My neighbor told me to quit buying $900 beaters and it rubbed me the wrong way

Dylan Martinez · 2026-10-24T18:35:05.361438+00:00

Honestly, my neighbor Dave caught me under the hood of a $900 Civic last Saturday and told me I'm wasting money on junk when I could just finance something newer for $300 a month. I told him $300 a month for 5 years is $18k, and that's before full coverage insurance on a car I'd still have to fix. What bugged me is he's not wrong that I've sunk about $1,400 into this Civic in 3 months, but the difference is I can stop anytime and still own the thing. Tbh the beater math only works if you do your own labor, and he pays a shop for everything, so his $300 payment makes more sense for him than it does for me. The part that hit different was him saying he never has a weekend ruined by a car, which is fair, mine got eaten by a water pump job in April. Has anyone priced out what they actually spend per year on a cheap car versus a payment and come out ahead? I'd like real numbers instead of gut feelings on this.

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My neighbor told me to quit buying $900 beaters and it rubbed me the wrong way | Cars for Cheap - Rigidtalk