I don’t know how many others out there feel the same, but I think I have an aversion to replacing my car. I’ll go out from time to time and look at cars, looking at the monthly payments that I would incur by buying the vehicle, and then a certain thought always hits me:
“If I [...]

Mike posted his response to one of the questions raised in “Ask the Wealthy Bloggers” (post your own if you have any):

What’s your advice for students looking for new(er) cars? Tastes change, I don’t think I want to try to re-sell a car in a year or two. Plus, is there a good way to [...]

At the request of one of our readers, we created a Ask the Wealthy Bloggers post, soliciting questions that we could set about answering, hopefully with our readers adding their two cents in the comments. Today I thought I would tackle the first of the questions we received:
What’s your advice for students looking for new(er) [...]

Looking to buy a new/used car at a dealer? There’s a good collection of tips at http://www.tommychang.net/2005/06/new-car-buying-guide.htm. I really agree with getting financing at a bank or credit union first. When you walk in with existing financing the dealer knows you mean business, AND have a built-in spending ceiling.

Oh the sheer and utter agony of it all…
So, to continue our story, it’s 10:30 this morning and I haven’t heard from the loan guys, the auction closes soon, and I still don’t have money to back a bid. At 10:40 with 20 minutes and counting I get through to the loan guys… I’m not [...]

As you regular readers may remember, my continuing adventures in financial folly include shopping for a wrecked car. I have been frequenting a salvage yard in search of a nice wrecked vehicle that I can buy at auction and repair as a way of saving money on a newer vehicle (because as you may recall [...]

Some time in your life you will need a new car. You may not want to have the burden of a new car debt, but you may find there are very few alternatives. There are some simple things you can look for that will help reduce the amount of money every month. Depending on your [...]

Here’s another way to save money on cars: don’t own one at all.
According to my latest copy of Reader’s Digest, it costs almost $10,000 a year to drive a Dodge Caravan 18,000 KM a year including payments, depreciation, insurance, gas, and maintenance.
$10,000 a year! Now of course not all of that is actual cash outlay, [...]

It occurs to be that I forgot to mention the sweetest plum of all at a wrecker auction, the theft recovery.
Theft recoveries work like this: Jimmy and Suzie get their car stolen. They are sad, but the insurance company comes through and replaces their car.
Later, the car is recovered by the police, but Jimmy and [...]

You may recall that in a previous post I suggested wrecked vehicle auctions as a potential source of savings when procuring a new (to you) vehicle. Well, I gave that advice from experience, and I am in the process of gaining more experience.
I currently own a 1997 Ford Taurus, which I purchased at a normal [...]