You Get What You Pay For!

D. Llewellyn
Jan 18, 2017
2 min read

It's apparent and very logical that we ALL want to save money when and wherever we can, but there's one thing that my parents, and most recently, my wife have always told me...you get what you pay for!

I mean I get it, if you have to spend money on a car, then you want to get away with spending as least as possible. Makes sense. Have you ever wondered about how the "unseen" costs (they're not hidden, we just generally tend to not think about them) change the TRUE cost of ownership?

"Unseen" costs are things that we don't relate to the price of the vehicle we are dreaming about, like the $100 fillups in your new full size V8 SUV, or the insurance costs on that pretty little V6 convertible. Even those cheaper "cash deal" cars could end up costing you a lot more than the $10,000 cash you paid.

Eventually, EVERY vehicle runs into some mechanical issues, and if you just paid $10,000 for that 4 year old model with 100,000+ miles on it, you seriously need to consider why! Are their mechanical issues that I don't know about? What about the title...is that clear? The CARFAX says this was owned by 4 people in the last 3 years...All leading to BIG SAVINGS for you! (enter sarcasm here. haha.)

So you fork over your $10K plus your taxes, tags, licensing, and processing fees! (Gotta love those fees!) and ride away happy!...For all of two weeks until you need a new starter...and then a motor mount...and a radiator, next thing you know you're spending a thousand or two in repairs each year! That increases the cost of ownership a lot (over a 5 year span: $10,000 - $20,000), and you'll never recoup the money spent in it even if you do sell it!

What if you had just spent $3,000 more and gotten a 2 year old model with 65,000 miles on it. You can add an extended service plan for $1,500 to $2,500 and pay a flat deductible of about $100 for each occurrence. (For you to equal the cost of ownership of the previous vehicle with no warranty, your vehicle would need to be in the shop once a month for the next 5 years!) Not only does this save you money, but it makes you money by allowing you to resell at a reasonable price should you choose to do so down the road.

Now I'm not saying that every cheap car is going to be a lemon, but it's always like the smartest people in my life have always said...you get what you pay for, and remember that cheaper isn't ALWAYS better!