Owning a car is a huge costs. This is a realistic budget for owning a car (in NJ):
$300 payment (to yourself)
$100 car insurance
$200 gas
$55 repairs
$25 for maintenance, car registration, 4 yearly oil changes
$10 AAA membership (necessity with older car, in my opinion)
$690 a month!!!
Now here is how not to get in trouble, in your teens (or now) save for the best used car you can afford. Then as soon as you get car make monthly car payments (as reflected in above budget) to yourself (right into savings.) That way when used car is no longer drive able, you can buy up. Keep doing this and eventually you can buy the new car you want (with in reason.)
Of course you need insurance, $100 seems reasonable in NJ.
Your gas costs may be higher, but find ways to keep this down; carpool, run errands on same day, have one or two no drive days a week, etc.
The repair line is for just that. Your car will need repairs, plan on it.
The maintenance line is for oil changes and car registration. These are needed to own a car. Also a new license fee every four years.
The AAA line is optional, but just one tow a year may cost you $100. The AAA membership comes with lots of others too (free maps, trip planners, discounts on lots of stuff travel and vacation related, and more.) To me I will not do without this since I drive an older car.
How do costs in your state differ? Do you plan for repairs and such?
-Becky
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Real cost of owning a car
Posted by Becky R at 11:59 AM
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5 comments:
man, my car license fee is 300 dollars every year!! (california)
In NJ every 4 years we have to renew our license which is about $25. Every year we have to renew our registration which for me is $46.50 (it varies on car size.) This includes costs of inspections.
Yikes, $300 every year! What does that include?
just the registration fee. and i have a discounted rate because my cars emissions are so low. ouch.
Your insurance rate is also very reasonable. A friend of mine who lives in Philly pays cloer to $1600/year and she's a female driver, no accidents, no points, and doesn't use her car much. Males pay higher rates.
My inspection in PA ran $100 because of stricter emission testing in my county (semis exempt, go figure), registration wsa $36/year, which included car tabs. I forget how much the licence ran.
In my new state, my insurance dropped a bit because i telecommute now so can insure my car as a pleasure vehicle. I need to get it inspected some time soon. I pay an excise tax every year, which will be about $84 as long as i own the car or as long as they don't change the excise tax rate. The licence and tags were around $80, but the licence is good for 6 years. I think the annual renewal for tags is $35.
megan
My car oil change is $142!! OUCH
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