5/28    For the clue impaired, total cost of ownership of a typical
        American car:
        http://tinyurl.com/38gveq
        Note that it is double the purchase price, over just the
        first five years.
        \_ Proving the point that if you look at TOC, buying a crappy car
           is hardly much savings over a new car, since most of the
           expense over, say, 10 years is fuel and insurance anyway.
           If you're trying to prove that it's cheaper to walk to work,
           then - DUH.
           \_ Insurance on my crappy car was much less than on my new car.
              And even 6 years later things would still be less.  Plus on
              a crappy car things like theft insurance are silly, it would
              cost less to buy a new one than pay for theft insurance for a
              few years.  Hell, probably the same deal with comprehensive.
              \_ Comprehensive (which covers theft) is cheap. As I said
                 before, most of the cost of insurance is liability, which
                 is the same on a cheap or expensive car.
                 \_ You were wrong the first time you said it, too. The only
                    time that is true is when your car is either not worth
                    much, or you have really expensive liability insurance,
                    due to too many accidents or tickets, or being very young.
                    \_ I just looked at my policy again. Collision (which
                       is entirely optional) is less than 50% of my cost.
                       That's for an expensive car. For my cheaper car,
                       the collision is even less. I have no accidents or
                       tickets and have been licensed 16 years. I carry
                       100/300K coverage for liability.
                       \_ Sure, if you carry 10X the required liability coverage
                          your liability cost is higher. How much would it be
                          if you carried 1M/2M?
                          \_ I have assets I want to protect. With all the
                             expensive cars on the road in CA and the cost
                             of medical care, I even feel 100/300 is a
                             little low.
                             \_ Why not get 1M/2M then? Then you could
                                justify driving any car you wanted, because
                                your insurance costs would swamp all other
                                costs.
              \_ License fee is lower too.
                 \_ True.
           \_ Proving that is costs much more than $256/mo to own and operate
              a car. -OP
              \_ Which was never an issue to be debated. The issue was
                 whether $25x/month is worth it over an old beater.