> car ownership cost $11,783 per year, most of it depreciation
Does depreciation even matter. Most people don’t sell their cars.
Does depreciation even matter. Most people don’t sell their cars.
Car maintenance isn't that scary if you have a steady income and buy something rational (90s japanese instead of 2000s range rover)
You also have to be physically strong and able to get to lug nuts and other rusted connections loose. I highly doubt most women can take tires off and lift them and put them back on, especially for SUV.
I think oil and air filter changes can be done by most though, especially if they get a fumoto valve. I would hesitate to recommend brake jobs for most people though.
All it takes is a couple feet to move the torque required into the lower end of human capability.
But it still happens. Having a means of greater torque gets past that failure condition and reduces the work burden.
And that's a net good. Older people, young, small, women with nails, guys who may not be very strong, someone hurt or sick all see a much improved task, well in bounds for them.
This is precisely why I brought all my kids up knowing these things. Same for anyone I've helped. I'll leave it with them and just go get another lever. cheap.
Better to be equipped to get this done than be stuck, merely understanding one should not be, but is anyway.
A small extension of this thinking means equipping the vehicle with common sense, useful tools. BMW does this from the factory. Most go unused, but its ultra cheap insurance. May actually end up applying to another vehicle. All good.
It really doesn't take much to equip a vehicle for trouble cases. Anyone who does is likely to get a nice return on that modest investment in skill and gear at some point in their lives. This is true even when their skills are somehow lacking, or they become physically unable somehow.
Getting help means people, and it often means tools. Having both is again, cheap insurance.
Talking about a damaged fastener on your way from the trouble incident is a great problem to have when compared to the side of a road.
The fastener problem is real too, but not nearly the potential safety hazard as the damage to the brakes.
And, given they must do that work, having the means to complete it makes all the sense in the world.
Nobody has to tighten anything that way. I've never shown, nor recommended people do. It's all about having the means to change a tire, should that need arise. And that means removing the fasteners.
So, I'll tell you what. I'll continue carrying a lever, and will continue to not be stuck somewhere ugly, and you do whatever you want.
Everyone can and should express concern when the job is done poorly.
Nobody should be stuck because it was done poorly, unless they want to be, and I for sure don't. Nor does anyone I know.
I'm getting older. Can do it. Just don't want to. May not be able one day. There is that too.
Some shops do it, but you shouldn't go to them.
Serious question. When I raised my kids, boys and girls, all of them changed tires, among other basic car things. And yes, doing an SUV was part of that.
There is skill needed to avoid the most painful lift, but it's not hard to obtain.
I'm 50. Would not think twice about a tire change on any vehicle I drive.
Are we just not teaching people these things anymore?
A car's tire, I can agree that if the lugs are not improperly tightened too much, anyone should be able to do it. But for a full SUV, a 17"+ tire is a bit much to ask a petite woman to handle in my opinion.
And it's not an ask on my part. I have shown how it can be done, and whether she does it isn't material. Worst case, she can instruct someone who has strength.
Of course I already have nearly all the tools (except every car needs some special tool, so add $15 one time).
This is either sexist, ignorant, or both. I put myself through school working as a mechanic, and very few jobs require more strength than the average 10 year old girl has. That is the entire point of tools, they provide adequate leverage.
Additionally, it seems sexist to single out women, what about older men? I've certainly met plenty of women physically stronger than me, and most healthy adults should be able to lift even a heavy 60lb tire the few inches necessary to mount it. Unless you are installing a transmission, if you are putting in significant physical effort then you are using the wrong tool or technique. For instance, for the other commenters that mentioned difficult lug nuts- Go to harbor freight and purchase a 1/2" breaker bar, at least 18" long but preferably 24", along with a socket to fit your lug nuts. To crack the lug nuts, use your body weight and bounce on one foot. Even if the shop that installed them didn't over-torque the nuts, road grit and salt can make them very tight. Carry that tool instead of the provided wrench, it is far easier and safer, and shouldn't cost more than 25$.
Some women are stronger than others, some aren't. But in my experience, women will probably have problems getting a lug nut off that has been tightened too tight with an air tool and/or is rusted. I personally have had problems getting them off, even with a breaker bar, and I wouldn't expect everyone with a car to go out and buy a breaker bar either.
The meat of my comment was that it might be reasonable to expect a large portion of the population to not be able to do what many think are simple routine car repairs, such as brake jobs, and I attempted to prove it by illustrating an example.
In terms of lease options, if all the maintenance / repairs are covered then, again, it kinda makes sense, right? You're effectively paying a bit more each month, but you know what you're in for and there's no chance of a massive unknown catastrophic failure breaking the bank.
It's all well and good saying that car maintenance isn't scary, but as the owner of car that's started smoking — it's not much fun taking it to 5 mechanics, all of whom haven't managed to diagnose the issue.
It's the same reason people have insurance.
You're not necessarily overpaying on leasing. It's just a math problem where a few of the variables (base MF, residual) are static, a few are easily negotiated (cap cost), and a few are less easily negotiated (dealer MF mark up).
I bought a 1996 Mercedes-Benz E-class last year, it was 21 years old then. It cost me about 2300€ (with a set of winter tires), I did about 15k kilometers in it so far. Pretty much the only servicing I do on it is the non-critical stuff: sunroof, parking sensors etc, but aside of the „vanity stuff” it pretty much runs flawlessly for me. May just be survivor bias of course, but in any case if you don't need 100% reliability 24/7 (in which case you can always take an uber :)) I think it's a really viable choice. Plus buying a used car is afaik more environment friendly than buying a brand new Tesla or Prius or whatever.
I have a '05 Tundra and just had to replace the entire ABS system, so while it was being worked on also did all of the belts, water pump, etc... and came in ~4k. There shouldn't be any maintenance except oil and maybe tires for the next 2-4 years.
Yes, I guess it's a very complicated car with loads of electronics that can go wrong, and when they do go wrong it's expensive. But it's not a far fetched idea that my mum would be better off with getting a brand new car which doesn't suffer from random issues where you have to get the car towed to the garage.
Because I can finance it at an interest rate of something like 2.6%. That's stupid cheap.
When the money is nearly free (one of my cars still has a loan at 1.9%), cash is more valuable to me.
Maybe people should buy cheaper cars.
My brother was a panel beater and most of his friends mechanics, when growing up I was always told the worst car you could buy was a BMW, they were for people who like to think they have money, but more often than not those people are paying off the car, but it costs more to maintain the car than it does to buy it.
Personally if I had the money for a BMW, there's plenty of other cars that are nicer, better performing, and better handling, than a BMW. But I would rather just buy a Toyota and drive it till i died. Those things are cheap and last forever.
Bought a £8k 6 year old car, sold it for £2.5k after it broke and wanted £2k for repairs 6 years later. So £1k/year. Current car costs £0 in tax, £0.02 p/mile, £360 insurance per year
So when I see the price including depreciation it seems odd that people change cars so often they worry about resale value.
I would either buy new and drive it into the ground or buy second hand.
[1]: https://www.statista.com/statistics/581017/average-length-of...
Obviously there are exceptions, but the used car market is much larger than the new car market so most are selling.
A rule of thumb that I use is that the value of the car halves every fourth year. So if I buy a car for $20 000 I can count on a monthly cost of $208 for the deprecation the first four years, that exceeds all other costs of ownership in my case.
NB: Can't read the site or full article - not sure if it is the 'HN Hug of Death' but it is timing out for me.
[Citation needed]
If I buy a washing machine for $600, and it breaks after 5 years, I can consider that machine to have cost me $120 a year, even if I never sell it.