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I mentioned previously that my husband’s car needs some repairs and some maintenance — probably around $2000 worth in total, although he will be pricing them at various places, so that number may go down.

What’s surprised me are the reactions of the people’s he’s told about the work his car needs done.

Many of them have responded with things like “Time to get a new car!” or “So are you getting a new car?”.

He says “No, I like not having a car payment.” or “No, it’s much less to repair it than to get a new one.”

I suspect many people think “Two thousand dollars! This car’s gonna put me in the poor house!” instead of thinking “Well, if that’s all the repairs & maintenance it needs this year, that averages out to $166.67 per month for the year.”

Now sure, if his car needed $2000 worth of work constantly, he’d consider replacing the car, but the likelihood of that is (thankfully) not very high. And all cars need maintenance.

As an example, the last time I calculated it I’d spent about $28,000 total on my car over the 17 years I had owned it to that point. That figure includes the $12,000 purchase price — which was pretty darn expensive back in 1991 for a used car — but does not include gas or insurance.

I found data (from 2006) on the FTC site that says, “According to the National Automobile Dealers Association, the average price of a new car sold in the United States is $28,400.” Finance that whole amount over 72 months and you get a monthly payment of $499.57.

If I’d bought a new car every time my car needed a $1000, $2000, or $3500 repair, I’d have bought about 7 new cars by now. Even if I’d only bought a new car every 7 years, I’d have bought two additional new cars by now. A total of 3 “average” new cars is a whole lot more than $28,000.

Dave Ramsey said recently that “a car payment is a guarantee you’ll stay middle class”.

I think he’s got something there. Just think what investing that money instead can accomplish.