Re: Update Re: Carfax, Buying Used, & Craigslist.org

On 2008-07-14, Pszemol <Pszemol@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> That is for me a lot of money for such an old car...
> So there is still some hope for my 95 camry with 246k miles ;-)
> Camrmax priced mine for $750 :-)

It depends on the car...

>
> I think fuel price for an average driver is kind of overrated.
> It is not rational, it is just emotional - sticker shock effect.
> Think about it - on average one can make - what? - 12000 a year?

That depends on you.  I average, over the past 10 years, about 20000 
miles per year...

>
> Lets say you compare a car making 30mpg to a car making 35mpg.
> 12000/30 is 400 gallons. 12000/35 is 343 gallons. Difference
> is 57 gallons. With todays price less than $5 per gallons it
> is 57*5 = 285 dollars PER YEAR. 23 dollars per month...

So, let's say 20000/30 = 667 gallons, 20000/35 = 571 Gallons.  
Difference is 96 Gallons.  96*5 = $480 per year, or $40/month.

> Is it really such a big deal to make a car purchase decisions based
> mainly or solely on fuel consumption? I think sometimes we apply
> too much value to higher mpg and we are ready to pay much too much
> for a car with lower consumption compared to what the car is able
> to save us on fuel cost...

It's not all about money.  Some people also feel a responsibility to 
conserve resources (clearly I am not one, since my car isn't nearly 
that good on fuel)...

>
> The same applies to buying toyota prius and comparing it to - let's
> say - toyota corolla or camry, but camry looks much bigger car...
> The purchase price difference has to be compared to the amount
> it is saved on gas between these two cars.

Not necessarily.  Only if that is your criteria...

>
> Of course one can speculate on future fuel prices - with the fuel
> price per gallon, le'ts say $8, the situation would look different.
> But we are still not there, yet :-)

Even $40/month is a substancial savings for some folks...


-- 
Joe - Linux User #449481/Ubuntu User #19733
joe at hits - buffalo dot com
"Hate is baggage, life is too short to go around pissed off all the 
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