I'm just curious how you afford to have so many cars... It's pretty hard for me to own 2 cars and pay for insurance on them and still be financially sensible.
Are they all cheap? Free? Registered? Insured? Reliable? Do you have any debt? Mortgage? Are you independently wealthy? > $100k income? How did you acquire them? Do you have any kids? student loans?
I'm just curious. I know I'd like to be able to afford another car, but other priorities take precedence.
Get old, have a house and be married. Insurance on 4 cars and a motorcycle is less than $1200/year. Pay cash for your cars when possible, or when you have to take a loan plan on keeping that car until it explodes to get your money's worth out of it.
Here: Mortgage, married, sub $100k income, paid cash for last 3 cars (used, most expensive was $3400) no other car payments and keep cars forever. Oldest in the fleet was bought new in 2002, the others we have had for at least 3 years +.
Insurance around here (VA) is pretty reasonable for second and third vehicles, since you can only be primary driver on one of them. The others are rated on a fairly low annual mileage basis. It helps to have a squeaky clean driving record. My wife and I have a pact to never have more than one car payment. There was actually a time when we had none.
House, married, clean driving record, and be older then 25. No debt (besides mortgage on house), college educated (both of us), jobs (both of us, full time), and no car payments (always paid cash) helps, too.
A big thing is finding a good Insurance Agent. Ours knows we can only drive 2 of the 4 cars at any given time, so all of them are on a lower-mileage tier. Plus there's Collector's Insurance on the Javelin and we have full coverage + collision on everything (which actually helps on a combined policy).
I have.. at the moment.. 5 cars.. soon to be pruned to 3.. then to go back to 4.
Only one is a driver at the moment. Two of the saabs will be going away in a week to make room for a driver.
Then I will be picking up a 318ti shell to redo mine.
The most expensive (non-new) car I have ever owned was my BMW.. I paid $4500 for it 5 years ago. All the rest have been sub-$1000 cars.
$300 Fiat (rust free) spider $300 Saab 900s (dead now) $900 Saab 900 SE Turbo(Dead now) $800 Saab 900 Turbo (picking up in two weeks) $400 BMW 318ti shell (picking up in two weeks)
It is not so much that it is a lot of cars (it is.. but only two are taxed, tagged, and registered) but in my case, it is cheaper to rebody and repair my existing cars from other cars than to spend multiple thousands on new or perfect condition used
5 cars, full coverage on two.
Only debt is the loans on the two full coverage cars.
Most were bought cheap, insurance is about $230 a month now.
Two drivers, 21 and 25.
I make decent money, and buy cheap cars. The older ones are on collector insurance policies so they only cost a couple hundred a year to insure.
Make decent $$$, mortgage, student loans, no plastic, 5 cars + motorcycle with three purchased sub $1.5K and $2000/yr full coverage ins w/ 1 ticket (should've fought that one) . . .
Do 99% of the wrenching myself <= This is where I save the most . . .
Seems like everyone has covered it.
Only the 2 DDs are financed (and Im trying to get that down to 1) the "toys" are cash only and on collectors insurance polices.
The DDs and the truck are on normal insurance for about $200 a month (NJ Sux) but the others are on collectors which costs me $160 a year for the whole policy with agreed values on the cars.
Motorcyle is on cycle insurance which is pretty cheap in NJ
As you add cars, the insurance gets cheaper for each new one, especially if they're old, paid for, and liability only. I pay around $600 annually for insurance on 2 cars and a bike. When I also had the Miata on, it only added around $100 a year. Overpriced Maine excise taxes cost me almost as much as insurance, because my cars both had 33k+ MSRPs new, and Maine thinks they stop depreciating after 7 years 
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two drivers, 5 cars, both of us over 25. relatively clean driving records. multi-car discount at progressive is awesome, down to sub-200/mo IIRC. Have two car payments, but two incomes. Don't own a home. paid cash for 3 of them, and they were 100$ 150$ and 400$ respectively.
Hah I wish mine was $1200 a year for our 4 cars. Damn "incedents". Progressive here, $2100 a year, both over 25. She has no incedents I have 2 moving violations & 1 "at fault" accident from someone borrowing the car .........
My "new" car is a cheap subcompact. Payments and insurance are not crippling. Wifes car was bought new in 03 but paid off now. Other 2 are just old cars that I paid cash for. One was my dd for a few years before my new car and we just havent gotten rid of it yet, every time we are about too it seems her car breaks something and she needs to drive it. The other is an old high milage 4wd for bad weather and weekend hauling. Insurance super cheap on both.
She wants a new one soon. 
The thought of what the payments and insurance will be frightens me.
I could see how you might struggle financially with an 07 Z if you are still making payments and insurance on it. I have a buddy with one that he got new, he bought a townhouse a year later, has to have at least 1 roommate to get by. He makes about the same as me but he makes it work.
We have 6 cars for 3 drivers. We're a 2-income household, and we have solid incomes but are not rich.
None of our cars is very new. Newest model year car is my wife's 2004 TSX, bought new in 2004. Next is my 2003 325i, bought used in 2006. Then there's my daughter's 2002 Impreza wagon, bought used in 2009. We have a 2000 Grand Caravan, bought used in 2002 or so. My play car is a 1996 Miata, bought very used in 2010. Last but not least is my 1967 Le Mans, bought new (for my mother) in 1966.
Out of all those cars, we borrowed money only on the Acura and BMW (something like 50% of cost for each), and they have both been paid off for years. Most expensive were the TSX at $26k and the 325i at $22k. Everything else was paid for with cash and cost between $5k-$10k. The '67 Le Mans was more or less given to me as a driver in HS in the early '80s and has a lot of sweat equity in it, if not much cash.
Nothing is planned for replacement for at least another 4 years, barring the unforeseen (an accident prompted replacement of our 1992 Caravan with the newer GC, otherwise, we'd still have that). We keep cars for a long time and only replace them through attrition. We'll probably add a 7th car in 2-3 years after my younger daughter has had her license for a while.
The main trick we use is to have a car payment withheld from my wife's paycheck every month, even when we don't have a loan. Her TSX has been paid off for at least 3 years and we now have almost 50% of its new replacement cost sitting waiting in her credit union account. By the time we actually shop a new, similar car for her 3-4 years from now, we'll have probably 80% of the price in hand, plus the residual value of the TSX.
Insurance runs about $3200/year for full coverage on 5 of the cars (the Pontiac is only covered for comprehensive and is not currently registered) counting a 19-year-old female driver who is more than 1/3 of that by herself. We take advantage of multi-car discounts, defensive driving discounts, good student discounts for my daughter, and discounts for having homeowners and life insurance with the same company.
Most;y it's a matter of budgeting savings in preparation, buying good-value cars, keeping them for a long time, and avoiding payments where possible. I'm not allergic to financing cars if the rates are decent (we've financed 4 cars in 19 years), but we avoid loans longer than 36 months and we make sure they get paid off early if possible.
I do all my own routine maintenance but I'm not up to complete teardowns, in either skill or facilities. Since I have spare vehicles, I'm willing to tackle timing belts, etc. since I can take a car off the road for a week without stranding anyone.
My biggest issue is parking. Right now I have 2 in the garage (the Le Mans and Miata, both ragtops), 2 in the driveway (TSX and 325i dailies) and 2 in the street (GC van and Impreza). I really should part with the Pontiac and get the 'van back inside - if I can get it back under cover, it will serve its function for another 10 years with ease.
I paid off my student loans as quick as I could. I have zero debt. I paid cash for my two cars (06 S2000, 94 SW2), but one is so cheap it doesn't really count. Insurance isn't too bad.
I find the biggest issue with having 2 cars is having time to work on/maintain/clean them. I had 3 and that was just way too much.
Z is just about paid off. Winter car is paid in cash (96 BMW money pit). Wife's car is on its way to being paid off, but still has a ways to go. Have some student loan debt and a mortgage. All are ahead of schedule. Some by a little, some by a lot.
We're actually trying to reduce our debt load right now, but the thought struck me and I figured I had to ask. Plus, we're hoping to be able to survive on my income only once we hit the baby jackpot.
I'm wondering if the maintenance + gas delta + insurance delta is actually costing me more monthly for the BMW than a new Mazda 2/Honda Fit.
I buy a lot of cars that are "sitters" with expired plates and inspection and mostly not running.
While the DDs and some others are legal, I have everything set up to pull another to totally legal with a phone call (faxing an insurance card) and a 2 block drive (or walk if needed) for the license. Then a short drive for the inspection.
It helps that I have a personal relationship with all these folks too. This references back to the "How do you pay your bills" thread somewhere on here. I like to go in and meet the people I do business with.
It helps that I have not paid more that $800 for a car since 1995, have absolutely no debt (thank you Dave Ramsey), a large fenced lot with a shop and am a pain in the butt with local government when they try to pass silly laws that would make me a criminal!
I get by with a little help from my friends...and try to make sure my friends get by with a little help from me!
Bruce .
7 cars including 1 racecar (no insurance), 3 classics (total insurance ~$500 /year) two DD's and one tow truck (~$1200 year in insurance). Got a trailer in storage. No debt. Good income. North Carolina is cheap auto insurance (just moved from Houston area where it is ridiculously expensive) as long as you have no violations. Once you get a couple of tickets the insurance goes up exponentially.
I've bought the cars over 20 years so spread the purchase price pain. The DD's are fairly recent with a 2007 Mini Cooper S. Paid cash for the other DD, plus a trade-in that had been paid off. Got a short-term loan on the MINI originally, but paid it off quickly. Only got it because interest rate was way low and wanted to preserve some cash.
I tend to buy cars, not to sell them, so I've had most of the cars for many years. This is not something I could have done when I was 25 yrs old. Takes time to build income and wealth and cars are not an inexpensive hobby.
I also do almost all the maintenance and repair work myself, or I probably couldn't afford much of what I've got.
2 drivers
6 registered/insured cars - To be 5 as soon as I can get rid of that Crappy Saturn (See classifieds)
2 race/parts cars
Cars are all paid off only 2 have full coverage. Most cars were cheap (under $3000) and some were free.
Still paying off the wife's grad school loans (about another year). 15 year Mortgage on the house. No kids.
Big thing for us strong income (100k+ gross) for our age (under 30), living in a state with a low cost of living and not making ourselves house poor. Our mortgage with insurance/taxes/PMI/everything is only $745 a month, and we didn't even use a down payment, so we could leave our savings in savings.
I don't know anyone my age who actually bought a house with the thought of "What if one of us loses our income?"
It's a time vs. money issue. I know guys who spend a lot of time working at their chosen profession and make a lot of money. Most of them own just one car, usually an expensive one, and they usually lease or trade in every three years because they don't want to mess with anything that breaks down that they have to take to the shop.
I know guys who make very little money who have ten non running cars sitting around the house. Uninsured, unlicensed cars cost nothing to store if you live in a neighborhood where nobody cares that they are there. If you can keep parts cars in the backyard instead of paying the wrecking yard, so much the better. If you are retired, unemployed or in a business where you have lots of time off, you have plenty of time to jack around with beaters, hunt for cheap parts at wrecking yards on e-bay, etc. The cost of keeping them running is a whole lot cheaper when you do most of the work yourself.
How much time do you want to spend to avoid spending money?
Our keys have been:
The key is to prioritize what's important to you and configure your life around that. In Project Management, it's called the Triple Constraint between Time, Quality, and Budget. You can deliver any project on time and on budget, but quality will likely suffer. In the same way, you can deliver a quality project within the budget, but the time will likely be longer than you'd like.
In terms of housing, it might look like this:
A career decision might look like this:
For a car, some options might be:
In the end, it all comes down to priorities and what's important to you and your family...
Patience and the willingness to put effort into getting what you want is the key I think. Set yourself on a career and life path that allows you the disposable income to have the cars you want, or work within your hobby to aquire the vehicles. I currently have 9 vehicles aquired over a 30 year timespan. Mortgage is only debt. Already been through the student loans, kids, etc. Never made big money.
Having been a car/truck guy all my life I was constantly buying, fixing, selling, trading, etc. making a small profit or just getting paid for the time I invested in the vehicles I was flipping. Starting in my early 20's and then about every 5 years thereafter I'd keep a nice example of a car I really liked (usually my DD at that time) which I also felt was at (or past) the bottom of the value curve. So I have 6 of what I consider "collectable" cars after 30 years. The Mustang is the only one that is not currently running/drivable due to unfinished project status.
66 Mustang coupe 67 Camaro RS SS conv 70 Wildcat 2 dr 455 70 Firebird TA clone 81 Malibu Classic 2dr 86 Carrera euro widebody cabrio
Some but not all are registered/insured at any given time and I kind of rotate around driving different ones for a while. I also have a few other cars/trucks. Being old myself, a homeowner, clean driving record, and a collector policy on the old cars keeps insurance cost very low. No property tax here. Newest vehicle is a 2000 F-350 7.3 TD CC dually.
Current goal is to trim the fleet, and start flipping cars again (have stopped for 3 years). Then have less cars total (taking up less space) while moving up to more valuable cars that I feel have the potential for a higher increase in value as the economy rebounds. I feel entry level exotics took a hard hit when the economy crumbled and have a good future potential so I'm going to watch that market for "keepers" while I flip more mundane cars.
As for how YOU can afford them? Look for areas of your current spending where you could trim your expenses and prioritize. Then consistantly set that money aside for a while. The easiest things to look at are the things your grandparents didn't have available to them and vices. In todays society we're bombarded with advertising for things we're told we "need" but do we really? Ooooor......
Sell some stuff you own thats currently going down in value that you can live without for a while.
Once you've put aside a given amount. Lets say $500.00 which should be fairly easy. Look for a "deal" on a vehicle. One that someone needs to get out of right away for some reason, they never kept up it's appearance, it needs a repair they don't want to make, or any number of reasons that makes it a potentially good buy for you based on your abilities. Be patient!
When the "deal" comes along on something reguardless of whether you like the car brand/model etc. pick it up. Set yourself a deadline, a relatively short time period to do whats necessary for you to sell it for more money. Do it and put it up for sale.
Repeat as needed to generate income allowing you to buy "keepers" and maintain them. Need more free time to accomplish the work on the cars you're flipping? Try giving up or limiting your time spent on gaming, movies, forums, TV, or whatever it is that is consuming your time. The amount of time it takes to achieve your goal depends on a lot of variables and how high a priority the car(s) you want are.
I have four vehicles and looking at what you own, I probably pay less per-month for mine combined vs yours combined.
A: There are two of us, only one vehicle is shared. She doesn't like to drive mine.
C: Only one was bought new and for barely over 12 grand.
We have an 08 Focus, 98 escort, 95 F15, and an 89 240sx. The focus is the only one of the vehicles I didn't pay cash for. The focus has full coverage, the truck... Something, and the rest, liability. Wrench work is done mainly by me. The 302 and 2.0 Zetech are but very complex. Overall, its not expensive and I'm looking into another toy at the moment.
Wifey and I are both in law enforcement, so we don't make much.
I've seen the pistons in most of them 
The coolest cars I own, I built.
I don't smoke and don't drink. I spend my fun money on cars instead. And only one has a payment - that one has an interest rate that's lower than our mortgage, so we put the extra cash into the house instead of accelerating payments on the truck.
This is a great thread, reading with interest!
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