First Salt Bath!

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by JustPassinThru

If you actually want to GET somewhere...you're better off walking the tracks.

Greyhound is more reliable but the kinds of people on those things...gives me pause.

LOL. Over the 2008/2009 Christmas/New Year period I didn't want to drive my Yaris from the SF Bay Area to Lake Tahoe (big snow storm in the forecast). I decided to drive to Sacramento, park my Yaris at the airport, take a cab to the bus station in downtown Sacramento, and then take the bus to Truckee (where a family member would pick me up in an SUV and drive me to the lake). I executed my plan. People were fighting on the bus before we even pulled out of the bus station in Sacramento (they got kicked off before we left the station). I don't think I would do that again.

[Brett!]

Originally Posted by JustPassinThru

Yeah, I get that. Outer sheet-metal rust-through is rare these days.

I had a Geo Metro...outer body, beautiful. No holes; but the front subframe rotted apart and collapsed. The car was a total loss.

There is your problem. Geo's were known for having shabby subframes. If that thing wasn't undercoated twice like Toyota Tacoma's they'd rot to hell. I love the Geo brand, owned a metro and a tracker and regret selling both... but the metro was not on par with a Toyota.

[yougojay]

Originally Posted by JustPassinThru

Well, it's solved.

With some discount codes, I got a rental-car deal. One week, $200; unlimited mileage.

That's almost cheaper than driving my own.

Wow, You did the right thing, and for around $200.00? Perfect!
That is CHEAP, and you don't have to worry about your Yaris. It will be at home safe & sound.
I completely hear what you are saying. I had 3 cars during my 20's -
One was a 1972 Chevelle Convt. that was mint - it was NEVER driven in the Winter (suburban Chicago) I had that one from 1981 - 1994. Had other Summer cars during that period (Z-24, Fiero Formula, Z-28's) They were NEVER driven in the Winter. Always bought a Winter beater at the end of October, and drove that all Winter & sold it in April the following year.
To each their own, but I could just never bring myself to driving a nice, newly purchased vehicle in all that snow & salt & freezing action crap, it rips the heck out of cars in the salt belt.
Sure, you may never have ran into any salt, or just a little, or whatever. now, it's completely off your mind.
I'll bet you are relieved, you don't have to worry about YOUR car & again, for 200 bucks??? S**T, that's a no-brainer.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by yougojay

Always bought a Winter beater at the end of October, and drove that all Winter & sold it in April the following year.

Excellent strategy! (I guess it's like many things -- 'you get used to it' -- but I can't imagine driving day in & day out, year in & year out, through the harsh winters that many members experience.....hats off to all!)

[dj92]

Mine has seen a bit of salt during the unusually mild winter here, but I've cleaned the floor thoroughly with water every time, so it won't have hurt it too much.
I'm wondering if I can keep this up next winter :D

[JustPassinThru]

Originally Posted by yougojay

Wow, You did the right thing, and for around $200.00? Perfect!
That is CHEAP, and you don't have to worry about your Yaris. It will be at home safe & sound.
I completely hear what you are saying. I had 3 cars during my 20's -
One was a 1972 Chevelle Convt. that was mint - it was NEVER driven in the Winter (suburban Chicago) I had that one from 1981 - 1994. Had other Summer cars during that period (Z-24, Fiero Formula, Z-28's) They were NEVER driven in the Winter. Always bought a Winter beater at the end of October, and drove that all Winter & sold it in April the following year.
To each their own, but I could just never bring myself to driving a nice, newly purchased vehicle in all that snow & salt & freezing action crap, it rips the heck out of cars in the salt belt.
Sure, you may never have ran into any salt, or just a little, or whatever. now, it's completely off your mind.
I'll bet you are relieved, you don't have to worry about YOUR car & again, for 200 bucks??? S**T, that's a no-brainer.

Yeah. And I ran into slop the whole 1200-mile way...there and back. I got a brand-new Corolla - and the backup-camera was covered with salt. I had to have the rental-girl at the outlet where I went, show me where the lens was, to clean it.

NOW I got problems. I got HIRED.

Gotta drive right back. WITH my Yaris.

And gotta sell my winter-beater Tercel.

[JustPassinThru]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

Excellent strategy! (I guess it's like many things -- 'you get used to it' -- but I can't imagine driving day in & day out, year in & year out, through the harsh winters that many members experience.....hats off to all!)

The Winter Car is a Northern phenomenom.

If you want to save money and your good car, you buy a Winter Car.

Did a blog essay on this, ten years ago - The Winter Car.

[Viperoni]

Originally Posted by JustPassinThru

Yup.

It also needs to have the insurance returned on it; and it needs about $100 worth of servicing done.

And those miles add up.

And I'm not PAYING for it - it's paid for. A car costs between ten and twenty cents a mile just in wear and depreciation. Do the math! A $22,000 car you run for 200,000 miles and then sell for $2000 as a beater or trade in.

I'm figuring this trip will run me 2000 miles; more if I have a lot of chasing around to do at the other end. Which I will if they offer me the job and I have to arrange housing.

So a $200 cost...is just paying for the wear.

Let's work with the 2000 mile number for the trip, it is nice and round.
In terms of maintenance, let's assume that we've used 1/3 of an oil change ($45/3 = $15) and 1/20 of a tranny fluid change ($120/20 =$6), and 1/20 of a set of tires ($380/20 = $19). That's $40.

So we've got $160 to count towards depreciation on the car, which works out to $160/2000 = $0.08/mile.

Using your $22k car that will last 200k miles figure, costing you $0.10/mile, I agree that renting is a better idea, especially when the car is newer, as the mileage would affect the value more than if the car had more miles (IE: over 100k).

However, we know that new cars are poor value propositions, and I'd counter with a used 2009 Yaris with ~50k that costs $9k, would cost $0.06 in depreciation to get to 200k.

So in your case, not even accounting for the fact that it was paid for, you obviously made the right choice. For a used car owner, it'd cost them $20 ontop of depreciation to rent... basically paying $20 to not age the car as quickly (and perhaps not pepper the windshield with chips as much).

Example of 2009 Yaris prices in a more expensive market, for posterity: http://newyork.craigslist.org/search...ris&catAbb=sss