I’ll definitely do that. Just now I’m looking for a wheel repair around here in the Bay Area. $150.00 per wheel.
Wow I just had my two tone bmw wheels fixed by a guy that works at a body shop for $150 for both wheels.
Very expensive in the bay!
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I guess I didn’t feel the need to add that I went early admit and graduated from HS with 37 college credits. Driving the car I bought myself.
While I didn’t get an Ivy League degree, my entire Undergrad cost 13,000 (and not because I went in the 1970s) - I worked a full time job including at my University, after I managed an entire team of software developers who went on to the College Board (SATs) - many of them are still there.
We tell ourselves all kinds of stories, but there is more than one route. The hyper-competition narrative is one that sustains an industry that’s had ~8% YoY tuition inflation, without a single correction. All those new buildings don’t build themselves.
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That was my final point in the post. I worked throughout high school and didn’t go to an elite school. My sister was much more academically focused than I was so took a different path. How to paying for college/is it worth it to go to a private school is a whole different animal.
To be fair, many of those were probably built by legacy wealthy donors who have/had uncompetitive children who needed an advantage… Or, at state schools, by the vast amount of international students who pay “full price” (and then some).
Back to the topic…
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You might stumble upon a cheap 24-month lease, which might be the best option assuming your daughter may go away to college, yes? Many campuses don’t allow freshmen to have cars, and at any rate she probably won’t need a car in college. (Different story if she lives at home and commutes, but this assumes she will go to college and live in dorms.)
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Fingers crossed, yes. 24mo would be great as my 3 car garage is already a 2 car garage and one truck sits on the driveway
Agree, New lease and latest safety features the way to go if you can hack or get a solid lease. Looked at the used car route for a 2016 but difference in safety features, known out of pocket over the next 3 years and new car warranty/GAP built in made the difference.
Did this last summer for our HS kids with a lease on a Mazda 3 with the latest safety features (alternative was Jetta and Accord/Civic). The insurance was about 20% lower than a Jetta and 15% lower than a civic/accord.
Built in GAP insurance is huge in case of an accident/diminished value. I see minimum of 3 car wrecks or accident cleanups a day driving in South Florida
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Just about to turn in a CX-5 that my daughter learned on. And by “learned on,” I mean numerous dings and scratches and two reasonably large dents. Yet, at the end I’ll only pay about $500 for excess wear and tear on a car that needs a decent amount of work ($3k?) to look good as new. Leasing (and Chase/AutoVin) made a ton of sense in the end for us, which I didn’t think was possible 18 months in…
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Good tips from all, thx
Autovin, what’s that?
Chase/Mazda outsource their wear-and-tear estimations to a company called AutoVin, at least in the Northeast.
I muddled my point a bit, but I meant to say leasing is not an awful way to go. Whether or not they get in a crash, you have much better safety features. If they do, you’re paying the $1k+ deductible anyway. If they don’t you have a better car, better features, minimal excess wear-and-tear and a clean slate as they go away to college
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