Car You Drive ? vs. Investments You Have ?

[Joffrey Long]

Ok, long weekend and a little lighthearted fare:

Real estate investors - what kind of car(s) do you drive? Do you prefer luxury cars? Modest cars? How many drive cars with many, many miles on them? And - if you drive a nice car - do you have a "property car" to drive when you go to meet contractors, workers or tenants at properties?

Question 2: How has the vehicle you drive compared to your net worth during the years?

I drove the nicest, most expensive vehicle when I had a much lower net worth.

Now, I drive a very modest vehicle with over 200k miles on it. I can more afford a luxury vehicle than I ever could, my net worth is higher than it ever was, but I keep thinking about that license plate frame that says, "My other car is......." and I want to get one that says, "My other car is an apartment building."

I do feel I've fallen prey to a different, more subtle type of status-seeking. That is the statement that some feel they're making by driving cheap, old cars, basically saying that they know you know they don't have to prove anything financially.

Before you write this off as silly, do note that you make faster progress acquiring wealth if you monthly vehicle expense is $600 (including gas, insurance, maintenance and vehicle acquisition costs) instead of closer to 1500 per month.

Ok, would love to hear your feedback on this. The cars? Oh yeah, they're great:

1999 Honda Civic with 200,600 miles on it.
1998 Ford Explorer Sport with 201,000 miles on it. (great for hauling stuff to the properties)

Joffrey Long

[Ann Bellamy]

I have always bought slightly used Saabs and kept them to somewhere between 160-200K miles. I loved my Saabs and was distraught (exaggeration) when they shut down. Recently I had parts needed to pass inspection and they were on two month backorder. And after I got that solved, I still needed $4300 worth of work. And the Blue book value was $2800. (Saab values plummeted when they stopped making them) Considering the cost of putting more money into the car than it was worth, the inconvenience of driving to the Saab guy a half hour away, and the cost of a rental while it was in the shop, not to mention that I would still have a 10 year old car with more issues on the way, I decided to shop for a non-Saab. It was painful, and I was cranky, because nothing drove like a Saab.

I bought a new BMW X-1. Spent what I consider a ridiculously large amount of money for the car. (there are no used ones because it's the first year it's offered in the US) But I'm at the point in my life where I want more play and less work and want to enjoy what I worked so hard for.

It turned out to have come in with a defective cam shaft. I've now been driving their loaner for longer than I drove my new car. The part is on backorder from Germany, and they are trying to find me a new car already in the states that matches my feature set, without ordering me a whole new car from Germany.

So the only good news is that all the miles I put on it are on their loaner and not my car. Wish I didn't sell the old Saab.