Question about getting 3rd car to help with gas costs

[humalexis]

Ok, I'm a newbie to this site as you can see by my post count, but I am hoping some of you will still be able to help.

Here is my situation: DH and I have 2 vehicles a 97 Ford F150 and 2006 Chrysler minivan. Neither very good on gas though my minivan isn't horrible. DH wants to buy a used smaller car with better gas mileage to take back and forth to work everyday but still keep his truck which he does use sometimes due to his type of job in construction. I think this idea is not going to save us any money but rather be a burden on our already tight budget.

I will be off work during the summer so I don't use the minivan except to do groceries once a week and take the girls to the pool which is a few miles away. (biking to the pool may be an option we will see if DD5 can handle the long ride) So we will be using less gas during June, July and some of August. DH thinks that he will save us enough money with the little car but I don't think so. First we have to pay for this car which means depleting our savings and then we have to pay insurance on top of that. If we get a used car in our price range $1000-$1500 it will most likely need repairs or break down in the future unexpectedly. I don't want that hassle!

On a side note we can't get rid of my minivan yet because we still owe on it and I don't want to deal with negative equity. Please help me with any other ideas or tell me I'm wrong to be worried. I just don't see how DH thinks this will help out the situation. Thanks in advance for any advice and opinions.

 

[Nayan]

No you won't save any money. Extra repairs, normal maintenance, tires, gas, insurance. In fact I am thinking of junking one of mine because my insurance just went up. 3 cars will not save you money, so I would tell him absolutely no way.

 

[secretpantssam]

Yeah I really don't think a third car will save you anything at all. Would he be able to car pool or anything? Or maybe on days you know you're not using the van, he can take it to work if it gets better gas mileage.

 

[seashoreCM]

Biking to the pool or anywhere else is great exercise and is fun. But biking just to save gas is foolish given today's road conditions.

How much of an outlay, including sales tax and insurance, would you make in order to have a third car? Figure this out beforehand. You might find that it takes a long time before gas savings materialize from a higher mileage car.

 

[marlynnp]

Let's just talk price of the car and forget about insurance, maintenace, registration, etc....

If your husband is getting 14 miles a gallon with his truck and gets a small used car to use that gets 24 miles a gallon* - he'll get 10 extra miles per gallon.

At $4 a gallon that's a savings of $0.12/mile. If he spends $1500 for the car he'll have to drive 12,500 miles to recoup the purchase price alone.




*I think that's the highest number you can hope for with a purchase price of $1500 you will not be getting a newer, more fuel efficient vehicle

 

[Bell30012]

I of the opposite mind on this one. When the gas price got high back in 2006, I bought a used Geo Tracker for $600. I drove the wheels off that thing for over a year on weekdays while my big, gas-guzzling, Ford Conversion Van and my Chevrolet pickup sat in the driveway until weekends.

Fast forward to this gas crisis... I picked up a 2000 Honda Insight to save on my daily commute. My Navigator and Thunderbird wait idly by for weekends.

If you buy a lower priced car, just try and get something common. You can get parts from a Pull-A-Part if you need to fix anything. I later sold my Tracker for more than I paid for it after using it for a year.

*Note* My commute is wicked and I average about 700+ miles per week.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Well...I actually do this-I have a 1997 Chevy Cavalier which I commute with, a 1998 Chevy Astrovan for family hauling, and dh drives a 2001 Dodge Ram truck.

I do save a huge amount on gas. However-these vehicles were all bought used, for cash. I don't think the numbers would work for me if I had a payment involved IMO. And honestly, the van seems to be dying a slow death and I'm not sure what all I am going to do with it-I'm taking my time to decide (it failed emissions and has to be retested).

Since you are a family of 4, could you put a bit from savings to get out from under the minivan, and buy a decent used car (for cash) to drive? For me, we don't fit in my car, otherwise I would get rid of my van since we don't use it much. So you guys would have the truck and a car. If dh needed the truck for a day, you'd switch vehicles.

I will say, I was driving the van daily to work, 40 miles RT, for a couple years, then got the little car-it paid for itself in less than 2 years.

 

[humalexis]

Thanks for all the replies. Our commutes aren't horrible. I think DH does 35miles roundtrip and alot is on the highway. Mine differs depending upon the day. I told him he could borrow the van because if we had an emergency I could still use the truck. I also wanted him to talk with his boss about leaving his truck at the shop and just drive the work van or truck home at night and then on Fridays bring home his truck. It would save us and the company money since many times my DH is driving the work truck back across town anyway to get to the job site. He doesn't want to ask but I think his boss wouldn't mind since he has been with the company for 19 years and he is such a hard worker.

As someone else posted about making more payments... I still have a decent chunk to pay off on the minivan but was hoping to make extra payments this summer to help get the money we owe on it down. I will have to say I love my minivan and I don't want to downsize but will have to with gas prices going up every year. I think what is making me leary is that our cushion in the savings would be decreased. During the summer that is not as big a deal but winters can be rough if there is no work for DH because of cold and snow. Stucco won't set after the temperature drops too low and people don't want to pay for propane heaters. We will manage we always do. Again thanks for the help and advice. The DIS rocks!!

 

[swilshire]

I'm sure we don't save any money, but we keep a van and an F-150 pickup while driving two Honda Elements day to day. We only drive the van on vacations or when we have extra people. I'm planning for it to last a LONG time. We just keep the truck for when we need to haul something. It only has liability insurance on it, so the insurance is very inexpensive. If you have more cars than drivers, the insurance on the extra one is cheaper than if you were driving it every day.

Sheila

 

[cats mom]

Thanks for all the replies. Our commutes aren't horrible. I think DH does 35miles roundtrip and alot is on the highway. Mine differs depending upon the day. I told him he could borrow the van because if we had an emergency I could still use the truck. I also wanted him to talk with his boss about leaving his truck at the shop and just drive the work van or truck home at night and then on Fridays bring home his truck. It would save us and the company money since many times my DH is driving the work truck back across town anyway to get to the job site. He doesn't want to ask but I think his boss wouldn't mind since he has been with the company for 19 years and he is such a hard worker.

As someone else posted about making more payments... I still have a decent chunk to pay off on the minivan but was hoping to make extra payments this summer to help get the money we owe on it down. I will have to say I love my minivan and I don't want to downsize but will have to with gas prices going up every year. I think what is making me leary is that our cushion in the savings would be decreased. During the summer that is not as big a deal but winters can be rough if there is no work for DH because of cold and snow. Stucco won't set after the temperature drops too low and people don't want to pay for propane heaters. We will manage we always do. Again thanks for the help and advice. The DIS rocks!!

Bolding above mine

IRS rules state that if a company vehicle is used for anything not business related (and that includes commuting) it is subject to all the tax rules that cover personal use of company vehicles. So it's not just a matter of the boss being a nice guy and allowing your DH to take the company van/truck home, there would be tax consequences for both you and the company.

 

[humalexis]

Bolding above mine

IRS rules state that if a company vehicle is used for anything not business related (and that includes commuting) it is subject to all the tax rules that cover personal use of company vehicles. So it's not just a matter of the boss being a nice guy and allowing your DH to take the company van/truck home, there would be tax consequences for both you and the company.

You learn something everyday here at the DIS. Thanks for this info. We don't claim mileage on our taxes but I'm sure his boss wouldn't want his tax stuff to change. Well there goes that idea

I think I will be able to talk him into waiting until we can just get a new smaller more gas efficient vehicle for me to replace the minivan and maybe get the truck a tune up since I know the plugs and wires probably need changed. That I can do myself this summer. Thanks for all the help!

 

[MrsPete]

I'm with the majority here: Adding a third vehicle will add a significant amount to your budget and will end up costing you MORE in spite of gas savings.

I understand that you want to keep your van for the time being (and I had one when my kids were that young too), but I have a suggestion for you to file away for future years:

We bought a new, fuel-efficient little Honda for me, and I absolutely love it. I like driving something small, and the mileage is great. I spend $30-35 on gas every 2-3 weeks. BUT when we go on vacation or when I need to tote a bunch of kids around, it isn't quite big enough. When we bought this car three years ago, we agreed that by purchasing something small (for which we could pay cash) and cheap-to-keep, we'd save enough month-to-month that when we need it, we can afford to rent a big, comfortable van. We do rent a van occasionally. It's definitely cheaper than buying and maintaining that more expensive vehicle, and it's definitely cheaper than filling that big tank every week.

But that idea won't be useful to you 'til you're ready to get rid of the van.

 

[puffkin]

We just ran the numbers on this a few months ago as both my husband and I have 80 mile (RT and in opposite directions) commutes and it just didn't make sense for us to get a 3rd more fuel efficient car. He drives a Corolla so he gets good gas mileage. We buy one new car at a time and pay that one off before replacing our other one (therefore we always have one car payment and drive each car 8-9 years or so). My car 2003 Ford Escape was ready to be replaced so we looked at all the options (including keeping it and getting a cheap used car) and it just didn't make financial sense for us. SO I traded it in for a 2011 RAV4 as we like having a car that size for family trips. You really have to run all the numbers and weigh all the other factors as well.

 

[Jenny-momof3]

We did this in 2008 when gas hit $4/gallon. But we also had more reason than just saving on gas. My oldest dd was going to be driving soon and we wanted to buy a car for her.

DH had a 2005 exteneded Dodge Ram with a HEMI...we were lucky to get 9 miles/gallon with that thing...not kidding! I had a 2005 GMC Envoy XL...not good mileage on that either! DH was spending close to $600/month on gas! So we bought a 2008 Pontiac G6. We got a great deal on it even though it was brand new! We came out ahead each month for quite some time! Then DH ended up selling the truck because it was just a ridiculous gas guzzler. And we bought a used Toyota Camry.

 

[crisi]

I'm with the majority here: Adding a third vehicle will add a significant amount to your budget and will end up costing you MORE in spite of gas savings.

I understand that you want to keep your van for the time being (and I had one when my kids were that young too), but I have a suggestion for you to file away for future years:

We bought a new, fuel-efficient little Honda for me, and I absolutely love it. I like driving something small, and the mileage is great. I spend $30-35 on gas every 2-3 weeks. BUT when we go on vacation or when I need to tote a bunch of kids around, it isn't quite big enough. When we bought this car three years ago, we agreed that by purchasing something small (for which we could pay cash) and cheap-to-keep, we'd save enough month-to-month that when we need it, we can afford to rent a big, comfortable van. We do rent a van occasionally. It's definitely cheaper than buying and maintaining that more expensive vehicle, and it's definitely cheaper than filling that big tank every week.

But that idea won't be useful to you 'til you're ready to get rid of the van.

We do this too! In our case, neither of us wants to drive a minivan or SUV on our commutes (about 60 miles round trip each) - not just the gas, but they aren't cars we like to drive. And we certainly don't want insurance on a third car, or a third car in our driveway.

 

[MrsPete]

We do this too! In our case, neither of us wants to drive a minivan or SUV on our commutes (about 60 miles round trip each) - not just the gas, but they aren't cars we like to drive. And we certainly don't want insurance on a third car, or a third car in our driveway.

Exactly -- once, possibly twice, a year a big van is quite hand and comfortable, BUT I don't want to pay to maintain it all the time. Not when I actually prefer driving my Honda, and not when my kids no longer need big, chunky strollers and other baby gear.

We've been very happy with the "own small, rent big occasionally" method.

 

[herdtoDisney]

I'm thinking about doing this too, instead of investing the needed repairs on my van. If I invest maybe $400 in a tonnaou (tonnow??) truck bed cover for DH's truck, we could use it for SAms club trips (which are a bit hard in the small car) and just rent a van if we go on a trip. If it's able to pass emissions testing, I might hold onto it for a year-we did Disney in Feb so we aren't going on any long trips this year. I won't take it on any long trips anyhow, at its age.

 

[Pigeon]

The only way you will know is to run the numbers. Do some research and find out how much it will cost for you to buy a decent, fuel efficient car that will suit your needs. Call your insurance agent and find out how much it would cost to insure said car for a year. Figure out the mileage you would drive on this new car per year and the difference in efficiency. Factor in maintenance on a third vehicle, and if it's a $1500 vehicle there is going to be a significant amount of this, because the better, fuel efficient cars like Corollas and Civics hold their value pretty well. Anything that costs that little is going to be pretty old and high mileage.

I seriously doubt you are going to be saving.

 

[tlbwriter]

The only way you will know is to run the numbers. Do some research and find out how much it will cost for you to buy a decent, fuel efficient car that will suit your needs. Call your insurance agent and find out how much it would cost to insure said car for a year. Figure out the mileage you would drive on this new car per year and the difference in efficiency. Factor in maintenance on a third vehicle, and if it's a $1500 vehicle there is going to be a significant amount of this, because the better, fuel efficient cars like Corollas and Civics hold their value pretty well. Anything that costs that little is going to be pretty old and high mileage.

I seriously doubt you are going to be saving.

This, exactly. Tell him to show you how much money this is going to save. And don't forget the cost of the tag, in addition to everything listed above.

 

[mrodgers]

Let's just talk price of the car and forget about insurance, maintenace, registration, etc....

If your husband is getting 14 miles a gallon with his truck and gets a small used car to use that gets 24 miles a gallon* - he'll get 10 extra miles per gallon.

At $4 a gallon that's a savings of $0.12/mile. If he spends $1500 for the car he'll have to drive 12,500 miles to recoup the purchase price alone.




*I think that's the highest number you can hope for with a purchase price of $1500 you will not be getting a newer, more fuel efficient vehicle

My old Honda Civic got 35 mpg and it had 180,000 miles on it.

You can get a car much better than 24 mpg for $1500.

It would take 7800 miles using my 35 mpg Civic to recoup a $1500 car. I drive 15,000 miles/year, so that is roughly half the driving, would be easy to do.

At that, you could just get rid of the car and buy another $1500 Civic every two years and skip out on all the maintenance and get way ahead if you are averaging 14 mpg now in a gas guzzler. Even driving the car 3/4 of the year and replacing the econojunker every year before state inspections and maintenance would put you ahead.