I’m sure all you readers remember the multiple posts on my car buying decision a few months ago. If not, you can read about it here. Before I took the plunge, I asked a blogger friend for help. Boy did I get a lot of comments, and if you read my post, you’ll see that I basically went the other way for reasons that I’m not going to bother getting into here. I will mention this: Many people talked about the depreciation of a new vehicle when purchased, but that’s not case for me. I bought a truck, which are notorious for holding their value (I paid less than 24,000 for my truck, and when I checked KBB earlier this week, value was sitting just under 22k)
How I Used the Warranty
One of the reasons that I did buy a new car was because of the warranty. Dave Ramsey call this a stupid tax, and for good reason: Many people will buy a new car, but get tired of it after a few years (in many cases, before it’s paid off). They end up eating the depreciation, not really taking advantage of the warranty they signed up for, and end up starting the cycle over in a few years. I don’t plan on doing that. I was brought up in a house where you bought a new car, but you “rolled it until the wheels fell off.” This I plan on doing as well.
Back to task, One of the reasons that I opted for new was because of a warranty, and it paid off for me in spades. On the way home from shopping one day, I noticed the power steering had gone out and the vehicle was acting odd. I decided to take it the rest of the way home (about 2 miles) and then look at it when I got home. My truck had another idea – About 1/2 mile down the road, I noticed the heating gauge climb up, and figured I’d better hurry. As I completed my turn, it went from normal temperature to as high as the gauge would go. This prompted me to pull over, where after obligatory checking (because I’m a guy) I found the problem. There was my fan belt, just hanging down below the engine, not where it was supposed to be. I couldn’t figure out which pulley it fell off of, so I called roadside assistance, and after about an hour of waiting, a tow truck came and picked me up and took me and my now inoperable vehicle to the dealer where it was purchased from.
They took it, told me it would be a few days to get the parts in, handed me the keys to a rental car, and all was well. Then the storm came. I got a call from a guy in the shop telling me it would be about 3 weeks(!) before they would be able to get a part out to fix my truck. I was shocked, but there was not much I could do. I thanked the guy for calling, realized that my auto manufacturer had a rather large problem on their hands, and hopped back in the rental.
Livin the Life in the Rental
That rental car was sweet, too! It had the new SYNC system, and I could make calls and listen to voice mails through the cars speakers. It also had a USB port so that I could charge my phone and an audio input for the ipod (that I have, but dont use). Not only did it have lots of sweet technologies, it KILLED IT when it came to gas mileage (I know, because it had a computer in the vehicle to compute mileage). Side note: when those things say “0 miles to empty” that’s not exactly the truth. But don’t blame me if you get stranded. So, I was getting almost double miles per gallon what I got in my truck.
On average, I spent $380 on gas for the truck in feburary and march, the last full months of data that I have preceding the breakdown and me driving the rental. For the month (yes I had the rental for a full month) I spent $290 on gas (and even that had a fill up or 2 in the truck). It was AWESOME! I was putting miles on someone else’s car. You may not think it’s a big deal, but I put over 3,000 miles on their car instead of my own. I spent much less on fuel than I normally would have. I definitely felt like I was king of the world (or at least pulling a fast one on someone).
When I went to pick up my truck, I didnt have to pay a dime. I drove around someone else car for a month, put a lot of miles on it and save tons on gas that I used to pay down debt.
There was only 1 problem with the whole situation: I didnt mind driving that rental car at all. Sure, it had more amenities than I would have ever paid for if I had gone in and bought it myself. It was nice, it drove well, and I felt fine driving it, and to make matters worse, I had a visual number of how much I could save if I traded in my truck for a car. It wasn’t pretty, and I still consider trading the truck in for a car from time to time.
However, I don’t because I’d like to keep the truck because it serves a purpose in my future goals and I’ll need it then. There wont be any sense in buying it again (or so I keep telling myself).
Do you have a warranty on your vehicle?
Do you think they are worthwhile?
Would you trade in a vehicle for the sole reason of getting better gas mileage?
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