Yesterday my husband went to the DMV to register our 2010 Kia Forte and buy plates.
He called me when it was all said and done, and told me that it had cost $400.
$400.
My 1999 Subaru had cost $78. Apparently newer cars cost more to register, although the woman at the DMV couldn’t explain to me why.
Buying a new car was an experiment. I want to see what it would be like to own a car that no one else had ever driven. I wanted to know what the process was, and that personal finance lessons I could learn along the way.
The conclusion that I’ve come to is that I, personally, will never buy another new car. Certified Used is the best way to go, if you’re buying from a dealership, and no matter where I get my next car, I’m going to take it to my mechanic for a thorough going over.
I’m also going to have at least 30% of the cost for a down payment, thus mitigating any finance charges, and leaving me right-side up in the loan, if I have to have a loan.
But the thing I learned from my husband’s adventures at the DMV yesterday is that I’m also going to figure out how much my potential new-to-me car is going to cost to register, and make sure I have that money saved up BEFORE going to to DMV. It’s not that we didn’t have the money, but paying for the registration effectively destroyed the safety buffer I like to have in our checking account.
I like to have at least $300 extra in our checking account at any given time, so that if I’ve miscalculated our purchases, or mis-balanced my checkbook, there’s enough in there to cushion the blow. I also don’t like to send money to pay off debt or to savings unless I have that buffer, because I don’t like running too close to the wire on overdrawing my account.
All it really means that it’ll be a few more weeks before we can start rebuilding our savings after the move across country.
Ah well. Live and Learn.
