Sold My House! Help Me Out Now...

[Deleted]

Well, we got an offer on our house and just went under contract. We ended up taking about a 13% hit from when we bought in 2004. Overall, that's not too bad and the competition was really heating up...so I was glad we got out when we did.

So we're moving to a more expensive, yet WAY more desirable area and we'll make all of it back. The question I have is this....I'm kinda trying to figure out how much we'll save by having a shorter commute.

It's actually going to be a bigger savings in the 1st year (my buildings moving in late 2012), but for simplicity, let's just assume the commute with the new building.

Total mileage savings for my wife and I is 54 miles per day. Total for the year, roughly, is about 11,000 miles.

Now, figuring out the savings on gas is something. But what about wear/tear on the car. I've seen the old 42 cents per gallon, but you think that's accurate?

There's some other savings, like the $80/month in tolls we'll save, but the commuting costs are the big ones.

Thoughts?

[thyme4change]

The latest I've seen is 50-something cents per mile. So, 5 or 6 grand a year. Unfortunately, that is an accrual accounting based 50-cents, so you won't see it all at once. It isn't like you will suddenly have $5,000 in your checking account. In reality, a lot of that is depreciation, or the ability to keep your car more years before having to replace it. So, in cash, you will only see the savings in gas, plus a reduction in any maintenance you might do regularly - oil chages, etc. Your tires will last longer, but unless you worked out your mileage and have a budget in a far out month for tire replacement, you most likely won't notice.

[thyme4change]

Also, you will see a lot less savings if you buy new (or newer) cars based on the number of years you own them vs. the number of miles they have. So, my Dad use to say that he owned a car for 10 years - no more, no less. And then he changed his lifestyle drastically and now he keeps his cars until they hit 100,000 - no matter if it has been 7 years or 14.

If you drive the car until it breaks down, you will get a little more savings. But, if you churn your cars every 5 years due to boredom (not judging, just sayin') then you will see less savings.

[resolution]

AAA has a chart that shows average cost per mile based on vehicle type. It ranges from 45 cents to 75 cents per mile. midatlantic.aaa.com/PGA/VehicleOperatingCosts

I used to travel for work and my coworkers would get all excited about the "free money" from the travel reimbursement but once you added in depreciation on the vehicle we were all taking a loss.

[shanendoah]

When we went from commuting 100 miles/day to 30 miles/day, the biggest change we noticed (besides gas) was how often the car had to go in for service. We had a service contract, so we'd paid for all the oil changes in advance, but it still took up an afternoon. It was nice not to have to go in aprox 1/month for that.

[tskeeter]

davebo, check out edmunds.com. One of the web site features is a "true cost to own" calculation for any car. This calculation is based on the first five years of ownership, so the depreciation expense is a bit high, but it'll give you some idea. If you back the depreciation out of the calculation, you'll have a fairly good idea of the out of pocket savings you can expect. Or, if your car is getting a bit older, use the data for the fifth year only. The should be reasonably representative of the cost of operating an older car.

[alabamagal]

Make sure you update your car insurance for the shorter commute. This should lower your rates.

[dancinmama]

Jun 2, 2011 16:39:44 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

Also, you will see a lot less savings if you buy new (or newer) cars based on the number of years you own them vs. the number of miles they have. So, my Dad use to say that he owned a car for 10 years - no more, no less. And then he changed his lifestyle drastically and now he keeps his cars until they hit 100,000 - no matter if it has been 7 years or 14.

If you drive the car until it breaks down, you will get a little more savings. But, if you churn your cars every 5 years due to boredom (not judging, just sayin') then you will see less savings.

thyme: Ten years is great, but more is better if you don't end up with a lot of expensive repairs. Was the lifestyle change monetary? And why not go over 100K miles? Depending on the make/model of the car and how they have been maintained, many cars will give you far more than 100K miles.

My car is almost 10 years old, has less than 82K miles, looks great, and is going strong. I am hoping to get AT LEAST 5 more years out of it, but if repairs get too expensive, I'll it.