LEMON... OR NOT

Okay. There you are. Carless. You really need an automobile, but going out to a lot to get one just seems like it's too much money to handle. So you find a buddy that is selling a car for a discount price, especially for you. So what do you do? You buy it. And what does it do? It breaks down... repeatedly. So you find yourself sinking about $200-$400 a month into keeping this piece of junk running. On the up side, you can get away with just liability insurance (or no insurance if you like skirting the legal limits) whereas on a car you get from a lot, if you haven't paid for it completely you are usually required to get full coverage. That can run as much as what you're paying for the repairs. So when you look at it you're paying about $200 more or so a month to have the junker. Does that make it worth it? I happen to think it does. By doing it this way, you don't end up paying too much more than what the car is worth, provided nothing serious goes wrong. When you make car payments, it ends up costing you thousands more. And even if something serious does go wrong, if you've gone a number of months without having to pay anything you're "breaking even". So, as I see it, unless you can buy a car cash outright, go for a piece of sh*t. It's a better deal.