My car just failed an emissions check. I have an offer on the table to sell it for $2000 and walk away.<\/p>\n
When I bought it two years ago, the purchase price and other “miscellaneous”\u00a0items came to $3300 and I have spent about $2000 in repair and maintenance (including nice new tires) over that time. I have also spent $3600 on gas in that same period.<\/p>\n
The monthly operating expenses are $150\/month for gas and $80\/month for maintenance, so about $240\/month give or take. If I sell it, the capital outlay would have been $1300, or about $650\/year or 50\/month, which is equivalent to a nice low car payment.<\/p>\n
If I don’t sell it and can keep it passing emissions tests, I’m sure I could drive the car for another 8 years at which point it will be worth nothing, so capex becomes $330\/year or $25\/month, basically negligible. I’d expect the repair bills to average lower if I’m not replacing tires all the time, but to remain about the same if emissions continue to give me trouble and are repairable.<\/p>\n
Decision time: sell the car now or try to get it to pass the smog? I’m pretty happy with the car otherwise, and I have one free retest I can do before I have to make a final decision.<\/p>\n
My goals in rough order of priority are:
\n1\/ maximize convenience
\n2\/ minimize cost
\n3\/ screw the system<\/p>\n