Hi guys,

Long time, no talk.

I'm still loving my 2011 Mustang. I have 4.10's, tune, and Borla exhaust. All that wasn't cheap, and will reduce my resale value, so keep this in mind.

When I got this car in 2010, I was renting for cheap ($900 a month). I ended up taking out a mortgage a year later which increased my monthly housing to $1600. Let's not forget to mention my car payment is $550 a month for two more years.

I only drive my car about 4k miles a year. I take the DC metro everywhere because I live in the city. I still enjoy the car a fair amount, but I'm finding the monthly car payment is infringing on my "city lifestyle" by limiting the amount of drinking/eating out I do on a monthly basis.

Sure, I'll have it paid off in a few years, but by then I'll be nearly 33 and have wasted some prime socializing years by actually having a budget.

I do need to have a car, so I'd have to get it replaced. I can't see coming out ahead if I sell and get a new/used car, however.

Here's the math:
$1600 mortage
$550 car payment
$150 a month in car insurance
$50 a month in gas

So basically, having an expensive car with a payment is costing me $700 a month. I have mandatory expenses of car+ housing at $2300 a month. I still have enough cash left over to live quite comfortably, but I'd like to go out and socialize more than I do (I do it about 1-2 times a week, would like to do 2-3 and eat at way more restaurants and cook less).

Any ideas? Try to be objective as I know we all love our Mustangs, but I feel I may not be getting my money's worth considering how little I drive and how my housing is eating such a huge chunk of my income.

 

Sell it and buy a cash car.

 

This is a really tough question. What car would you replace it with? How much money do you think you could get for it vs. how much the car you want to buy will cost? Maybe you could sell this Mustang and buy an older used Mustang that's in good condition instead, thus lowering your payments.

If cash flow is really all you're worried about, maybe you can refinance your remaining loan to lower your monthly payments. You'll end up paying quite a bit more in interest if you do this.

 

What are you going to get out of going out 2-3 times a week? Eating God knows what from a restaurant, and hanging out with people that like you only because you buy rounds. Just what do you expect to gain from that lifestyle? Keep your car, save some money, stay home and cook. Keeping up with the Joneses is not that smart.

 

I have no idea what I would replace it with. I used to drive a 1994 Honda Accord that cost me $15 a month in insurance and no car payment.

Honestly, I doubt my car is worth more than $20k. I still owe about 13k on it. I can't really get anything decent for 7k, can I? At least not anything as technologically cool or sexy/fun to drive.

Right now I'm learning towards saving up for a bit and trying to pay off the car asap (I'm getting a super low interest rates, so that's not an issue)...

 

Amen to that, could not said it better...

What do people get out of drinking eating out? = WASTED MONEY thrown away...

Just save money, cook healthier meals at home and then in the end you will have something that is worth more than that lifestyle.

heck my fiance and i decided not to eat out as much and just enjoy time with each other, cook and put 50-100 a side for fun money ( MOVIES, Eating out ) etc... What do you get about throwing away money in bars and eating food that who ever makes?

 

DC has a lot of fantastic restaurants, so I don't think that would be 'god knows what'. I don't buy the bar rounds, but I do go out with my friends a lot and I'll admit a huge part of this is picking up girls (no, I usually don't buy them drinks). I cook about 6 times a week at home, but I'm kind of lazy and not a great cook (plus it's time consuming, and free time is a premium for me) so I'd like to lower that to 4 times.

I just don't want to do anything impulsive. Who knows, if I sell it I might see the 2015 then get impulsive again and want to get that. Or maybe get a Ford Focus GT as a compromise between fun and practicality.

But regardless, right now I'm leaning towards keeping the car and just trying to pay it off asap to free up some income (although a mandatory 5k a year goes to my Roth IRA so that inhibits saving somewhat).

 

A MONTH? My "fun money" last month was $850 for eating out/partying and this is with me cooking pretty much every day a week except for Friday. Too many happy hours, charity events, comedy shows, and concerts. There's so much going on, it's costly!

 

I see where the OP is coming from. Although I would not sell my car for fun money. It costs $50-$100 over a weekend for me... I usually spend around $250/month for the weekends... But OP... no. If you sell the car for $20,000 and pay off the other $13,000... You have $7,000 aka a 2005 Honda or some mom-mobile like that....

 

OMG 33 you will be almost be dead by that time ...JK but at least you will have something to show for your money spent instead of drinking or eating it away. At least the mustang will be there when you socialize thats like throwing money down the toilet ....literally

 

Hey man!

Meeting womens.


Although driving them home in a beater Civic isn't going to be near as impressive as a hot red Mustang GT!

 

Its called budgeting my friend... Keeping up with the joneses is not something i liked.. I have a house payment, baby on the way, insurance, car payment, and other goodies plus money saved on the side each month, 401k, etc..

Money goes into savings, then money on the side for fun... If all i wanted was to party and spend money i wouldnt have everything i have today. I already paid off my 97 GT back in 2007 and it was the best feeling ever. Now this new one...

Between my fiance and i we throw down some great meals from the balkans ( my side ) and Viatnamese on her side...

Its all about budgeting my friend... 850 throw away a week for fun is like burning money away. Think about instead of spending 850 a week on fun, stay home put that towards your car and bam you will have it paid of faster than a year...

 

Have people over to your place that you're paying for. Making dinner might be cheaper and it's definitely more fun. You get to know people better. It'd also save some gas. You could even do a pot luck dinner once every week or two. Easy!

 

Yup!

 

Please forgive me, but 850 eating out and partying, HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND? That's insane. The kind of help you need can't be found in this forum. Best wishes.

 

How do you get away with $50 a month on fuel? It's $60 for me to just fill up one tank

 

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll keep the car and try to pay it off early. I can't see using 7k to get anything fun/decent.

No, a month, not a week! That's crazy.

120 dollars in groceries lasts me about two weeks. That's 240 dollars a month. I get coffee everyday and a buffet, which is about ten bucks. That's 300 a month. I spend about 80 dollars a weekend going out. 4x that's 320 a month. All together it's about $850.

I would normally pack my lunch, but I eat like a machine and the thought of eating 3 sammies every day makes me want to kill myself. The buffet and loading up on meat and veggies is a better deal (chicken and steak galore).

 

What do people get out of driving a wasteful 420 HP car instead of a Prius? Expensive gas, tire, and oil bills = WASTED MONEY thrown away, that could be spent on saving for retirement/kids/college.

The OP is deciding between two different, but equally non-economical uses for his 'disposable' income (I hate that term). In real terms, he's getting nothing more out of owning a Mustang than eating out 1-2 more times a week.

From a personal fulfillment POV, he's going to have to decide where his priorities are to make this decision. Both expenses are largely optional, and being borne in the pursuit of pleasure.

OP: realize that you've already borne the biggest depreciation hit your car is ever going to have. By selling it now, you'd turn that into a realized loss instead of a loss 'on paper'. This is the problem with budgeting based on monthly payments; yeah, you might be able to get your monthly payment down by selling the Stang and buying a (more modest) used car, but you're still effectively taking a $10k+ hit for the ~2 years you had the Stang (which is terrible ROI). From now on, it's going to depreciate much more slowly, so the longer you keep it, the better of you're going to be (as long as you can afford the payments, and aren't doing something dumb like going further into debt just to keep the car).

BTW; if you're already spending $850/mo on going out, and aren't enjoying 'the best' DC has to offer, you're doing it wrong (or trying to be obnoxiously 'Balla about it)

 

Not much to say that SennaF1 didn't already cover - he's a smart man!

All I would add is, you live in DC, which is one of the few cities with enough public transit where maybe you don't even need a car at all. I don't know all your details or where in DC you live, etc. but what about not having a car at all and using public transit normally, then something like ZipCar the rest of the time? That would actually save you a lot of money, versus selling then buying something else not being nearly as big a benefit as it seems.

(I went through this same thing last summer when I was freaking about the cost of a wedding, how long it was going to take us to save for a house, etc. and ended up deciding selling was stupid because A) I love this car and it brings me great joy and B) I drive so many miles that selling my Mustang and buying something cheap would have me driving a car with 150K+ in no time, which puts me right back in the car buying mode again).

 

$150 a month for car insurance for a guy over 30? That's $1800 a year. Full coverage on my GT will be approx $715 a year. Do you have a clean driving record?