Thread: How much do you spend buying a vehicle?

I own eight vehicles , seven utes and a car , all toyota’s .
The utes are for my business , the oldest is a 1996 ( basically retired but still my favourite ) and the newest is a 2012 .
The work utes average about 50,000km a year and they are purchased secondhand with no more than 150,000km on the clock .
I can pick them up for a reasonable price ( still not cheap , but easily less than half a new ute ) at that mileage and I am fairly confident that they will last me four years of hard work . With regular servicing I’ve only ever had one “ blow up “ and cost me money . I pay cash for all my vehicles . I never trade a ute to buy another because I drive them until they die and then I sell them for a grand or two “ as is where is “.
I sat down with my accountant years ago and crunched the numbers and because I don’t borrow money to buy anything, this course of action is the financially prudent way of running a small fleet of vehicles. I always have the oldest ute when ever I pull up to a worksite, but I don’t give a shit because I’m making/saving money , and my ego doesn’t require me to swing my dick in front of a crowd.
Reliability / Parts availability / common models which everyone has had experience with are the deciding factors when I look for a new ute .
Up until now Toyota has been the go to for me , I only buy automatic’s now , clutch’s and gearboxes in a manual used to be my biggest cost , since moving to autos I’ve had zero transmission problems even with over 450,000km on the clock , but I dont tow anything and I have heard that the autos can cause problems when over worked .

Originally Posted by Ground Control

I own eight vehicles , seven utes and a car , all toyota’s .
The utes are for my business , the oldest is a 1996 ( basically retired but still my favourite ) and the newest is a 2012 .
The work utes average about 50,000km a year and they are purchased secondhand with no more than 150,000km on the clock .
I can pick them up for a reasonable price ( still not cheap , but easily less than half a new ute ) at that mileage and I am fairly confident that they will last me four years of hard work . With regular servicing I’ve only ever had one “ blow up “ and cost me money . I pay cash for all my vehicles . I never trade a ute to buy another because I drive them until they die and then I sell them for a grand or two “ as is where is “.
I sat down with my accountant years ago and crunched the numbers and because I don’t borrow money to buy anything, this course of action is the financially prudent way of running a small fleet of vehicles. I always have the oldest ute when ever I pull up to a worksite, but I don’t give a shit because I’m making/saving money , and my ego doesn’t require me to swing my dick in front of a crowd.
Reliability / Parts availability / common models which everyone has had experience with are the deciding factors when I look for a new ute .
Up until now Toyota has been the go to for me , I only buy automatic’s now , clutch’s and gearboxes in a manual used to be my biggest cost , since moving to autos I’ve had zero transmission problems even with over 450,000km on the clock , but I dont tow anything and I have heard that the autos can cause problems when over worked .

The numbers don’t lie.

I’m sold on autos too, try backing a trailer up a slope in a modern manual, they need high revs to stop them stalling. I can smell the clutch burning writing this.

Originally Posted by Beetroot

Reason for asking this is I've looked at the price of new car/4x4/ute/SUVs and on my salary I could afford something pretty reasonable, but to me it doesn't seem to makes sense financially as my current vehicle will do 99% of what a brand new one would do.

But clearly lots of folk are out there buying new vehicles, just wondering who that kind of person is.

I have always bought both 500- dollar cheapys and 16-20k 4wds and had a pretty good run untill I upgraded my LN106 to a 80 series cruiser then shit when pearshaped...for what that thing cost me in 3 years I could have had a new triton/dmax/hilux/bt50 and taken the family on holiday to Rarotonga.

Went back to cheap shit.....still costing big dollars to maintain (actually the swb Rav 4 was the best 4wd I have ever owned in maintenance/repar cost and purchase/sell cost but it would never be a long term proposition with the use it was getting)

I was in a vehicle rut bad.

Very high km hilux/ranger etc I could get for late teens to low twentys and have a high probability of a first gen common rail shitting itself and costing me the same again....Burnt too many times I just couldn't risk it spending 20k on a worn out ute so tho I couldnt really afford it I went new with warranty....No regrets so far and new vehicles are so much better to drive than 25-30y old ones.

Originally Posted by Russian 22.

If you use one of those mortgage calculator you will find that even dumping 10k on a mortgage will save a huge amount of interest.

Putting 15k on the mortage to fix the 4wd you just bought is no so attractive tho either.

Originally Posted by veitnamcam

I have always bought both 500- dollar cheapys and 16-20k 4wds and had a pretty good run untill I upgraded my LN106 to a 80 series cruiser then shit when pearshaped...for what that thing cost me in 3 years I could have had a new triton/dmax/hilux/bt50 and taken the family on holiday to Rarotonga.

Went back to cheap shit.....still costing big dollars to maintain (actually the swb Rav 4 was the best 4wd I have ever owned in maintenance/repar cost and purchase/sell cost but it would never be a long term proposition with the use it was getting)

I was in a vehicle rut bad.

Very high km hilux/ranger etc I could get for late teens to low twentys and have a high probability of a first gen common rail shitting itself and costing me the same again....Burnt too many times I just couldn't risk it spending 20k on a worn out ute so tho I couldnt really afford it I went new with warranty....No regrets so far and new vehicles are so much better to drive than 25-30y old ones.

New / covered by warranty gives piece of mind and certainty generally with less chance of a big unexpected bill. Makes budgeting easier too

I'm kinda frugal, so last year I paid $10k for a Subaru forester which suits me and my family perfectly. Would I like late model 4wd ute, sure would, but I'd like a mortgage free home and some investments more.

I bought a 1 year old Kia Sportage because I liked its safety features and it ticked most of the boxes for me.
Would I buy another Kia, 99% certain I won't.

They must have done close to 15k in warranty repairs in the past two years.
I usually stick to 2-3 year old cars.

I bought a brand new ute on a fielddays runout sale (2016 Holden Colorado). Pretty expensive and not the most financially wise decision but I own it now and its the bees knees for a nice family car with my young kids (more safety) and getting out hunting in the weekends etc. I intend to run it for a good ten years and get my time out of it as opposed to the constant buy and sell a lot of people do with new vehicles though. Next time I would probably buy something with a few thousand kms on it just to reduce that initial loss when you drive it out the door haha.

whatever you can afford without finance.

Originally Posted by Beetroot

Reason for asking this is I've looked at the price of new car/4x4/ute/SUVs and on my salary I could afford something pretty reasonable, but to me it doesn't seem to makes sense financially as my current vehicle will do 99% of what a brand new one would do.

But clearly lots of folk are out there buying new vehicles, just wondering who that kind of person is.

Haha, mostly its people living beyond their means.... Ticked up ford rangers etc, I see lots of flash harry builders etc with a tricked up ranger or raptor, I bet if we get a decent recession etc the market will be flooded with near new vehicles for cheap.
Might pay to wait it out and see if the economists are right.

Originally Posted by 40mm

Haha, mostly its people living beyond their means.... Ticked up ford rangers etc,......................

Just spent over $9000 on a brand new 2019 Honda with some "accessories" and I'm waiting for it to arrive.

I thought it might be just a bit too much and TOTT.........but the 0 to 160 kmph in 6.25 seconds was a clincher and too good to ignore

https://tinyurl.com/y4g77ote

Wotcha fink?

Originally Posted by stagstalker

Next time I would probably buy something with a few thousand kms on it just to reduce that initial loss when you drive it out the door haha.

Had a bit of a look at a few vehicles on Trademe, ex demos or private sales that are around a year old and less than 10,000kms can save around 30% on the new price.

being a mechanic i spend fuk all actually a lot of guys here spend way more on a scope than i spend on a vehicle i run them for 600000+ks so i have them a while and im not the kind of person that changes cars every couple of months if your wondering what brand to get just take note when your out and about on what you see broken down on the side of the road or whats on the back of tow trucks and avoid those i dont need to name them it will become obvious

Had the same little runabout Primera for years, never missed a beat. Got sick of chucking deer in the boot and all my diving gear in the summer. Also was involved in serious accident and witnessed another head on collision. After those couple incidents I wanted something modern and safe. Saved up a decent deposit over a few years and bought a brand new Hilux last year. Will keep it 3-4 years then upgrade again. Will still have a few years warranty on it when I sell it which buyers normally pay a bit more for. Resale price on hilux is pretty bloody good as well. Bloody nice driving a modern vehicle on a long trip.