Since my husband has retired and we have been traveling more, we have considered buying a new car to ensure we won’t have a break down a long way from home.  We have been ripped off in the past when our car broke down…transmission….and we were five hours from home.  Staying in a hotel, eating out,  renting a car to get home, renting a car to get back to pick up our car and then later finding out the work was not done correctly and having to put it in our local repair shop and paying the entire amount of repair work over again.  That sucked.  Plus, we were there during a hurricane which made matters even worse.

So, in deciding about buying a car, we discussed the financial costs as well as our personal safety.  Going in debt for a new car would increase our debt for 3 to 5 years by at least 350 dollars more than likely.  That is certainly a drain on  a person’s income.   We are perfectly happy with car which is a 98 Blazer that is in great condition as far as appearances.  We have to put some money into her which always sucks but even if we have to put $2000 a year, that is still better than a $4200 yearly bill of car payments.  New cars can break down on you and they still need routine maintenance just liek our older model car, too.

So, we opted for renting a car when we are going on trips that far exceed our AAA towing distance of 200 miles.   We rented a car to go to Humble, Tx for 17 days and it cost right at $400.   If the car broke down, we knew we just had to call the dealer and they would bring us another car.  It was a worry free trip for me.   If we take 3 trips a year…which most would not be for 17 days….more like 5 probably, we still feel the advantage is there.  We are not obligating our income for years.  If we feel we can’t afford to rent a car, we stay home.

Plus, you aren’t  putting all those miles on your car which depreciate the value of your car.  If your car is newer, this could make a lot of difference for those trade-in values.

When we rented the car for the 17 days, we knew we had to be at our daughter’s house at an appointed time for them to catch a plane.  We were house sitting and dog sitting for five days and they then returned home and we spent time together.  They were depending on us.  Our car breaking down could have endangered their Christmas plans so it was nice to know, we could call the dealer if we have a problem with the car and they would bring us another one.

Our SUV car is perfect for around town and it gets 20 miles to the gallon so it is not too bad.  When we rented a car, we got 39 miles to the gallon with the Nissan Versa so that really saved us money on gas.   Plus, it is nice to drive different kinds of cars just to see how you like them for a future purchase perhaps.  We are really wanting a Versa now because the car was roomy enough for us and our luggage and the seats were comfortable which is important on long trips.