So how much are you willing to really spend? No fantasy dollars, no if I had this figure, today. As you sit, what is your budgetary limit on a street car/truck/mini-van/Zamboni
If you would take a loan, what would borrow, if you only pay cash what would it be.
Like me. I won't have car payment that starts greater that is greater than $399, or a payment more than 5 years, so that puts me right around the $23k mark. Most I will spend.
I prefer to spend around $15k.
so there.
It depends on what I'm buying. I'd buy the right rallycross car for $2500 tomorrow, but $3500 would be pushing it. If something amazing popped up I could spend $20k with a couple days notice. If it was life changing I could spend $100k within a couple weeks.
In reply to mazdeuce:
Street car not race car. Unless in your case the same rules apply.
If I saw the best deal in the world on the most perfect car I could probably wrangle up $100, maybe $110.
I'm not sure I understand the question. Are these the dollars I have sitting now, dollars my income might allow me to save up for, or my ability to see money go toward a street car, assuming unlimited income?
tuna55 wrote: If I saw the best deal in the world on the most perfect car I could probably wrangle up $100, maybe $110.
This is about what i can do today myself.
I refuse to spend more than $8k on a family car, $5k on my DD. I will only pay cash. Prefer to spend less.
Current fleet was purchased for $5.5k and $3k respectively. Hope to not have to replace them for a long long time.
Edited OP for an example
dropstep wrote:tuna55 wrote: If I saw the best deal in the world on the most perfect car I could probably wrangle up $100, maybe $110.This is about what i can do today myself.
This. If I was financing a DD, $15k is my current budget ceiling, maybe as high as 20 for something special.
If I wrecked my car today (older car so it doesn't have collision insurance) I have $1,500 sitting in savings that I could spend on a beater to get me around.
I wouldn't consider financing a car an option till my student loans are paid off (only 3 more years, yay 
)
I cap my autotrader searches at $12k and craigslist at $2,500 with the same criteria; manual transmission, within 25 miles of my zip code. Of course I wander off to St. Louis and Chicago craigslist after not seeing anything worth a hoot local to me. 
My reasoning (however flawed it may be) is autotrader seems to be tied in to more dealership inventory (vehicles I would be willing to finance) and craigslist is where I look for private owner cash deals.
So $12,000 for something I'm theoretically willing to pay on for a few years and $2,500 for a cash deal.
I will ONLY pay cash for vehicles.
When I finish paying off the one car payment I have my intention is to not have another. It'll likely limit me to sub-5K cars for the rest of my life.
If I'm financing, max would be about $15k, as I change my mind a lot and wouldn't want to take too big of a hit.
Cash deals I feel like if you go up to $8k or so you can find a nice sweet spot. Higher than the $3-5k that a lot of people can come up with cash and odds are it would be tough to finance what you're looking at (age, miles, etc.), so the buyers market is limited.
I wish I could get the nerve to go big on something (as it could be afforded), but I always think about the opportunity cost of the $. Maybe one day...
Well, I'm the unusual one here. For a DD 35-45K if I can still get my sub 1% interest rate I have on my other 2 loans. I am not loan adverse if the loan figures make sense (IE I'm earning more in interest/dividends than I'm paying in interest)
Toy cars....Well, that is always an all cash deal for me and right now, I have about $15K in that budget but I'll probably sell some stuff this summer so that will go up.
CobraSpdRH wrote: I always think about the opportunity cost of the $. Maybe one day...
This is why I am doomed to always drive cheap cars. I just hope it pays off for me.
Toy(s) == cash or trade
Work == loan because business write-off
How much I spend is something I would even keep from myself if it were possible. Cars are a waste of money.
I only pay cash for cars, and I usually avoid dealers. If I had to up and buy a car today, I could spend about $6K, although I wouldn't want to.
I like to keep my life simple, so I only pay with cash (equivalent). I am actually in the early stages of car shopping for a new DD for myself and can't make up my mind how much I want to spend. It is hard to find a sweet spot between cheap and yet meets all my needs. I would probably end up with a leftover 2015 Fiat 500 (cheap!), but I need the ability to transport two people plus two bicycles and sundry equipment without a lot of hassle. Anyone aware of a new wagon (preferably with a manual transmission) that is priced similar to a 2015 Fiat micro-car??? Hence the what car threads...
Happy Carmore wrote: In reply to mazdeuce: Street car not race car. Unless in your case the same rules apply.
All of the cars in my last have been street legal at least for a time. The rallycross car is actually for rallycross and teaching my kids to drive, so it will be a true street car that plays in the dirt.
The more special/odd/expensive cars I've owned and been around the more I theoretically just want to drive $2000 crap boxes, but hauling children around and an apparent addiction to very large motors has me buying some silly things.
Next time will be less than 500hp. Really.
mazdeuce wrote: It depends on what I'm buying. I'd buy the right rallycross car for $2500 tomorrow, but $3500 would be pushing it. If something amazing popped up I could spend $20k with a couple days notice. If it was life changing I could spend $100k within a couple weeks.
Callaway is promising aerocoupes by year end...
Had a car payment once. Didn't like it. So now I pay in cash and my budget is limited by available cash.
Bought my latest daily driver last week. I had a $6500 budget, but when a surprisingly clean Buick Regal with the 3800 SC popped up for half my budget, I saw no need to spend the whole thing.
mndsm wrote:mazdeuce wrote: It depends on what I'm buying. I'd buy the right rallycross car for $2500 tomorrow, but $3500 would be pushing it. If something amazing popped up I could spend $20k with a couple days notice. If it was life changing I could spend $100k within a couple weeks.Callaway is promising aerocoupes by year end...
You know that one girl, the really pretty one you used to be into until you overheard her talking candidly about how she thinks that evolution is a liberal lie? And then she's not really that pretty anymore. Callaway is her name.
I just looked at my spreadsheet of cars I've owned and out of 32, the average purchase price has been ~$1700. The only outliers were an 03 Impreza purchased in 2008 for $8000 and a 2012 Town & Country purchased recently for just under $14k. These were both daily driver vehicles for my wife and also the only ones financed. The next highest purchase price was $2700.
Almost all of my car purchases have been extremely good deals and impulsive.
My current daily driver (2004 subaru outback) cost me $440. First thing I did after replacing a bad wheel bearing was order a $1100 wheel/tire package from tirerack.
for an ND miata in a nice color that they have not made yet? Likely somewhere in the mid 30K range.
for a regular car I really should use my other cars first so my limit would be a lot lower for those. If I had to replace one of the daily drivers right now I doubt I would go over about 5K.
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