A car can be a pretty big liability and a big expense. Parking tickets, tows, break-ins, police searches, emissions testing, registration. Not to mention maintenance. Even a good car costs hundreds of dollars a year to operate
this post was submitted on 25 May 2024
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I’ve never had a car cost me under a grand a year between insurance, maintenance, registration, and inspection. And that’s without putting any gas in it to actually drive it. Are there really cars that are that cheap to maintain?
yeah... I drove cheap worthless cars and have a clean driving record and insurance was still like $700/yr for liability only. In some states you can sorta get away with not having insurance for a little while but its a mess if you get caught. plus idk, $100 registration? cheapest to operate was probably just oil changes and gas but eventually other maintenance will always be needed (tires brakes bulbs, other fluids).
No car is ever cheap really, theres a reason the average cost of ownership is like $6k a year min
Yeah it's not really my place to tell anyone what they need to do, but I would be really worried about putting a ton of money into a big asset that can be pretty easily destroyed or outright seized by pigs because they think you look like you're up to something or just easy to pick on.
Unfortunately in many countries, having a car is a requirement to have a job, a social life, a dating life, and in general being able to survive
It's hard out here, cars are so expensive and the used market is nuts. Sorry comrade.
hate to hear it
The transportation to me is the only upside of cars. Everything else is a massive weight on my finances and on my mind that something’s going to break and impact said finances.
There's someone out there selling great aunt Beatrice's car. 2006, 77000 miles. Drove to church and the grocery store once a week.
Hang in there!
https://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/d/north-plains-1994-gmc-jimmy-4x4-reliable/7750365310.html
What do you think about this? Looks in good shape and Jimmy's seem to last forever
I’m not sure how I’m going to do transportation there, though. I need someone to go with me and drive it to my spot, and that adds to the problem. I can probably afford a Lyft there.
I can't really help you there since I'm in a different state, but my dad and I look for cars online all the time for fun so if this doesn't work out let me know and I'll keep looking.
He has two people coming to look at it already so yes, please.
I already called my dad and told him to look for reliable cars around Portland for at max $2k. Can you give me more info on what exactly you're looking for?
My dream is a Toyota Corolla station wagon.
Needs to have leg room, because I am tall.
Idk how good of an idea this is but maybe you could reach out to Food Not Bombs in Portland and see if there's anyone who would be willing to help you out with this?
That's a really good idea. I think there are still active portland mutual aid groups on Facebook too
This is really not a good choice if you need a reliable car
Unless they can magically come up with a few extra thousand dollars, I can't really think of something more reliable than a mid 90's Jimmy. I have one friend with a similar Jimmy and another with a blazer both with 200k+ rough miles on them.
That sounds like dumb luck, to be honest. Maybe I'm the outlier but I would never buy that if I didn't have a full shop to back me. That is not what I or anybody I know would call a good buy.
I mean, I'd never buy a used car older than 10 years without a full shop but I'm in a much better financial position than OP. A used gmc SUV has parts readily available and last forever. There's a reason you see so many of them when you're driving around in the middle of nowhere.
The reason is that their owners have tools, space, knowledge, or a relative who does. The OP isn't a mechanic, doesn't have a mechanic's tool chest, and doesn't have experience as a DIY mechanic. Please don't blow smoke up people's asses about big purchases.
Thank you. That looks good.
What a charming ad lol
Same 
I agree. Nothing fucking works. Its just pain.