AndySTX

First of all, forgive me. I'm home from work with an injured knee and I'm taking some medication that is leaving me feeling very 'happy'.

I used to have a work vehicle so my personal truck, my 2013 Supercrew FX4, was rarely driven. A year ago my work car was discontinued and my drive to work is about 100 miles a day, round trip. I decided instead of driving the truck 100 miles a day I would purchase a second vehicle that was more economical. At the time gas prices were a bit higher than they are now. I ended up purchasing a new 2014 Ford Focus. The car stickered for over $20,000 but I ended up paying $15,500 out the door. My monthly payment on that car is $275.00

In the year I've had that car I've put 18,000 miles on it. The truck, in the almost 2 years I've owned it, has a little under 6,000 miles on it. It's an expensive garage queen for sure but I'm single and have to keep it for dates. If I show up in the Focus I'll never get a second date ha ha!!

I've tried to decide from time to time whether I should sell the truck to eliminate that payment. Having the two vehicles (actually 3, but the Harley is paid for) certainly makes me 'car poor'. So I'm basically thinking out loud on the forum.

So here's my justification. With the current mileage of the car at 18000 miles @ 36mpg and the mileage of the truck @ 6000 miles @ 18mpg, the mileage of the truck if I only had one vehicle would be at about 24000 miles.

At a cost of $3.00 for gas it would have cost me $1,500.00 for car and would have been $3,000 for truck, so in one year I saved approximately $1,500 in gas (these numbers, including gas price and mpg are all approximate, the car mpg is actually a little higher and the truck a little lower, just rounding numbers).

Checking KBB value for selling privately, it shows a value of $42237 value with 6000 miles and a value of 40237 with 24000 miles in excellent condition (I know, this value isn't really realistic, in fact if anybody wants to pay me $42237 for it I'll sell it tomorrow lol), so according to KBB the difference in value with the current mileage vs if it had 24000 miles on it would be about $2000.

Using these (very basic) numbers it's pretty reasonable to say that I've saved $1500.00 real dollars (fuel cost) and $2000.00 in higher value on the truck for a total of $3500.00. At $275.00 a month, in one year I will have paid $3,300.00 in payments on the car. The maintenance on the car is cheaper but of course I have to insure the car so the numbers aren't exact but all in all, I think it's a pretty good wash.

Sorry to waste 5 minutes of your life that you can never get back.....just wondering if I'm the only one that has crunched numbers like this to justify a garage queen. I'm not really wanting to sell it but I sure look forward to the day that I don't have the payment one way or another.

tanked_darren

I have a car and a truck as well. Sometimes I drive the car, sometimes I drive the truck.

It's nice to have a backup.

77Ranger460

I am single and have 7 nice vehicles on the road.....2 trucks, 2 cars, 2 Harleys, and a Jeep.... My justification is that I want them.

justjimmy

Honesty.

Z7What

When I have a 2003 F-150 that was lifted on 38"s and supercharged I was spending $160 a week(9-10MPG) in fuel going back and forth to work, almost 40 miles each way. I ended up buy a cheap DD. I bought a 89 Mustang LX with the 2.3L in it for $1700. The truck got 10MPG, the car got 23MPG and I could run 89 octane vs 93 in the F-150. Basically in 3 months the car paid for itself in savings, being as the truck was paid off it was a no brainer to have the DD. Went from putting 75miles a day on the truck to 6K in 2 years.

I like the idea of having a DD to keep the more expensive vehicle nice longer and the value up but spending that much on a DD doesn't make since to me unless money isn't a issue. In your case it seams that money is a issue. If I was in your shoes I would look into selling the focus and getting a cheaper DD. I ended up trading the Mustang in after 3 years which paid the taxes on a 2007 Ranger I bought. I then decided to sell the F-150 which I took the money and paid off the Ranger and my wifes car and put money in the bank. At this point I ended up getting a job that was ALOT closer to home, so I drove the Ranger a couple years then sold it to a coworker for $5500 and used that as a down payment on my current F-150. The Ranger had 135K, ran perfect, had some mods, ice cold A/C, it was the perfect DD! My coworker still owns it. Basically what im saying is why not sell the 15K vehicle and get a 5-6K vehicle thats still very reliable and gets good gas mileage. That way your saving some money each month and it allows you to keep your truck for dates and still have a DD to keep the truck "fresh".

Wayne

Mike.357

I am doing the second car thing too.

I bought my wife a newer used car, single owner 2007 Fusion with 65K on it. So that left her 2002 Taurus sitting in the driveway. I had planned to sell it. It is worth about $2000.

I thought a better idea was for me to drive it to commute. 20 miles each way, or 12000 a year just to get back and forth to work. The Taurus has 175,000 on the clock. If I can get a coule of years out of it I think I come out way ahead. That is 25000 less on the truck.

It has cost me about 50 bucks so far in supplies to clean it, and a few bucks to fix the windshield washer. Insurance is an extra 40 bucks per month and I had to re-register it which cost $60. I think it needs some suspension work too. So even if I end up in the Taurus with $1000 in repairs to get to 25000 more miles I still feel I come out ahead.
I think better MPG will offset the cost of insurance.

I feel like I am cheating on the truck though, LOL

Al Czervik Construct

Get rid of the focus and get a beater Honda Civic or Accord. Your problem is the 2 payments. Your commuter should have one purpose getting you to and from work. You need something you can just drive into the ground.

jetrep

It doesn't sound like you are factoring in resale value of the Focus. I find it best to create a spreadsheet and pick a number of years to consider (such as what will total costs/results be after four years). Factor in maintenance estimates and insurance/registration

Ricktwuhk

Making two payments on vehicles where one sits makes no sense. A daily driver needs to be a car with no payments, and ideally lower insurance cost (i.e. no collision coverage because it's not worth it). Your situation makes no economic sense.

EcoBoostJake

I ran into a similar problem this spring with my wife. We had two cars if you don't count the motorcycles. (never count the motorcycles!!) She was rocking an 09 CRV w/ 60k and around 23mpg. While I was running my 2011 4x4 Eco w/100k and around 17 mpg.



I was unwilling to drive her sluggish CRV with the slightly better MPG, as I like to keep my tools with me. (I work in an office at a computer, but still feel the need to have a drill, saw, hammer, axe etc.) However driving my truck 65+ miles a day was killing us on unnecessary fuel costs.


We put together a spreadsheet with the monthly savings and then the estimated value w/ miles after 5 and 10 years. We did not take the time to factor in insurance or yearly maintenance, but it gave us a reasonable starting point.



The above shows the monthly cost based on my commute when we looked at gas and monthly car payment between my truck, her CRV and a generic 2015 hatchback. It sounds like you already did most of this, but I found it much easier to view in a spreadsheet.


We ended up getting a 2015 Honda Fit and I am getting closer to 43 mpg for my daily commute! At the current rate, we should look at coming out pretty close to even by the time our 5 year loan is paid off.





Now while I certainly like driving my truck better, the little Honda is nicer in traffic and much nicer at the pump.