Should I get a new car?

[waverly]

Technically, I guess we can afford payment so affordability isn't an issue.

Car that I own now- Let's call it Car A
Car I might buy- Car B

Car A
I owe 10K on it
Has 45,000 miles
Is a gas car
Price of gas is 35-55 a week depending on price, so lets say $200 a month.
Because of the weird used car bubble, I can sell it for 27K

Car B
Priced at 40 something, with tax lets say about 45-47K
I would have a 17K profit on Car A, so the price would be about 30K
In stock
Electric car- no gas price, and I don't drive enough to increase electric bill, so eliminates the $200 a month for gas
Would have a car payment for longer though, but approximately same per month as Car A.
7500 tax credit, not sure how those work.  

We would have 2 electric cars, so we would alternate charging nights which might be a problem.  Road trips are longer with charging, but doable I guess.  What happens in a regional black out if we have no gas car options?  Or other emergencies?  We live in a low risk area though for fires and zero risk of hurricanes, low risk for flooding, so not sure why we would have to evacuate.  

I haven't really thought through the math, so hence my post.  

45 price- 17 profit- 7500 tax = 20.5K, and I owe 10K on my car plus $200 gas per month.  So I guess I would need to keep new car for 5 years to even out the gas price?  Approx? But what about all those extra years with a car payment?  

[orval]

I personally, would not have two all electric cars. The US is not ready with electric charging readily available. I do not like road trips with our EV. Takes too long to charge/sometimes all the chargers are full and you have to wait. Plus it doesn't really sound like a great financial decision either.

[Deleted]

I also don’t love the idea of two electric cars. Is a plug-in hybrid an option?

[lemoncupcake]

Agree with the other two responses - I would look at a lug in hybrid or a traditional hybrid, but not another full electric.

If you have the longer commute, can you drive the electric you already have?

[waverly]

We haven’t looked at a plug in hybrid, so thanks I will consider it. My previous car before car A was a regular hybrid.

DH is the one pushing car B, and I’ve said no keep car A, but of course the high price of gas weakens my argument. I do like my current car.

Unfortunately, he loves his electric car, so I don’t usually get to drive it for my commute. He works from home but lately has been driving farther for his side hustle.

[imojoebunny]

I would do nothing in your shoes. You have a car with 45K miles. You have to spend $200 a month on gas, sure, but that is 8+ years of $200 payments on a car to get to $20K. You do not say how old the car is, but I assume it is in solid working order, since 45K miles. You like your current car. Stick with it. You can drive it, and once it is paid off, save to buy a new car, without having a payment, which is a super fun thing.

[curbsideprophet]

How old is car A? It does not sound like you need a new car. Is the main reason you even considering this the current price of gas?

I would not buy a new car just based on the price of gas today.

[sadlebred]

I'd keep Car A til it died then maybe the US will have better EV infrastructure.

[steamboat185]

I’d keep car A.

[waverly]

May 24, 2022 21:15:30 GMT -5 curbsideprophet said:

How old is car A? It does not sound like you need a new car. Is the main reason you even considering this the current price of gas?

I would not buy a new car just based on the price of gas today.

I don’t need a new car. This is DH’s great idea. I’ve said no for a while now but just trying to think through his possible reasoning. I’ve asked him to put the topic to rest.

[sillygoosegirl]

I vote keep car A, but leave it at home and drive DH's car whenever he isn't going to be using it (or will be driving a shorter distance than you would).

In our house, there is simply no longer any notion of "his" car and "her" car, and that just feels really outdated to me. They are just the gas car and the electric car. We use the electric car for everything it can handle, and if both cars are going out at once (rare for us), we try to plan ahead so the electric car goes the longer distance. Road trips are either the gas car or we borrow/rent (if it's further than we want to drive our 23-year-old clunker).

[minzy]

I would not necessarily make the switch because of the price of gas, but because I’m trying to get off of carbon-based fuel (not to be dramatic, but that’s something humanity needs to do if we are to survive as a species long-term). However, there is a lot of carbon based energy that goes into the production of even a new electric car (hello, steel, and of course, also the mining for batteries) so that it’s not a black and white issue, but much more nuanced. As with a lot of things in the sustainability arena, the best choice for the environment is often the thing you already own. However, if you were to switch, I believe the cleanest way to do that is to buy a used electric (How to Save a Planet did a podcast episode on that). So is perhaps a Car C an option?

I’d think about what your driving needs truly are (how often do you do a long road trip?), what your region’s charging infrastructure currently looks like (there are some deserts out there) and then maybe give some additional weight to your husband’s opinion/motivations, as he is the one actually driving an electric car already. And not to be totally cheeky, but maybe it’s personally worth offloading a gas car while there is “still” a market for them. I did feel a minor sense of relief when we sold our last internal combustion engine vehicle, likely the last one we’d ever own (to a guy who was vastly improving his own gas mileage).

Signed, full electric + plug in hybrid family

[waverly]

Great points, minzy . If DH continues to push the issue, I will direct him to the plug in hybrid possibly used. I am not sure of the infrastructure for the electric car he wanted me to get which is the ID4. We are also buying our electric from a solar farm. He is a strong environmentalist, and I agree with him, but he is also comfortable spending more than me. And with 8 billion people on the planet, we are not going to single handedly save the world. That will take legislation/ regulation.

sillygoosegirl , DH is very type A driver personality, so me having my own car means that is an area where I get to make decisions. Otherwise, I think he would take over and make decisions for me. Not to say we are at marriage crisis level, but he will definitely bulldoze his way through if he can.  

[goldengirlz]

May 24, 2022 23:26:39 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

I vote keep car A, but leave it at home and drive DH's car whenever he isn't going to be using it (or will be driving a shorter distance than you would).

In our house, there is simply no longer any notion of "his" car and "her" car, and that just feels really outdated to me. They are just the gas car and the electric car. We use the electric car for everything it can handle, and if both cars are going out at once (rare for us), we try to plan ahead so the electric car goes the longer distance. Road trips are either the gas car or we borrow/rent (if it's further than we want to drive our 23-year-old clunker).

I mean, there could be practical reasons for his/her cars. For instance, H and I both have parking permits that are attached to our cars (not the driver) so we can’t park at work unless we’re driving “our” car.

Also, H and I have separate finances. I bought my car using money I earned and saved and didn’t take a cent from him. If it were up to him, I’d still be driving a car that was so old it didn’t have backup cameras and in lieu of USB ports, I had to use some bulbous thing that plugged into the cigarette lighter port (I think that’s the term for that.) So, yeah, while his name is on it for legal/practical purposes, that car is my baby. 😀

Otherwise, I agree with you that we often make decisions about which car to take on weekends based on whether it makes more sense to drive the EV or the hybrid.

[savan]

May 24, 2022 23:26:39 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

I vote keep car A, but leave it at home and drive DH's car whenever he isn't going to be using it (or will be driving a shorter distance than you would).

In our house, there is simply no longer any notion of "his" car and "her" car, and that just feels really outdated to me. They are just the gas car and the electric car. We use the electric car for everything it can handle, and if both cars are going out at once (rare for us), we try to plan ahead so the electric car goes the longer distance. Road trips are either the gas car or we borrow/rent (if it's further than we want to drive our 23-year-old clunker).

This is exactly what we do.  Our electric car is technically DH’s in that he picked it out two years ago to replace the car he was driving to work.  Now, with rising gas prices and DH WFH 3 days per week, we prioritize driving the electric car whenever possible and I drive it more than our gas SUV.  Eventually we plan to get a second electric car but that is still a few years away.

[wildrice]

I would keep A, and tell my H that he's being too controlling about things. If he's not willing to share, he has no business telling you what you should do.

In my household the person with the longer commute would take the car that uses less gas. That's what we did when we had 2 cars. It meant I drove the older/less nice car but it just made sense, both financially and because the person spending more time in the car deserved to have the better experience (IMO). When he wasn't commuting, I took the newer car for errands/social/etc stuff.