not be bad. Once you move back then get yourself the same year CRV. It should then probably cost the same as what you got for it. Or buy a CRV model that is 2-3 years older than your current year model and save a few bones.