With Wings As Eagles: Craig P. Steffen's Blog

the only winning move is not to play

2009 June 14 09:53

I'm bad with money. I don't see the value of money for itself; I am only tuned to what it can buy. I'm very bad about saving. However, it hasn't been too bad of a problem since I've been a working professional; my tastes haven't really become that much more expensive, somewhat less so. My salary now comfortably supports what I want to spend.

However, I still have the residual "I can afford it, I want it, so why shouldn't I buy it?" problem. It's a problem of course, because short-term saving is important (getting the house re-sided, ahem), and long-term saving is useful as well for that financial rainy day. Retirement saving is automated, so that helps.

These last two weeks, I've found myself shopping for a primary car for myself for the first time since 1996 when the 1979 Honda Accord that my parents gave me as a college graduation present gave up the ghost and I needed something to drive around for graduate school. Late in the summer or early fall of 1996 (I don't remember which) I purchased a 1986 Ford Escort EXP. It was great to drive on the highway and it got 37 miles to the gallon, even fully loaded and driving over the mountains in West Virginia (I drove back and forth between Bloomington, Indiana and Newport News, Virginia, several times during graduate school). An awesome car. I bought it for, I believe $600, and I drove it from 1996 through 2002 when it died in Illinois on the morning that I interviewed for my current job.

I bought the Beetle (in 2006) as a project car, with the thought that it would sometimes be my primary car, but I never inteded to drive it in the winter. We bought the Taurus in 1996 as a commuting car for my wife and a nice car for trips, so that in addition to the project car, we'd each have something dependable to drive.

So now we're shopping, for another car that will mostly be my car to drive to work engagements. And so I'm sort of experiencing the money-burning-a-hole-in-my-pocket syndrome of "well, I can buy a nice spiffy car that I really want and think will be cool", and I was all set to buy an almost-new VW New Beetle. I love driving the one we're renting, and I love the look...but it only gets 28 or so miles to the gallon. If it got 35, I would absolutely buy one. Heck, even if it got 32, I'd be tempted. But after driving a new VolksWagen diesel-fueled Jetta yesterday, which is really nice and fun to drive, has huge luggage space and gets 45+ mpg on the highway, I just can't bring myself to buy a gas-fueled New Beetle that only gets 28. I just can't do it. (The cost isn't the issue for me. It's the strategic implications of importing as much oil as we do. The attitude of "oh, but gas is cheap" attitude has gotten us embroiled in the strategic situation we're in now...which is not the subject of this blog post.)

So I feel like I want to get a car for 1) the convenience of it and 2) because this is the first time in a long time shopping for a car for basically just me, and the first time when I really have the money to do it. And yesterday, talking to a care sales guy (who we liked), and looking at and talking about a really cool, super-efficient new car increased that "I want it" feeling.

However, as much as I liked the guy, he gets commission for selling people new cars. That's his job, and he's presumably very skilled a it. The thing I need to remember is that there's no urgency to buy a car. It'd be nice to have a car to drive around town, but really, what I need to do for that is get the old Beetle put back together and commissioned. As far as major road trips, I have trip coming up in July that will culimate in going to the Oshkosh airshow, but I can rent a car for that. And the same is true of any work trips coming up. I don't really for sure need a car until at least October.

So...my mantra (both to myself and my wife) needs to be: all these options (cars to buy) are opportunities, not burdens. There is no reason to rush to buy a car right now. It is far cheaper for our monthly income to rent when I need a car and not buy a car until late fall. Buying a car is cool, but once you've signed the papers, you're locked in. Before you do, all possibilities are open. We hold the cards.

An interesting game. The only winning move is not to play. The best way to shop for a car is when you can afford it, but you DON'T need one.

My current thinking: If they were making diesel New Beetles, I'd buy one in a heartbeat. They were last made in 2006. I've spotted a few on-line that I want to check out. If I don't buy one of those, then we'll re-evaluate and go from there.

We hold the cards...