LOL
BMW includes a service maintenance warranty. All services, tune up are included for the first 48 mos / 50k miles. They also used (until I think 2018) to include wipers, rotors, break pad, cabin filters. So basically on our 2001 and 2016 BMWs, all repairs/services/tuneup were free for the first 4 years. Just tires and fuel.
That would be useful. Thatâs a big expense for people going into retirement. We are hoping to retire in a year or so and thinking, so should we buy whatever vehicles that we know we want now (we keep them forever)? For example, we really need another truck, as my husband is a do-it-yourselfer, and he often uses the truck. Ours is 23 years old and has some issues. But we donât fix them, and it just keeps working fine. There is the psychological comfort of doing your big purchases while youâre still working, but if itâs not really necessary, then maybe itâs good enough to just have the money set aside in an account. Same thing with home remodeling. Do we do the costly remodel now, or wait till we have more time and set aside the money? I dunno. I have a feeling it will be hard to spend larger sums of money when you donât have the income that you did when you were working.
Here is the maintenance schedule for the 2021 Toyota RAV4 Prime:
https://www.toyota.com/t3Portal/document/omms-s/T-MMS-21RAV4Prime/pdf/T-MMS-21RAV4Prime.pdf
Chevrolet Bolt. Maintenance as listed in the ownerâs manual is about $50 at the dealer every 7,500 miles (once there was a cabin air filter at additional cost). Dealer once tried to sell $400 of maintenance.
We have budgeted in a sinking fund (for lack of a better term) for routine large purchases. You know your home will eventually need a new HVAC/hot water heater/appliances, etc. You know you will eventually need a new car. The timing for those purchases may or may not be a voluntary choice, but the fact that things have to be replaced isnât really a surprise.
I think if a car has any inkling of having an electrical problem, peace of mind with having the warranty if it will cover such. Everyone makes good point on various details. If one likes dealer car maintenance that would tip the scale to having the warranty. We have a very good local car service place - however even then, some things best to dealer work. Or to specialized (transmission place for example).
As I was reading, I was thinking âthis is like LTC insurance - you hope you wonât need it, but is it good to have a policy to keep some later out of pocket costs lowerâ?
@thumper1, good idea. I kind of think about this thread as relating to sensible long-term financial decisions, but probably should have started another thread.
@doschicos, I think we are in a pretty good financial situation. I like to make good financial decisions to keep it that way. I feel very fortunate to live in such a nice place during a pandemic and eat well and be able to afford to follow through on decisions/health needs etc. One of the things I learned, in part from Millionaire Next Door, is to be careful not to feel like I need to keep up with the Joneses, as someone said, and not to establish a lifestyle that is so expensive that they canât slow down. We have friends who have a beautiful house in the town where we leave , a beautiful house on Cape Cod, one or two houses in Scotland (currently being rebuilt), and a condo in the city they just bought for their son.(currently being renovated). Aggregate value probably $10 MM or more. They only eat/buy vegan, ethically sourced products even if they are ten times more expensive. Heâs a couple of years older than I am and a former partner at one of MBB and is trying to slow down but if they spend money at the rate they are, it is hared. I donât want to be in his shoes.
@Nhatrang, thanks. Iâm going to buy the extension/warranty. ShawWife is an artist and for the past 25 years, we have converted what could have been garages into art studios. In our last, we had in effect a double lot and on the foundation of what had been a garage, we built a studio. We sold that lot to a developer who is building a house there. In our new house, we are converting a 3.5 bay garage into a studio as we speak. So, no garage again. Once we finish the conversion of the garage and renovations of the house, we are going to apply for permission to put in a prefab garage. Because we are so close to a river, every thing needs permission. So, we batch things.
@shawbridge You donât need a garage to charge a Tesla. A NEMA outlet that you use to charge the car can be outside.
The word âtuneupâ hasnât really applied since the advent of sophisticated computer monitoring in vehicles. Computers do nearly all the work. We have check engine lights, TPMS (tire pressure monitoring sensors), etc. now. ?
I hope everyone is performing their factory recommended maintenance. Otherwise, you may void your factory and extended warranties.
@2018dad, thanks.
MODERATORâS NOTE:
Excellent idea. Iâll assume further discussion on that topic will be posted there and not here.
While we are on this side digression about solar panels and cars and such, DS#1 put solar panels on his house roof. I donât think he got the Tesla panels, but i am not 100% sure. He figured it would be 7 years (I think thatâs what he said) before they paid for themselves.
An EV charger (tesla or other brand) can be gotten with a long cable so you can install the charger in the art studio and run the cord through a window.
As for âserviceâ, the beauty of the Tesla is that it really doesnât need much. They suggest bringing it in maybe once a year to let them look at the brakes, but since it has autoregenerative brakes, the pads donât get worn out very fast at all. And obviously there is no oil change. I have had my car over 2 years. Took it in once at the beginning for a bunch of little stuff that needed to be addressed shortly after delivery, and once they had to fix the glove box and rotate the tires, which they did in my garage. Mobile service is a dream! I am due to get the tires rotated again soon. Iâll let Costco do it.
DS#1 is getting a model Y, but said that theyâve been pushing cars off the assembly line too fast to make quarterly numbers. So heâll wait to take delivery until after battery day.
âThey only eat/buy vegan, ethically sourced products even if they are ten times more expensiveâ - I am personally not a vegan (or vegetarian), but to me that seems a nit on expense splurging compared to the $10MM in properties (and travel expenses getting there). Health conscious priorities with modest costs, if affordable, I understand a lot better than real estate cost burdens.
As far as LTC insurance, it just sounds like itâs too expensive to purchase, plus they seem to be able to raise the cost at random. So unless it seems really likely weâre going to have to utilize LTC, Iâd say weâll forego it, and just spend what is required for care.
âDave Ramsey says to live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later. I think that sentiment just means not to get sucked into keeping up with the Joneses. Because many people do live in competition with the Joneses. â
His advice rings hollow when you realize he lives in a $5 million dollar mansion with 13,000 square feet of living space!
Vegetables and other vegan food items (oats, rice, beans, tofu, etc.) generally cost less than meat, so wouldnât that save money anyway?
@socaldad2002 Dave Ramsey is the Joneses, lol
The man is a multi-millionare, $5 mil for 13,000 square feet is a bargain in my surrounding neighborhood towns
For comparison, Warren Buffettâs house is 6,570 ft^2, and was valued at $652,619 in 2017.
The principle of living within oneâs means is the same regardless of the amount of oneâs means. I feel pretty confident that Dave Ramsey can afford a $5 million home.
I donât begrudge him his success.
@ucbalumnus and @colorado_mom , vegan food should be less expensive than meat, but if you buy only organic, ethically sourced foods, you will pay a significant premium over other food. I was stuffing too many things into one sentence. They generally buy super high end products and also really try to only buy ethically sourced products. Domestic products, treat workers well, ⊠.Nothing wrong with any of that (and actually lots good about it), but the basic level of costs becomes pretty high.
My main point was that they are locked into a level of expenses (not the least of which involves supporting quite a few houses) that make it hard for the husband to actually stop working.
@shawbridge i know exactly what you weâre trying to say. Sometimes you try to explain something, that doesnât sound extreme when you explain some of what is happening. But in its entirety, itâs extreme. Hard to convey in writing.
We have friends like that. They will, I suspect, have to pare down their present level of spending to be able to retire. Some people arenât that interested in retiring or have a level of living for the present and not the future.
Weâve always been living for the future, when maybe sometimes we should have lived for the present.