Come on - $4k for repairs/maintenance on a 4 yr old car? Really? Does that include everything covered under a new car warranty, like oil changes?
Also, they clearly expect the Tesla to be driven less.
So, all this talk about best cars, worst cars - how much it costs to own & operate one ... this is what I know about my current ride, which I don't think is going to be replaced soon if ever. I keep a spreadsheet.
2003 Jeep Liberty Sport purchased 10 Nov 2017 for ~ $7,000 V6, 5sp manual, 4WD, AC, Cruise, AM/FM/CD w/in dash 6 CD changer
Beginning odometer reading was 43,795
2017 - 827 miles, spent $111.00 for gas, MAX $2.449/gal MIN $2.229/gal Year end odometer reading was 44,622
NO maintenance cost. Insurance $250 (to add it to my existing policy for the rest of the period).
$1,000 down + Car payments 2@$275.00 = $550.00
TCO = $1,911.00 $2.31/mile
2018 - 4,504 miles, spent $654.76 for gas, MAX $2.759/gal MIN $2.059/gal Year end odometer reading was 48,288
$1,500 maintenance - 5 new tires, one oil change, annual inspection, tags. Insurance $1,200.
Car payments 12@$275.00 = $3,300
TCO = $6,654.76 $1.48/mile
2019 - 7,795 miles, spent $915.85 for gas, MAX $2.599/gal MIN $2.049/gal Year end odometer reading was 56,944
$1,250 maintenance - replace broken windshield, 2 oil changes, tire rotation, annual inspection, tags. Insurance $1,200.
Car payments 12@$275.00 = $3,300
TCO = $6,665.85 $0.86/mile
2020 - 2,210 miles, spent $796.50 for gas, Max $2.189/gal MIN $1.499/gal Year end odometer reading was 59,154
$400 maintenance - tire rotation, electrical "repair" (bolt came out of the starter & killed the battery), annual inspection, tags. Insurance $900 (rebate for not using vehicle during Covid19 Quarantine.
New after market radio that allows me to play mp3 files from a thumb drive & connects my iPhone through bluetooth for hands free use while driving #1,000
Car payments 11@$275.00 = $3,025.00
TCO = $3,096.50 $1.40/mile
2021 - 1,459 miles, spent $214.50 for gas, Max $2.999/gal MIN $2.239/gal Year To Date odometer reading is 60,623
$300 maintenance - tire rotation, oil change, charge A/C, "repair tail lights". $300 for replacement LED tail light assemblies. Turns out the Jeep Liberty is notorious for the flaky tail lights. Insurance $450
NO car payments.
TCO = $1,264.50 $0.87/mile
I do have to look down once & touch the screen to answer an incoming call. I don't have "voice" activated. I pull off the road if I want to make an outgoing call. Also allows me to use GasBuddy on the iPhone and display it on the screen. But again, I'm going to pull off the road to do that.
Insurance, Annual Inspections, Tags are all required by law. Tire rotations are going to be required for any vehicle ICE or EV if you want to get best mileage out of those tires.
Three & one half years - One repair for road hazard (broken windshield), one mechanical failure for a 17 year old vehicle, one expense to replace an item with an OEM design flaw and one extravagance because the OEM in-Dash CD wouldn't play mp3 CDs & I do like to have my music as a hedge against there being nothing worth listening to on the radio.
One thing I left out is the $90 I paid the shop I use to inspect the car BEFORE I bought it. They really should have noticed the tires were 15 years old and warned me I needed to replace them ASAP. I'd probably have taken it back as soon as I bought it and bought the new tires from them. As it was I lost half a day out of an annual photography event. I've only been able to attend once more since then because 2020 & 2021 were cancelled by Covid. Maybe 2022 ...
]]>and people have resorted to renting U-Haul vans when they can't get a car, so there's shortages there as well.
While they mostly charge $20/day there IS that $.60 / mile AND UP that U-Haul charges. You really have to need one to pay that.
Yeah, the article where I found that DID say that some people were REALLY desperate to rent ANY kind of vehicle, and when the rental companies didn't have any they were turning to U-Haul.
Better to actually check out the car rental companies for a cargo van. Unless Amazon has them all rented. Seriously. I've rented vans a few times since everthing went crazy. The Amazon thing tends to occur mostly in December.
1. I think this will go away as the rental companies build their fleets back up.
2. I don't know how desperate Greg is to get that load of horse manure.
My main point was that Greg's age wouldn't be a barrier to renting here in the U.S. (U.K. may be different), but there is some other shit going on right now that affects the availability of rental vehicles.
Besides I took it as Greg's point that he already has a vehicle for going to get the horse manure, and was objecting to being told he should get rid of it.
]]>[1] I agree with Charlie that it would be fun to use e.g. GPT-3 to spam Goodreads with good reviews. [2] Occasionally my comments are in part probes to determine the extent of blocker usage, e.g. in the next thread. :-) Note that these comment threads have a lot of lurkers. Some might be high-profile, or high-powered but low-profile. :-)
]]>I can't remember all of them at once, but one of them is how Stross portrayed the United States. Not just the hucksterish false Gods / false religion so many pray to, or the vast Walmart-ness of the country, but also that so much of America is a death cult.
Thanatos propels much of the country, and its Laundry is appropriately run by ghouls.
Also, in Dead Lies Dreaming, I get the sense that the 'memory London' looks a lot like those paintings from nineteenth century artists, like "Nocturne in Grey and Cold – Piccadilly, by James McNeill Whistler" and others who painted in fog.
]]>Your sarcasm detector is off.
https://yubabikes.com/cargobikestore/go-getter-bag/ 24"x18"x4" it would stick out the top a bit, but the bag has enough give to fit 2' objects if they're thin.
Largest kit I've ever transported by bicycle, dive gear ie. twin 88's, backplate, double wings, drysuit, weights, oxygen for decompression, fins , mask, reel. Total about 65kg. Largest I've accompanied, 3 piece lounge and a wardrobe, but it was someone else on their bike, I just rode with them.
]]>However, it were half a mile, I would walk. Not everyone can carry sheets of glass that distance, though.
]]>My immediate reaction to that was that you're actively trying to be an arsehole by ignoring everything I've posted on the topic and "just asking questions". But I'm reminded that you see things very differently to how I do, and that comes across in your reply that ends with the above question. So I'm answering below rather than just saying "read my post history".
So: what I have personally sacrificed? In many ways nothing at all. I've done what made me happy and comfortable for most of my life. I've taken opportunities that seemed worthwhile when I could find them, and had some fun adventures when I could. In many ways I just don't believe that living sustainably has to be awful.
But: at the same time I am exactly one of those insufferable hair shirt environmentalist fundamentalist fuckwits that nihilists love to hate. I don't fly, I don't drive, I only eat meat under protest, I nag random people in the street about their bad choices and actions.
I'm very much sitting here going... what are you asking me to do that I haven't already done?
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