The cure for having disposable income.

[CarMichael Angelo]

What do you do when you have an electric car that can't be relied upon for more than just daily transportation to and from work?

What do you do when you're trapped in a negative equity situation that stings so badly, trying to trade out of that burden will pile $10,000 on top of something else that youd consider driving.

What do you do when trying to keep the thing seems like the reasonable thing to do, but everytime your wife suggests that you " meet her in Atlanta", the completely unreasonable notion that the electric car wont make the distance w/o multiple stops at a gas station to refill the 2.6 gallon emergency generator tank makes the whole thing seem like a stupid idea.

What do you do when you work in a luxury European dealership, and countless opportunities come and go to buy a reasonably priced used German car, but all of them have the reputation of having been beat, and are never really decent when you don't want to spend even the most minimal of monies to get something north of a euro-slasher.

You wait........


And one day.......

A 60 something trades in her barely driven Union Jack for a swastika.

And for 13,500......

You get a 60k mile...2007 jag XK...designed by the same guy that designed the Astin Martin DB7...

Now I know what you're thinking...Jaguar..
Impossible to work on. Stupid expensive if it breaks...

But...........( Didnt I mention working in a luxury European car dealership...???)
They sell warranties to alleviate the paranoia that comes when you buy a car that originally sold for 76k that you now are buying for 13,500.

* there never was a 2007 Mustang that originally sold for 75k, that now sells for 13,500,...but there's plenty of 2007 mustang' Gts that sold for 26k that now sell for....8-10 k....in the grand scheme of things..a good investment..but in the grander scheme of things........its still a Mustang GT.

So add 3 k to get a powertrain warranty that takes the car through 100k..
17k otd...

For a car that is just waiting to bleed me dry...but

I'm expecting it...and I got youtube....

 

[87_LX_5.0]

Nice looking ride. Didn’t Ford own Jaguar back in that era?

 

[95BlueStallion]

You parked like a Jag owner to take those pics...

But it looks very nice. I would enjoy a car like that for a daily.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Nice looking ride. Didn’t Ford own Jaguar back in that era?

Weirdly enough,...yes. From 1990 til one year after this model before being sold off again to an Indian company (Tata motors)

So in the grand scheme of things,.......it's still a ford.........if you hold your mouth right.

 

[Mustang5L5]

No underhood shots?

 

[General karthief]

What for? You probably can't see the engine for the plastic cover

 

[Essn95]

We had one a couple years back, it was black with 30k miles I think. Payed around 23k. It was a gorgeous car and drove really well, surprisingly quick and good sounding. We had two issues with it during our short ownership... was very costly $$$
Glad to see you got the warranty though, it’s a gorgeous car, gets lots of attention

 

[Essn95]

Only pic I could find, conveniently parked behind the 94 cobra, we used to take them to shows together.

 

[FastDriver]

That thing needs black wheels with chrome center caps and a roll bar! Otherwise, that's a damn slick car, Mike. Congrats!

 

[Steel1]

* you'd *
Get a good comprehensive warranty

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

* you'd *
Get a good comprehensive warranty

Where's the incorrect word usage?

And....on which car are we talking about?

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

No underhood shots?

What for? You probably can't see the engine for the plastic cover

You're right...but it is a big plastic cover. This is a v8 car.

 

[2000xp8]

Here's the way I see it with cars.
Drive whatever you want, just try and lose the least amount of money possible.
I'd have to guess the average car payment is beetween $350-$500 for a low end full size new car.
So if you can drive something you like, with a warranty for a few years, dump it for say $3000 less than you bought it, That's like paying $100 a month to drive a nice car.
I harp on people around me all the time for their vehicle choices, but what they don't realize my opinion isn't really about the car, it's about the financials behind it.
Somehow i'm surrounded by people that think it's ok to put $3000 down and then pay $500 a month for a lease...
Then then get caught in the cycle.

So if you like it and you won't lose much money, I say live it up.

 

[General karthief]

I see cars all the time at 500+ a month, trucks at 800+ a month and then they cry because they are still upside down at 4 years old!
my neighbor just got a new F150 diesel at 71k and thinks he got a deal.

 

[Mustang5L5]

I just can't see myself spending that sort of money ($71K) on a truck. I like new cars, but I just don't want to pay for them when I think about what else I could spend that money on and get a better return. I don't think I have ever had a car payment over $200/month personally, and yet I hear all the time from dealers that people are doing $500-600+/month for 72 months. Why?

I have a friend with excessive debt and bad credit doomed to get 15%+ interest or more on any car loan. What do they go buy? A BMW...because they "can't drive a crappy car." And she wonders why her husband asked for a divorce. (money was a main factor)

OK, i'm done.

 

[General karthief]

If I can't pay cash for it I will live without it. But then, I've been lucky.

 

[Steel1]

that youd consider driving.

Seems like you're looking into an aftermarket warranty on the Jag.
I have a good friend of mine that does warranty claim inspections and a lot of shops/consumers
are blindsided by what the warranty does and does not cover, i.e. surrounding damage caused by a
failed component , just trying to give a heads-up.
Nice looking Jaguar by the way.

 

[General karthief]

I agree with him on that.
we just had (1 of many) a turbo 4 cyl come through that warranty paid to have the head rebuilt but not replace the piston that got the crap beat out of it. Customer would not pay either, just picked that dude up along the road last weekend and piston is cracked in half!
Warranty still won't pay.

 

[FastDriver]

I'm not going to say for a second that I make good choices with the finances I've dropped into my cars. However, I've only ever had a note on 1 car, and the 'toys' have never been my only mode of transportation.

I've tried to convince friends that if they break the cycle of financial servitude for even a year, they'll never willingly go back. I try to tell friends to stack the cash up first and then go buy what they want. You have a hell of a lot more appreciation for what it took to save that money in comparison to what you're getting for it. I think the problem is that most people don't relate what they're paying to the life and effort they're giving up. They also don't think about the opportunity cost. $1 while your young, say mid 20's, invested wisely instead is likely to be worth more than $16 in later life around retirement. When it's in a car, it's certain to be worth less than the original dollar you had, and maybe even negative in value when you factor in loan repayments.

Everyone has their own opinions, though. It sucks watching people I care about go through it.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

I see life like this. If you aren't making a payment, you're spending the money elsewhere. It's one thing to save for retirement, it's a totally different thing to sacrifice all of your young life pleasures in persuit of "saving for a rainy day".

My father saved for a rainy day. Retired a 25 year CMsgt in the USAF at 45. Went on to drive a beater, never went anywhere, never did anything. Opened a small repair shop fixing major appliances, and saved all of that money too.

He had close to a half million saved when he fell over dead at 59 from a massive coronary.
Lot of good that money did him.

Live your live today, ( within the boundaries of responsibility) Tomorrow may never come.