How To Own A Nice Car For Less
How can you own a nice car for a lot less?
Should you be impressed with someone that has a nice car?
How do you measure the ownership cost of your car?
What is a warranty worth?
Should you lease or own?
Can you save money on an electric car?
How does your car fit in your life priorities?
You’ll learn the answers to these questions in my latest video and podcast episode and what I recommend to my clients that want to save money on their car.
Ed
Planning With Ed
Ed Rempel has helped thousands of Canadians become financially secure. He is a fee-for-service financial planner, tax accountant, expert in many tax & investment strategies, and a popular and passionate blogger.
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Hi Rahim,
Glad you found my blog useful.
We use a different metric – cost of purchasing car / years of ownership. For example, a $24,000 car owned for 8 years is $3,000/year. If the trade-in value is significant, you can take into account the trade-in value at the end.
Decide how much you want to spend per year to buy a car, multiply by the years you will own it to get a target purchase price.
I used to be at $1,500/year for several cars, but now spend $3,000/year.
The gas & maintenance are there regardless and can complicate the car purchase decision.
Ed
Hello Ed,
Nice video and great blog!
After owning 3 used cars and always making sure the next purchase was newer than the previous one (1987, 1991, 2002) I finally bought my first new car in 2014. A Toyota Corolla 4 Door LE from the dealership, 3 year financing at 0.9%, and various upgrades.
I have been keeping track of the Total Ownership Costs since Day 1 and post the results on my blog. At the end of the day, the actual car purchase costs are maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the Total Ownership cost and I think it is also important to focus on cost per km.
My stats after 8 years of ownership are: Car cost $23,287, Insurance $12,519, Gas $7650, Maintenance+Other $4096. Total is $47,552. I have only driven it $111,017 Kms so Average cost per Km is $0.43.
As the years go buy, i’m guessing I will get it down to $0.36/Km.
It’s scary to think some Trucks or Suvs could be costing $1/Km or more!
Thanks, Rahim K
Hi Michael,
Good question. Leasing is just another form of financing a vehicle.
Whether you buy a car with a loan or a lease, you can essentially deduct all the expenses to the extent they are business-related. With a lease you are paying for the purchase cost and interest, and can deduct it. If you buy with a loan, you claim CCA to deduct the purchase cost and you can deduct the interst. The timing is a bit different, but not a lot.
The biggest difference is that leasing is almost entirely new vehicle, while you can get a loan for a used vehicle. You are exactly right that you can save a lot more by buying used, either in cash or with a loan.
New car loans often are at a low, subsidized interest, but the interest savings are usually just built into the purchase price.
The other issue with leases is that there are often fees and other costs built in. It’s hard to tell inside a lease payment. If you buy with a loan, you can more easily see all the terms and any fees.
When you lease, there is a tendency to get a new lease as soon as your lease expires. There are usually mileage fees if you drive too much. There is a large lease buyout to own it, so it is temting to just lease again.
When you buy a car with a loan, the best times are the years inbetween loans. You buy with a 3-year or 5-year loan and keep the car for 8-10 years. That means you have 5+ years with no car payment when you have more money – or you can save more for your other goals, such as retirement.
Since you have leased your car, the best strategy usually is to buy it out at the end of the lease (cash or loan) and keep it 5+ years longer.
Ed
Hi Deb,
That’s exactly how to do it. Thanks for sharing.
Ed
Thanks for your comment, Mark!
Ed
Hi Decthirty,
I agree buying cars today is not a normal market – for either new or used.
Most of the time, buying a car for 50% off the new price means it is 3-4 years old. You can get them with low mileage so you still have many years of ownership.
In today’s market, buying a car for 50% off the new price means you are probably buying it 5-8 years old. It is quite a bit harder to find one with low mileage, but there are still some out there.
Buying a car is an easy place to save a lot of money, but it is more challenging today. I would suggest to wait a year or 2 until we have a normal market again.
Ed
Hi Ed, I enjoyed this perspective on buying cars. Thank you for posting it. Can you comment on leasing and writing off some of the costs through a small business for example? CRA does not give anyone a break on buying, so the only possible way I found was to lease. I cannot say this is an effective strategy yet, but if the lease payment was $600 and through expensing the lease cost I was able to get that down to $300 per month, then I would essentially be accomplishing what you outline with an older vehicle. Of course, if I bought an older vehicle I could still save by expensing business mileage and reduce costs further that way.
That’s exactly what I have always done with cars. Buy them about 3 yrs old and keep them going as long as possible. My current vehicle is 15 yrs old and I am perfectly happy with it. I enjoyed The Millionaire Next Door too. It was perfectly describing me! I have no interest in consumption for display, which has become a way of life for many people.
Thank you Ed for your information and insight :)….well done. It is always important to go over what it takes to keep you and your loved ones on track to “financial freedom” especially on everyday items that such as car ownership …. an everyday expense for most.
Thanks for the video. I get the sense from your video that you haven’t had to buy a car in the last few years because it doesn’t really reflect they crazy market we’re currently in. I purchased a car (ordered it months ago and just waiting for it now) which included shopping around and looking at used cars and there are in fact used cars that are a few years old, that cost more than a brand new car that you have to order and wait for. It’s crazy out there. I have multiple friends who bought used cars a few years ago and sold them for the same amount they bought them for or even more, recently.