General Motors has declared bankruptcy. All the big car manufacturers have received billions of dollars in aid. Nonetheless, people are still losing their jobs, not only those directly employed by the car companies, but also those employed by suppliers… tires, wiring and so on.
In Europe, things aren’t much better. A Honda plant was only just reopened in England the other day, after four months of being closed. Germany and France are both trying to stimulate the new car market with what is called in France ‘la prime à la casse‘ or a junkyard bonus, where buyers of new cars get a set amount of money for trading in their old cars, destined for the junkyards. Interestingly enough, new car sales increased by 12% in France in May, although most of that increase is attributed to people waiting for the new license plates to be released in the middle of the month.
Some pundits are saying that the car manufacturers are failing because they weren’t delivering the products that people want to buy. I’m no financial expert, but I do know that in my own case, we wouldn’t have enough money to buy a new car.
Nor would I want to buy a new car, because I don’t feel it’s the right situation for us for a number of reasons- mostly because I feel like the kind of car that we would buy would cost much more than money than I would feel happy about paying for anything that didn’t have walls. For the moment, luckily, we don’t have to make that choice. Both our cars, dinged up as they may be, are running well at the moment (knock-on-wood!).
So what’s the plan? Well, I suppose holding my breath and hoping really hard that nothing bad happens isn’t much of a plan. But for the moment, that’s what it is, although I do hope that writing this post isn’t tempting fate!. We’re just making sure that both cars are really well maintained, and when the second one gets paid off next August, we’ll put that payment towards a savings fund to replace it.
So would you buy a new car right now? Why or why not?
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{ 17 comments }
No new car for us. I drive an ’02 Mazda that’s paid for. It’s been through a hail storm and we chose not to fix it and I’m ok with that. It runs fabulously and gets me from point A to point B plus it gets good gas mileage. Our ‘family’ vehicle is an ’05 Chevy Trailblazer that we’re still payin for. Plan is to get it paid off and drive it until it will drive no more. Also paid cash for a first car for the daughter last year. Trust me it’s nothing but to her it’s transportation and she’s thrilled with it. Runs good too. I can’t wait until we don’t have a car payment anymore!
Nancy\\\´s last blog post..Camp Fire Donuts
No new cars (or used) for us in the near future. Both of our cars are paid for & one is still under warranty. As much as the President would like us to spend our money….ARE YOU KIDDING???? I'm a RN & have lost 50% of my hours due to the lack of elective surgery. I NEVER thought as a RN I would be at a lost for work…but there are layoffs in all health systems….scary!
Probably no new car this year, but hopefully next year. I have a 2001 Explorer that I love and it's paid for. My only issue is it has a lot of miles on it and I occasionally take 4 – 5 hour long trips visiting family, just me and the kids. I'm concerned about the reliability of the vehicle, even though we've had regular maintenance checks. This is really the only reason I may consider buying another vehicle next year.
<abbr>Amanda @ Mommy's Idea Book´s last blog post..Beating Road Trip Boredom: Entertaining the Kids</abbr>
As of right now my 10 year old Toyota is running great! It’s paid off and has relatively low miles for a ten year old car (120k). Once I graduate from grad school, if my funds allow it I would like to buy a new(er) car as a present to myself. However, if something major were to wrong with my car tomorrow I might buy a brand-new car. If you can find the right deal, sometimes the new car you want is cheaper than the same exact car is used. Granted, I wouldn’t buy a GM, Chevy, Saturn, Chrysler…
No new cars for us! But then we weren't even thinking about it anyway. Hubby's truck is a '07 we bought outright last year to replace a tired '87 SUV. We need to fix the hail damage (rust, ick!), but that's it. My car, bought new in '01 and paid off, has low mileage. The only bummer for it is that it's going to come off its extended warranty in a few months. But even still, I think we're still in the repair rather than replace phase with it. I think the car companies grew bigger than they should have because people replaced their cars more frequently than they needed to due to advertising, etc. I'm sorry people are losing their jobs, but I feel they had them based on artificial, non-sustainable demand.
<abbr>Gabriel´s last blog post..Dresses</abbr>
We actually just paid off our 2002 Chrysler Town & Country TODAY! And our 2002 Saturn has been paid off for a few years. Unfortunately, our Town & Country will not accommodate our growing family in the next few months. We are due with baby #5 and still have four in car seats. I have figured out that I can BARELY fit the infant car seat between the two Radians in the back seat, but it is not recommended by the manufacturer. I’ll have to move my six year old into a booster seat earlier than I’d like, to follow the manufacturer’s guidelines of not having three car seats in the back. Since it’s a booster, it’s exempt from their “car seat” label. Anyway, by the time the baby is out of their infant car seat, there is no way we can put 5 kids in there. So, this time next year we are planning to buy either a Chevy Express, GM Savana, Ford Econoline or Dodge Sprinter. We are planning to buy used, but may not pass up a good deal on a new vehicle if the economy is still bad. We need it to last until we are done raising kids, so it can’t be too old anyway. We are looking at 2006 to new. So, some people will still have to purchase vehicles these days.
MommyK\\\´s last blog post..Home-Study Completed
Congrats- that’s fantastic!
No new cars in the forseeable future. We couldn’t possibly afford it.
I don’t have plans to ever buy a brand new vehicle; we save too much money buying used vehicles. Also, driving used vehicles lessens the stress from the inevitable dings/scratches/food spills (not to mention all that muck from soccer cleats). Oh, yes, and insurance is less costly for us.
I’m really hard on my cars Kika, at least for all the things you mentioned above, and I totally agree with you!
When I see some of the prices, I think about for about a split second. But I love my current car, she’s only 6 years old and runs like a dream. And then I remember that even if the new car were to “only” be 15k, insurance and registration would be a far greater chunk of my operating expenses than I can afford. Then I remember that I kind of like this more bare bones trend towards simplicity anyway, and a new car would just sit in the drive. Ultimately, no, not until I have a family with children.
Revanche\\\´s last blog post..No please, keep your two cents
Bare bones trend towards simplicity… I like that!
Nope. Hopefully I’m set for life. The 2001 Forester has only 115,000 miles on it and is paid for. In January I upgraded the 1974 Datsun pickup rustbucket with a used 2004 Chev Silverado and it only has 55,000 miles on it and a 100,000 mile warranty. Also paid for. I drive under 12,000 miles a year….So I’m good for a long long time 🙂
I will not buy a new car. I am driving an old used car and will use it till it dies and then buy another used car. I’ve never been a car person and don’t feel the need to spend that type of money on one.
Craig\´s last blog post..The Ways to Combat Whooping Interest Rates
I won’t buy a car right now because I just bought one in fall of last year before all the craziness. My fiance, however, IS looking to replace his car. But he can’t find a car he likes. He mostly just wants a coupe (or hatchback that looks like a coupe) that’s not too pricey, with front wheel drive, manual transmission and doesn’t look too stupid. The only things he’s found are a Mitsubishi Eclipse, which he doesn’t really like, or a Toyota Celica, which are apparently really hard to find used, and they don’t make anymore.
There just aren’t that many front wheel drive coupes being made. It seems like if you want a coupe you have to buy more of a sports car which are all rear wheel drive, not so great in the snow, you know? So he’s waiting to find something used or for someone to make a nice low end coupe.
Slinky´s last blog post..Is close enough good enough?
No new car for me. My plan is to use the money I was paying out on the car payments and get my emergency fund up to two years worth of expenses. I’d like a nice buffer there so I can make some changes later on.
I’m not really sure I get why the government decided to sink money into the the auto industry in the first place. I mean, the trend is that most people are going with used cars anyway, but beyond that, the unemployment rate is still really high. It’s hard to buy a car with no job and no money. I think creating new jobs should be a priority because that’s the only way most of us will be comfortable spending money, especially on big ticket items.
Kristy @ Master Your Card´s last blog post..Weekly Round Up
Our ’91 Honda and ’90 Audi are still cruising along, and we hope they stay that way for a few more years. The Honda has 216,000 miles on it, but it runs like a dream. The Audi is almost 20 years old, but only has 110,000 miles on it, and also runs great. We’ll only replace them when they die, and we’d only buy used at that point (probably something at least 5 – 10 years old).
Frugal Babe´s last blog post..Our Toddler Eats His Vegetables