Comments on: Vehicle Cost per year – My Ford Escort

By: TF Miser

TF Miser — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:07:36 +0000

That is a really low cost per year. I might try to figure my cost for my 94 Toyota that I bought in 2004. I paid $1750 for it and have driven it a little over 60,000 miles so far. I don’t think I have all my maintenance/repair receipts though. I know I spent more on repairs than you but probably not much more. Anyway it is obviously much cheaper than buying a new car.

By: MFJ

MFJ — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 12:05:21 +0000

@Ncineration – thanks for the advice. I really am trying to learn more about doing some of the maintenance myself as I know it could save me a lot of money and most of the stuff is pretty easy.

Car runs pretty smooth, but I’m sure my previous Escort would have run much better with a change of spark plugs and wires as it did idle pretty rough. Do you have a specific place that you recommend getting supplies from on the cheap (online or discount store?)

Thanks again –

MFJ

By: ncineration

ncineration — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 02:58:42 +0000

Regular oil changes are practically the most critical upkeep you can do. The oil keeps things running smoothly, running the engine on sludgy old dirty oil (or low oil) means there is less lubrication on parts, more heat, more stress. It saps performance and mileage and does very real damage to your internal engine components. You can PHYSICALLY feel how much better the car is running if you get it an oil change after a good long time without.

Your trying to save money on a car, learn the basics of maintnence to make that cheap car last longer. Get a couple tools and learn how to do your own oilchange (a set of car ramps, a dirty blanket, a oil pan, a wrench, some rubber gloves, and an oil filter removal tool should set you back maybe 50$). Every subsuquent oil change will take 10-30 minutes, and save you alot of money even if you are using some top shelf oil.

You don’t need to be a mechanic, just know how to change an air filter (easy as cake) and change your oil. It’ll have your car running better and longer.

My first act of business on that 200,000 mile toyota would be an air filter and oil change, spark plugs and wires too if it’s got a rough idle. Should set you back less then 100$ overall and the car will thank you.

By: MFJ

MFJ — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 02:12:11 +0000

@Ncineration -

Thanks I might have misplaced an oil change receipt. I generally try to go about every 5,000 miles, but previous Escort I actually went over 43,000 miles without an oil change and that was when it had 150k miles on it. Changed it about every 10k after that and it was still running great at just under 200k when I hit a deer with it.

I’ll be the first to admit I know next to nothing about cars, but I’m not convinced that oil changes are as critical as people make them out to be. That being said I’ll probably keep a little tighter rain on this car as its almost over 200k now and I really like the vehicle.

By: Ncineration

Ncineration — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:56:39 +0000

39,000 miles for 5 oilchanges = an oilchange every 7800 miles, almost triple what you should have been driving per change. At that kind of interval you were driving on pure sludge and two quarts low. I hope you were at least checking the oil semi-regularly and adding as needed………

Take care of your new beater, change that oil!

By: Ncineration

Ncineration — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 01:45:41 +0000

Well, even at 30 mpg (escorts usually average less but we’ll go with it) gas costs for 39,000 miles at an average of $2.00 a gallon (lower then you paid most likely) makes 2,600$. So total cost puts you over 4700$, probably considerably.

On a sidenote, it died after 39,000 miles of your ownership and over that time you did 5 oilchanges. Considering you should be changing oil every 3000 miles or so(ESPECIALLY on old beaters like this) you were vastly over your recommended miles per oil change. You should have done at least 13 oil changes over that time, with a high mileage engine partial synthetic preferably…………

But I digress,
Ncineration

By: Option2

Option2 — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 00:11:36 +0000

How about negative cost? If you get on the list and buy a new Ferrari F430 at retail you could drive it for a year and make more than enough profit on it to cover all expenses including fuel and registration.

By: MFJ

MFJ — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:34:10 +0000

Actually the junk yard gave me $125 for it. The car was probably very fixable. I dunno there was some exhaust leaking from the spark plug area which made it run really loud and my car smell like exhaust (I’m not car savvy).

I’m not sure though had I spent the money to get it fixed I would have been able to sell it for much more than the $125 + the repair costs, seeing as how most people don’t see cars the way I do The inside actually was immaculate, and I’m sure had I spent the time I could have gotten more money out of it at the end, but I was sort of lazy and just took the $125 and called it a day.

By: broknowrchlatr

broknowrchlatr — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 21:00:58 +0000

So, you sold it for jsut $25 over what a junk yard would give you? Was it pretty much done ( didn’t see a post on what was wrong with it)