re: How bad of an idea is it to buy a new car?

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I you plan to maintain it meticulously and drive it until the wheels fall off - I'm talking 12, 14 years, 175k to 200k miles.

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Yeah, if you're talking about working on your own vehicle, that's almost no one. A lot of people simply don't have the time to maintain a vehicle themselves, especially if they have careers that have them working 60+ hours a week or have long commutes.

I saw my parents drive their vehicles until the wheels fell off like you said. They brought their vehicles in for routine maintenance and all of that. But vehicles still break down. I guess they saved money in the long run but the frequent inconveniences of having the car in and out of the shop in the later years and how much stress it seemed to cause hardly seemed worth it to me.

I think having a reliable vehicle under warranty is well worth it IMO. I guess like others say it's a personal choice. I don't have a ton of debt or a lot of expenses so I guess that may be why. If I had 4 children and a lot of debt I probably would feel differently.