Thread: Need advice please? What would you do?

It will cost a lot more to trade the wife in 5k isn't to bad over a year or so. Dump it and get what you want if its practical.

Hey Andrew,

As for wives, much cheaper to stick with the current model you have. Yes it would be great to trade up for a younger or perhaps sportier looking model but think of all the headaches this more highly tuned model brings Diagnostics on these more exotic models are near impossible where with your current one you should have a basic understanding of how things work

As for cars,

If you dont need the ute as you can use work vehicles anytime then get rid of it while it's still worth something decent. The cost of keeping a vehicle thats not being used is high as i'm sure you know, rego, insurance, fuel, maintenance etc.
If you do need to keep it as transport for your wife, well then look at what a new vehicle is going to cost you per month to keep, as opposed to your current one.

Originally Posted by amshaw

At the moment Ive lost $5k in 1 1/2 years of owning the ute (wholesale price) , now with 15,500km on the clock.

What have you lost if you can sell it privately, not wholesale? Or is the $5k loss based on selling it privately after buying it at trade price?

Re new model wife, they are too exxy for upkeep as you can't trade the old one and have to keep maintaining it, too.

However, browsing around the yard is OK. Just don't test drive......

Don't know what the Porsche and younger women has to do with the price of cars and loss on resale, I will leave all that to the marriage councilor.

Sound like you don't need to have your own car. Just borrow one from the dealership.

Is there a tax angle that you need to consider?

I am no good on advice in this area, once I get a car I run it into the ground before I get another one.

Thanks for the replys so far guys.

We still need a car for Marie to get around and a sedan will work out much cheaper to run around.

As it stands I can do a straight swap for a Holden VE Commodore 60th Anniversary Sedan. I would rather a Omega or even better a SV6 Sportwagon but I just dont want to spend the $3k or $6k extra to get into either.

Ron , yes that is the wholesale price I got while ringing around. I should be able to get a bit more but the way people are scared off by Diesel price's out this way Im not really sure how much, but then it still has 1 1/2 years factory warranty left etc. We have a '07 Rodeo Demo at work and we are having trouble getting $30k for that with next to no km on it, so I may get around the 26k at best after Ive taken all the gear off it. But having said that Ive never had probs selling cars on the private market

Geez mate what sort of car (ute) did you buy that only deprciated $5K in a year and a half, unless it cost only $10k new, mate I have to have one, Regards Frank.

I may be wrong but I've never thought it was worth buying a new car as a private buyer.

As a business you can claim the depreciation and all that stuff but I don't know if you can as a private owner.

$5k isn't bad for a year though, I once heard that you loose 20% in the first year off a new car so unless it was less than $25k then you've done ok.

I wouldn't even bother with wholesale price unless I had to get rid of a car because it was crap and costing me more than it would be worth to keep until sold privately.

If I were in your position, I would look at buying a good condition second hand car that's pretty cheap to run and something that insurance isn't a killer on e.g. a Corolla, Pulsar or Excel for just getting around and you Mrs to drive as once you have it, there is nothing more to pay but the basics and if you can borrow a car from the lot then if you want to go on a trip somewhere then you take a car from there.

Flog the car and buy a crotch rocket.

You said it yourself - you have access to a yard full of cars.