Should I get rid of my wife's nissan z?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jan 8 2007, 01:51 PM) [snapback]372556[/snapback]</div>

Sounds like a fun car, I'd keep unless I needed the money or the space.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jan 8 2007, 01:51 PM) [snapback]372556[/snapback]</div>

No, I wouldn't. Mainly, I think you ought to keep it because it's a standing reason not to buy another car.

I was in the same situation -- Prius plus older car, with my older car driven under 3500 miles a year. If, for some reason my wife and I both had to be driving at the same time, I took the old car. At that rate, gas mileage hardly matters, within reason. So, it did the job OK. And meant no need for another car. And zero inconvenience to us.

Now, if we hadn't kept that car, it would have been an occasional inconvenience. And that would have been a reason to think about getting a new car.

I'm speaking with the voice of experience here because my older car finally gave up the ghost last fall. I tried ZIP car (instant car rental), I tried feeling good about self-denial, I tried being self-satisfied about only owning one car out here in Suburbia. That lasted, ah, about 2 months. I gave up and bought something that could haul 6 people with OK gas mileage (Mazda5 with manual transmission).

So, I'd say sell it if you've secretly got the urge to get something new. Otherwise, keep it to forestall that urge.

For what it's worth, I think the options for new vehicles are going to be much richer 3-4 years from now than they are today. Given how long a modern car will last, if you're getting the urge to get something new, you might want to ask whether you'd like to wait and see what's out there 3 years from now. That was my plan -- to buy the first major-manufacturer PHEV or EV offered -- but my old car didn't last that long. So, now I'm "stuck" with a nice new totally traditional car.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jan 8 2007, 01:51 PM) [snapback]372556[/snapback]</div>

I think that, actually, there are very, very few people who "don't need the money."

If you're not driving it much, and you don't need it, why on earth would you leave that amount of money sitting in an automobile?

Cars depreciate rapidly and constantly...sell the thing, invest the money, and in a few years you can buy something else (or another one, or a newer model) and probably have something left over.

SELL THE CAR!!!

 

Keep it. My philosophy is it's better to have something and not need it than need something and not have it.

On a completely unrelated note, in the main menu this thread shows up as "Should I get rid of my wife".

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Stev0 @ Jan 8 2007, 03:58 PM) [snapback]372730[/snapback]</div>

Ha! You noticed that too. I cracked up when I saw that one.

Are the 2000 miles "impulse" miles or are they planned? Basically, would it be difficult to rent a car when you need two? If so, keep the car. Can you reclassify it from an insurance point of view to lower the cost of insuring it (you've probably already thought of that one, but I thought I'd check)? If you can manage file w/o it then do what pinto suggested. If you have doubts chogan's probably right.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jan 8 2007, 06:40 PM) [snapback]372753[/snapback]</div>

You're digging yourself deeper and deeper.

SELL THE CAR!!!

I sold my '97 Carrera, took half the money and placed it in the stock market, bought the Prius with the other half, and am investing my way towards recouping what I paid for the Prius in the first place.

SELL THE CAR!!!
[smiling]

Also, don't forget that a low-mileage car may require additional maintenance unique to this situation. And you're paying lots more per mile for insurance, too, right?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jan 8 2007, 07:00 PM) [snapback]372765[/snapback]</div>

Well, there's rational and there's rational. You're going to take the car, that you wife really likes to drive, and sell it to recoup the money, that you don't need. Not clear to me that's coming ahead. At some point, fun gets hard to come by. Particularly with an infant in the house. What are you doing to do with the money that's more fun than driving the car?

On the original environmental issue, my guess is that by releasing a new-ish car in to the market, resulting in a chain of re-sales of existing vehicles, what you eventually do is cause the oldest, worst car on the market to be scrapped a little sooner. So, in terms of the final, long-term effect, what you're doing is in effect causing the worst bomb on the road to retired. Even with mediocre gas milage, I bet you'd still probably be improving the US fleet environmental impact if you sold the car and let someone else drive it.

But I'd still place more weight on your value in use.

 

I'm in the "don't sell the car camp", especially since you don't need the money.

If you're putting any miles on it at all, it evidently serves a purpose for you.

Secondly, you seem environmentally inclined it seems to me that since you are putting miles on this car, you'll find that you eventually want to fill the void with another vehicle. Since it takes a tremendous amount of energy to make a car and transport it to your dealer, retaining your current car will definitely have less of an impact on the environment.

Sadly, this is the very reason it took me so long to buy my Prius. I had a reliable, functioning Nissan Altima and I opted to wait until that thing was dying before purchasing a new car. I couldn't wait to get rid of that thing but realized that the environmental impact would probably be worse if I did. That car would've definitely been scrapped!

 

It's not exactly clear to me if this is the OP's second or third car, if it's their third, then it might make more sense to sell it, but if it's their second car, and they now have children, then they will probably want two cars, if not now, then later when there are more child-related activities etc., so why not keep one that's paid for and has the benefit of being fun?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Jan 8 2007, 11:51 AM) [snapback]372556[/snapback]</div>

Let me put it this way, I was on my way to the Nissan dealer to get a 350Z ragtop when my wife found out she was pregnant. We ended up not buying a car that only two people could ride in, because we figured we would rarely use it. (your situation?).

Now, I want a Volvo convertible. Holds carseats very well.

Nate