Cheap Used Cars

Car payments will eat you alive. Get a car you can pay cash for. My daily driver is worth about $500. Everything is cheaper for an older car - repairs, insurance, taxes, and no payments. The savings are enormous.

My car is about 20 years old. In my country it's far more normal to buy a cheap car outright (say 2.5k USD) rather than get a lease or a loan for a new car (say 25k USD).There's nothing wrong with it, i'm not sure why i'd want a newer one.

That's right. For example, an expensive new car isn't much better than a 3 year old used one, and the difference is a big chunk of money to invest. (And also being able to invest money rather than spend it on the interest on car payments.)

It's a good question. Three things:1) Your TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) for a cheap used car can't be $100/month. If you look at Kelley Blue Book or similar websites, they'll tell you that even super cheap cars like that 2005 Ford Focus will still cost you $300-400/month, all included.2) I almost died in a car accident two years ago, and a result, I value car security way more than before, which means I wouldn't mind paying $35,000 for a very safe car (assumi

A cheaper car to buy, not a cheaper car to own

Are you forgetting that used housing and cars are cheaper? Nobody is forcing you to buy a brand new car.

Use some of the money saved from not buying a new car. Or buy a second cheap car :)

Aren't you forgetting the cost of gas+parking+title+insurance+maintenance?

People buying cars for $20,000 are generally not people who can invest twice upfront for lower maintenance costs over the next ten years. Being poor (relatively speaking) is expensive, especially when you are financing.

We don't buy. We lease and change for a new car every 3-4 years. I consider vehicle the same type of expense as Netflix. More expensive of course but it just goes to the same 'expense' category as other subscriptions.