Thank Goodness for the Complimentary Carwash

Posted by Debt Destroyer on May 28, 2009

We’ve hit the road each of the last three weekends. The weather was gorgeous and we had fun destinations to look forward too. But one thing we didn’t have was air conditioning.

Luckily it wasn’t too hot yet, so the suffering was kept to a minimum. But I knew I wanted to get it fixed the next time I went in for an oil change. I figured it would just need a freon recharge and that would be that.

Ha!

We ended up having a relatively large hole in the A/C condensor. Price tag $650. I of course didn’t think twice about it, because if you remember, I thought A/C was a necessity. Me without A/C can be like Bruce Banner when he gets angry.

Then wouldn’t you know it, my alternator belts were cracked and I also needed new break pads. All of this combined had a total price tag of $989.40.

Uggh!

Now I understand why Trent @ The Simple Dollar decided to go with a new car. Used cars are great, but in a trade off for the decreased depreciation, you get the wear & tear that goes along with it.

Oh well, we still love our van. After 75,000 miles I should expect to have to put some money back into it. The repair guy said getting a hole in the A/C is a fluky thing. He said maybe a rock got sucked up there or something like that. A $1000 fluke. Hopefully there won’t be anymore flukes, just general routine maintenance.

Good thing there are emergency funds (and student loans).

Since misery loves company how about you share some of your favorite “fluke” stories. I’m sure The Happy Rock readers have some doozies to share. I guess you can also share stories on how you do everything perfect and never have to spend money on this kind of stuff, I just don’t really feel like reading those right now.

But feel free

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Cars, Spending

The Simple Dollar’s New Financed Car

Posted by Debt Destroyer on March 30, 2009

Not too long ago I wrote a post asking whether PF blog readers were looking for perfection or honesty? Just from the few comments I received it seems readers say they value honesty more than perfection.

Which is good news for us bloggers because it’s a lot easier to be honest than perfect.

We got to see this same question answered on a larger scale when Trent @ The Simple Dollar wrote about buying a new car, a 2009 Prius. And while quite a few comments admired Trent’s honesty it looks like a lot more were expecting perfection.

Knowing that TSD has one of the higher PF blog readerships, most of you are probably already up to speed on the situation. But in case you don’t follow that blog here’s what happened:

Trent was in the market for a car.
He spent a long time doing research.
He crunched the numbers.
He bought a 2009 Toyota Prius (w/financing).
He got a lot of grief on his blog.

I have to admit that I was surprised by his decision.

I also have to admit I enjoyed reading the comments that were blasting him. I think this was in part because I’m usually on the receiving end of that situation, so it was fun to see somebody else take a hit once in a while.

But after actually reading Trent’s detailed analysis of this purchase, I had no problem with it. Here’s why:

He stated they were looking for a commuter car with great fuel economy. – it seems to me that the Prius is right near the top of every fuel economy chart I’ve seen.
He said they had enough in savings to pay for the whole thing. – A long time ago I asked what people thought of interest free financing offers. To me it looks like Trent would be a fan of interest free offers, since his savings gets him 3% and his loan is at 4%. A few days later he posted his own thoughts on this subject.
The car is cool - A friend of my wife drives a Prius and my wife is always telling me how cool it is. Who doesn’t like cool things?
I don’t really give a darn. – Ok, clearly I do since I left a comment and I’m writing about it now. But what I mean to say is that it is Trent’s life and he’ll have to live with the consequences of his decision, not me. Personally I think one of the worst financial decisions I’ve made was buying our current van . That is because it was more than we could afford. Somehow I doubt that Trent will feel the same way (since he’s sitting on a pile of cash).

While it’s true that you can find posts on TSD about how great it feels to pay cash for cars, there is also a post from last April where Trent gave a rational for not paying in full.

Also, remember that what you have saved for a down payment isn’t necessarily what you have to pay. If you have 40% saved up and can get an astoundingly low interest rate with only paying 20%, you don’t have to cough up that extra 20% – keep it for your emergency fund or for saving for the next car you’ll have to buy.

I understand that people disagree with Trent’s method, but the manner in which they expressed it surprised me. I couldn’t believe how many people said that he’d lost all credibility with them.

His tips are no longer useful to them…REALLY?

One thought I had is that they came down on him so hard because he is successful at what he does. It’s fun to put people on a pedestal to then knock them off of it. For example, not too long ago Frugal Dad detailed his decision to go back to extended cable service after a year of basic cable. He got 70 comments, very few agreeing with his decision, but none of them were shocked or outraged either.

So I pose the question yet again, this time without me in the center of it. Do we PF readers prefer honesty or perfection?

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Bloggers, Cars

As Long As You Can Make The Payments – You’re Fine

Posted by The Happy Rock on January 8, 2009

“I can pay all my bills each month, I am doing well.”

In a world of leased BMWs, credit cards galore, no interest credit offers, and high standards of living, what does it really mean to ‘live within your means’?

We all might have our own definition, but I wanted lay out what I think it means and see what others think.

The prevailing definition seems to be living on less than you make. Living within your means is much more than just being able to meet your bills each month. What type of bills you have matters immensely. If you have a huge car loan for a $30,000 new mini-van and you make $50,000 a year, I am arguing that you are living outside of your means.

Living within your means = Only purchasing items that you can buy with cash

This includes cars, vacations, mortgages…everything. The only means you have is the income you take home each paycheck. So if you take on any debt, it means you are living outside what you can actually afford. If you have debt it means you lived outside of your means at some point and are still paying for it. Payments for cars and TVs are debt and proof that you couldn’t afford the item. I know we like to stick our head in the sand to forget about debt and only see payments, but debt it is real and it is an extremely heavy burden. It might be hard to hear, but it is the truth.

Using that definition I am still living outside of my means because I still have a mortgage. If we scraped every spare penny at applied it to our mortgage, we might be able to pay it off in three years. That sounds to me like I bought something I couldn’t afford.

I suspect most of us are ok with getting a mortgage, which is fine, but the whole point is that we need to reclaim our financial language to represent real financial sense not the distorted consumerist mess that we espouse today.

What do you think?

» Filed Under Cars, Debt Elimination, Psychology of Debt, Psychology of Spending

Gas Prices – The Silver Lining of the Recession

Posted by Debt Destroyer on November 20, 2008

I saw something tonight that I didn’t think I ever would see again.

Gas under $2/gallon.

This summer when we were paying $4/gallon, it was just understood that high gas prices were here to stay. With rising demands from China & India we needed to get used to paying these kind of prices. People traded in their gas guzzlers for hybrids. Others bought scooters.

Then the economy tanked and “cheap” gas is back.

It’ll be interesting to see if people maintain their new conserving ways or will they revert back to old habits where mpg was an after-thought?

History shows us that when the gas lines of the 1970s retreated, they took the fad of the “little car” with them. I for one hope that we don’t return to our old gas guzzling ways.

Don’t get me wrong, I prefer paying the lower prices. But if we truly want to cut our dependency on foreign oil, we need to increase our vehicles’ fuel efficiency.

It’s ironic then that the Big Three automakers are being raked over the coals in Washington (as they beg for a bailout) for not producing vehicles for a $4/gal world, when we are no longer in that world.

I also find it ironic that, according to the news, if it wasn’t for the credit crunch (which our trusty financial institutions helped create and were bailed out for doing so) that the automakers would be still OK. But their own bail-out isn’t looking as promising.

Sometimes I can’t tell if irony is supposed to be funny or sad.

For those of you employed by the auto industry, I sincerely hope you are able to weather this storm. Speaking as someone who was recently laid off, it’s not fun. But it’s not the end of the world either.

Hopefully this historic industry doesn’t become history itself.

I don’t think it will.

What about you? How long do you think “cheap” gas will be around? Do you think we changed our ways? Do you think The Big 3 will make it?

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under Cars, Money Savers

A New Twist to Selling the Van – A Bailout Plan

Posted by Debt Destroyer on October 9, 2008

Another page has been added to our selling the van story. You long time readers can skip ahead, but if you want to catch up here is the first part, and here is the second part.

Now for the third installment of “Will They or Won’t They?”

I was having dinner at my parents house a couple of weeks ago and my Mom asked how we were doing financially. I gave her my pat answer that I always give her,

“Just fine.”

But then I made the mistake of offering a little more.

“But we’ll be in much better shape after we sell the van.”

That set off her maternal alarms:

“What’s wrong?”
“But I thought you liked your van?”
“Is the business not doing good?”

After I calmed her down, I did my best to explain to her what our plan was:

Sell the van ($15,500).
Pay off the $11,000 grand we still owed, which would eliminate the $330 monthly payment.
Buy a $4500 vehicle and save up for a nicer vehicle.

She thought I had lost my mind.

I knew a lot of people wouldn’t like our plan (especially her), so I didn’t really give her protest much thought, until…

Later that night she called me up and asked if we were seriously going to sell our van? I assured her we were, right after Native American Day (in South Dakota, Columbus Day = Native American Day). She then proceeds to tell me how much I will regret that decision because I’ll end up with a junker that I’ll have to throw money at and this will money saving idea will backfire in my face.

She then made the offer…to pay off our van.

“What’s the catch?” I asked. She said there wasn’t one. $5000 would be from my money my Dad left me that I gave her to hold onto. And the other $6,000 would be from money my Grandma left my Mom to spend however she wanted.

I was a little fishy right away because where was this offer two years ago when we started my wife’s business and needed almost exactly this amount of money. Plus I could’ve swore I used up all the money my Dad left me for a down payment on our house. I mentioned this to her, and she said she’d check into it. Then I said how about she give just my Dad’s money to me so then I’d have enough for a $9500 vehicle after selling the van. She didn’t like the sound of that.

I knew it was fishy.

Another problem was that I had really wanted to do the responsible thing and sell the vehicle, learn from our mistake, and sacrifice for the next few years until we could afford another used van. But now a personal bailout plan is offered and I’m rather confused.

I know Frugal Dad recently wrote a post saying that you shouldn’t lend relatives money, but what about the flip-side of that coin? and what if it’s not a loan?

Even though it’s fishy, I’m thinking of taking her up on it. We don’t really want to sell our van, the whole point was to get rid of the payment, and this would accomplish that. So Happy Rock Readers I turn to you once again…

What would you do? Are there any pros & cons that I’m missing? Have any of you accepted a “bailout” before? If so, how did it turn out?

I thank you in advance for any responses and please stay tuned for the next episode of “Will They or Won’t They?”

Until next time,

-DD

» Filed Under About Me, Cars, Children and Money, Debt Elimination, Serving Others

How I Found A Good Auto Mechanic

Posted by The Happy Rock on September 14, 2008

While my tires were being installed by my local Sunoco they mentioned that both front struts and the left outer tie rod needed to be replaced. I had seen some oil in the right wheel well, so the struts weren’t too far out of the question, but tie rods are a notorious rip off part to replace. The quote was almost $700 for just parts, so I told him just to install the tires. He obliged, but now I had to get the new work checked out and done.

I had been wanting to try a new mechanic for a while and this seemed like a good oppurtunity. I had been happy with my current mechanic and felt that they were honest, but I didn’t feel like they did a good enough job with preventive maitenance or finding existing problems while it was in for other stuff. Also, who knows what I could be missing if I could find a great mechanic.

With that settled, now I had to go through the scary prospect of finding a new mechanic. Here is how I found a new mechanic:

1. Ask all friends and neighbors. An excellent review from a trusted source is about the best you can hope for. Really positive and really negative recommendations are the most helpful, but things like ‘my mechanic is OK’ isn’t particularly useful. I had already tapped my network and hadn’t found anyone that made me want to switch.

2. Paid rating services. Angie’s List and Checkbook.org are at the top of the list. I have seen mixed reviews about Angie’s list and I personally don’t like the business model. Checkbook is only in limited areas, but I have read that the library often carries their magazine. I hadn’t used either and didn’t want to pay for the information, so it was on to step three.

3. Free Auto Mechanic Review Websites. Car Talk’s Mechanic’s Files was the best in terms of content, ease of use, and number of reviews. I was able to find a few great leads and was able to narrow it down to two. If you are interested in trying some of the other sites, just google for “car mechanic reviews” and search a few of the first page sites. I found a little extra information between them all, but no particular site was worth a mention.

4. Call The Mechanic. I called the first mechanic and I was impressed with the counter women and the time he took to give me an accurate quote and the honesty with which he treated me. I prefer a mechanic that is willing to take their time to talk me through the problems and my options and even show my parts when I pick up the car if I ask. No need to try the second mechanic, I set up an appointment.

He confirmed the problems and fixed both front struts, the tie rod, and completed a full digital alignment for $869.94. Big bill, but it was right in line with what I expected and was going to be much cheaper than the Sunoco which originally found the problem. The alignment also came with the before and after computer printout, which added to my opinion that he is honest and doing a complete job.

Do the readers have any other tips they have used to find a good mechanic?

» Filed Under Cars

Tire Lessons From A Nissan Murano And A TireRack.com Review

Posted by The Happy Rock on September 9, 2008

I have learned a thing or two about tires since I had to replace the tires on our 2003 Nissan Murano last year. First, Muranos and by and large most modern cars are equipping larger tires which are more costly. I assume it is for safety and handling purposes, but it sure does hurt the wallet. Muranos have standard 18 inch tires which generally cost $200 a tire. I had some quotes in the $250 range. A year ago the best price I could find was at the Costco tire center for Michelin – Cross Terrain® SUV at $168 a tire(installation included). I wrote about buying tires from Costco a few months back if you are interested. The total job ran $600 with their $80 off coupon. Tires are very important, so I was happy to get the best price around and thought I would not have to worry about tires for 2-3 years or so.

Well, after only a year the tires were almost completely bald! The warranty was for 65,000 miles. So why did my tires wear out so quickly?

Alignment – I never got the car aligned after the new tires were put on. Coscto doesn’t do alignment and I forgot about it. Alignments need to be done when new tires are put on. I got it done after this new set and it was way out of line.
Missing Maintenance – I only got the tires rotated once in 23,000 miles. Inexperience and the hustle of life got the best of me, especially because Costco does it for free. The warranty required owners to rotate and rebalance every 6,000 miles. Ouch, costly mistake. Ruined tires and voided a warranty.
Buying Performance Tires – I didn’t know it at the time, but the tires that I bought were performance SUV tires. Performance sounds great as it means better handling which comes partly because of softer rubber. Softer rubber means shorter life span and requires you to be more on top of rotation. I learned that I don’t need performance tire on my SUV, but rather a quality standard all season tire. Most people I talked to weren’t surprised that I only got about 25,000 miles out of performance tires.

Ok, stupid tax paid and lesson learned. Now I had to shell out $600 again in a little over a year. This time I was able to get a better price on Tire Rack than at Costco.

Tire Rack Review

The best part was that the most inexpensive tires the Kuhmo Solus KR21 All Seasons had a great rating(8.4 out of 10). I ordered four tires for $376 plus $42.20 in shipping. I also used a 4% TireRack rebate from Mr. Rebates to save an extra $15 dollars.

The Tire Rack website also helps you ship to a local dealer and gives you price estimates. I shipped to my local Sunoco gas station which offered an estimate of $16-20 a tire. Shipping was quick, they were there in two days and I scheduled an appointment. They actually charged me $25 a tire, but I forgot to ask why because I was in a rush. The entire process was quite simply and only cost me a total of $525. I say only not because $525 is chump change, but because it is the best price in town.

So next time you are looking for tires be sure to check out Tire Rack.

» Filed Under Cars, Frugality, Money Savers

Do Larger Tires Get Better Gas Mileage?

Posted by The Happy Rock on September 9, 2008

Frugal science question of the day.

Do larger tires equate to better gas mileage?

Discuss. Let’s pull out our 8th grade physics and see what we come up with.

» Filed Under Cars, Misc.

Sometimes You Just Don’t Feel Like Saving Money

Posted by The Happy Rock on June 17, 2008

Blasphemy, I know…but it is true. I am not talking about some calculation that I do in me head that says doing X isn’t worth the time for the money, but about blatant laziness or avoidance. Sometimes when certain moods strike I am just unwilling to put in a little extra effort to save another dollar or two.

Three incidents stand out in my mind from the last week or two :

I can remember about a week ago realizing that I had not been charged the sale price on ice cream. I was already in the car with the groceries and my son and I didn’t feel like going back in for the $1.50.
I was at a flea market with my brother-in-law, who currently makes his living off eBay, and I just did not feel like haggling. I was just buying a small toy for The Pebble and I knew I could get it probably %50 or more cheaper than I did. I just paid full price.
Price Protectr had emailed that the price on a recently purchased book had dropped about a dollar, but I avoided sending a quick email multiple times until I finally let it go.

I know the money involved in these three examples is minor, but the same thing occasionally happens with larger money returns and other random finance activities. The bigger the purchase, like a car, the more detrimental the behavior. I am usually not hard on myself, because I know that my energy for such activities was invested into other areas of life that are more important. With that said I do see an oppurtunity for growth. The oppurtunity to just summon a little extra strength when I see a similar lackadaisical situation developing. Even reaching deep within myself to overcome my shyness and make the extra call or haggle that I sometimes avoid because of my personality foible. Now that I have made a public declaration my weakness, I will be more strengthened to tackle the problem in upcoming siutations.

Does anyone else every feel the same way? Got any examples?

» Filed Under About Me, Cars, Frugality, Productivity(Financial)

Buying Tires From Costco – Great Price + Good Service

Posted by The Happy Rock on June 10, 2008

Yesterday, I replaced all four tires on my 1994 Nissan Sentra at my local Costco to the tune of $245. First I had to decide if I wanted to put that much money into a care that isn’t worth much more that $500, but that is a post in and of itself. Ultimately tires aren’t something you want to skimp and cut corners on because they are integral to your cars safety.

*Update(1/09) – I have also had a bad experience with buying from Costco and was quite happy with TireRack.com.

Now, why Costco you ask?

Best price around. I did my homework and they were able to give me the best price even without any coupon or specials. The quoted price was $305. This is the same price that it would have cost at Tire Rack a popular direct tire website. Through Tire Rack the off brand import tires would have been cheaper at $203($31 shipping), but the installation would have cost ~$102 more at my local Sunoco.
Specials. Costco often runs ads in their monthly mailer and web site for $60 off a set of four or buy four get one free. Here is the deal that is running in June 2008.
Free services. “Lifetime services that extend throughout the life of the tires you purchase. (Some limits may apply). These Lifetime services include inflation pressure checks, tire balancing, tire rotations, as well as flat repairs.” *
Name brand Michelin X Radial Tire for $55 a piece.
Tires filed with nitrogen for free. This is what the green cap on the valve stem means. Consumer Reports magazine published data on a nitrogen experiment. Tires filled with nitrogen lost less pressure than those with air, losing 2.2 pounds a square inch per year, compared with 3.5 for air.” **
Free Road Hazard Warranty – Click here for more details.
Good service. You have to go on off hours since they only do first come first serve, but the staff is very friendly and knowledgeable.
In stock and no wait. Costco has most tire types in stock and you don’t have to wait for shipping as you would with tire direct web sites.
I already have history with them when they were the lowest price($800) on a set of 18 inch tire for our Nissan Murano.

The service took a little longer than expected. It was closer to 2 hours rather than the hour they quoted, but the boys and I made do at the shopping center. It is amazing how much different a car feels with brand new quality tire on it. So next time you need tires, be sure to check out the local Costco for a price comparison if you have on.

* Source – http://tires.costco.com/TireInformation.xhtml?pn=CostCoAdvantage

** Source – http://blogs.consumerreports.org/cars/2007/10/nitrogen-tires-.html

*** That is my little junker with the donut tire!

» Filed Under Cars, Money Savers

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