What did you assume for the financing rate? I just ran numbers through my spreadsheet assuming 5% interest, and the hybrid is about $2k less costly after 5 years of ownership. Did you run my spreadsheet?
With fuel at a more likely $3.50/gallon, you only save a grand on the hybrid.
That said, I've never paid more than 3% to finance a vehicle. If the rate to finance were much more, I'd probably just pay cash. Finance companies require full coverage insurance, which is much more costly. On a vehicle that is only a few grand, I'd rather carry liability only.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Zachary
That's what my thinking was when I got the Avalon: a 3 to 5 year old vehicle with less than 50,000 miles on it.
Maybe other vehicles are different, but with current used car prices, a used Avalon hybrid that's 3 to 5 years old is almost as much as a brand new one. I'll have to look at other cars to see, but if 3 to 5 years is the same price as a new one, might as well as wait it out to find a new one, or until used car prices come back down, hopefully.
I've always thought that 5 years and new is good, or something under $1,000. If it's under $1,000 you know it's most likely going to have problems. But what's a killer is when you get that 10-year-old car for $5,000 to $10,000, somewhere in there, and it ends up with a costly problem.
Car payments are also time. If a person works 10 hours a day then every 10% of their income is an hour of work. If you spend 20% of your income on your vehicle then you're working 2 hours a day (more or less) so that you can own and drive a car.
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You drive way more than average miles, which factors into the value equation heavily. Someone driving a hybrid 3,000 miles per year is never going to recoup the extra amount paid.
Your mileage would highly favor an EV in overall costs. If I were you, I'd wait for used prices to return to normal, then look at a '17 Chevy Bolt. Even in the worst CO winters, you should be able to get 150 miles minimum range out of it, assuming that's good enough for most of your commutes.