Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're asking the question repair or replace that
Speaker 1: old car? Yeah, Joel, did you know that the annual
Speaker 1: expense for making repairs to a ten year old vehicle,
Speaker 1: it's about the same as a single month's worth of
Speaker 1: car payments to a new vehicle. Isn't that crazy? And
Speaker 1: not even necessarily new, like sometimes these cars are a
Speaker 1: few years old. But either way, there are payments on cars,
Speaker 1: and a lot of times I think we we blow
Speaker 1: out of proportion the amount of money that we put
Speaker 1: towards repairing our vehicle. And so that's what we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about this episode. Man, you know, this isn't a
Speaker 1: slam dunk though, Like we're not gonna tell everybody to
Speaker 1: hang onto their old vehicle. There are some great reasons
Speaker 1: to replace that vehicle, and we're gonna cover all of
Speaker 1: those and some more in this episode. Buddy, Man, a
Speaker 1: lot to cover here. I think we've got a lot
Speaker 1: of good information for people to consider if they're driving
Speaker 1: an older car that's starting to give them more issues
Speaker 1: and they're not sure what should I ditch it, should
Speaker 1: I keep it? Should I be trading up for a
Speaker 1: newer vehicle, and there's just there's just a lot of
Speaker 1: moving parts in the situation. Uh, not to mention the
Speaker 1: parts that might be breaking down in your car. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll kind of cover a lot of that stuff on
Speaker 1: today's episode. That's right. Well, before we get to all that,
Speaker 1: I wanted to share a quick little story my car
Speaker 1: insurance company. I noticed that they had this application that
Speaker 1: you could download. They started offering one of those apps
Speaker 1: that you can download and it's super easy and it
Speaker 1: tracks you're driving. A lot of insurance companies are offering
Speaker 1: these now, and what's great about this is that you
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to decrease your premiums every single month.
Speaker 1: And I thought, you know what, I like saving money.
Speaker 1: I'm going to give this a shot. And you with
Speaker 1: how little you guys drive, you only have one car
Speaker 1: and it typically sits in the driveway a lot of
Speaker 1: the time. Yes, yeah, the large portion of the day
Speaker 1: it sits there. That's that's why I've considered doing the
Speaker 1: what's that app? Touro where you like rent you know,
Speaker 1: where you can rent out your view goal. It makes
Speaker 1: some money side money with it. Yeah, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just it's an asset. It's it's money literally sitting in
Speaker 1: our driveway that is doing us nothing except for be
Speaker 1: there for when we need it. And I guess it's
Speaker 1: worth it because for that reason, otherwise it would be
Speaker 1: earning its keep. On the side, I think, yeah, insurers
Speaker 1: are going more towards tracking your driving and giving you
Speaker 1: discounts if you drive a fewer miles, which I love
Speaker 1: because really, car insurance should be in an ideal world
Speaker 1: based on how much you drive, because someone who drives
Speaker 1: more is you know, a bigger risk to the insurance company. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: So how's that going for you? Then? Yeah, well, so
Speaker 1: we did it. It was a three month period, right,
Speaker 1: It was about ninety days that they tracked my driving
Speaker 1: keeps driving and specifically, I'll tell you what they were
Speaker 1: looking for, at least you know this app. It was
Speaker 1: specifically looking for how hard we break, how quickly we accelerates,
Speaker 1: as well as the percentage of driving that we were
Speaker 1: doing at nights so nighttime driving, and it took all
Speaker 1: three of those things into account. And at the end
Speaker 1: of that three month period where they were analyzing our driving,
Speaker 1: we were gifted a discount of a bucks which isn't huge,
Speaker 1: but it is way better than nothing, right, and so
Speaker 1: it's also worth noting though. Here's the thing, and this
Speaker 1: is why I wanted to share it with folks. There
Speaker 1: are a lot of different apps out there, but what's
Speaker 1: important to look at is whether or not you can
Speaker 1: potentially see your premiums increase. And that is the case
Speaker 1: now or some companies. If you read the fine print,
Speaker 1: like there's a you know, eight edits in drivers will
Speaker 1: see their premiums decrease, but to edits in that drive
Speaker 1: freaking crazy, they're going to see the premiums go up.
Speaker 1: And so if you know that, that's you. You know,
Speaker 1: if you're a heartbreaker or you just like to get
Speaker 1: wherever you're going as quickly as possible, you might want
Speaker 1: to stay away from down letting that app uper premiums
Speaker 1: where they are because you might be getting a deal.
Speaker 1: As it is for folks to drive like your grandma,
Speaker 1: drive cautiously and also rarely drive like we do or
Speaker 1: don't drive very much at all. I think it's a
Speaker 1: it's a great way to go. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: we did the same thing with our insurance company. But
Speaker 1: this was probably a couple of years ago. And I
Speaker 1: think we saved roughly something like that off our overall premiums,
Speaker 1: so pretty huge. Yeah. Uh. And it's one of those
Speaker 1: discounts that keeps going in perpetuity. Yeah, I like those
Speaker 1: forever discounts. And of course, this is in addition to
Speaker 1: the savings that a lot of car insures are also
Speaker 1: providing their customers. Due to the fewer claims that so
Speaker 1: many of these companies have experienced over the past several
Speaker 1: months due to sheltering in place, a lot of folks
Speaker 1: are receiving checks or credits directly from their auto ensure,
Speaker 1: completely unprompted. But if you haven't, definitely look into that
Speaker 1: as well. If you're interested in saving some money. And
Speaker 1: we Matt, there's an article I wrote a long time
Speaker 1: ago on the site, but it's still incredibly relevant about
Speaker 1: how to save money on insurance. So for folks that
Speaker 1: want to read more about that, we've got tips like this,
Speaker 1: but even other ones that little known that might take
Speaker 1: you an hour, that are gonna that are gonna save
Speaker 1: you hundreds of dollars every year in perpetuity. So yeah,
Speaker 1: we'll link to that article in our show notes. Yep,
Speaker 1: like we often do, all right, well, let's get onto
Speaker 1: the beer that we're having on the show today. We're
Speaker 1: drinking Zombie Dust by Three Floyd's Brewing. They're out of Indiana.
Speaker 1: Big thanks to listener Doug for sending this one our way.
Speaker 1: Three Floyds has been around a long time, been making
Speaker 1: good beers for quite some time now. Plus this is
Speaker 1: one of those fun ones that have to that it
Speaker 1: kind of has this cult following. Like you hear people
Speaker 1: talk about Zombie Dust and you're like, oh, yeah, zombie does.
Speaker 1: I think when you have a standout name like that,
Speaker 1: it's easy to grab a lot of people's attention and
Speaker 1: it kind of stands out in the crowded beer markets.
Speaker 1: But yeah, excited to share this one with you, buddy,
Speaker 1: for sure. Man looking forward to it. We'll give our
Speaker 1: thoughts at the end of the episode. But Matt onto
Speaker 1: the subject at hand. We're asking the question should you
Speaker 1: repair or a place that old car? And for a
Speaker 1: lot of folks right now there who are self quarantining
Speaker 1: because of the coronavirus, still it continues to to have
Speaker 1: a major impact on our society and on us as individuals.
Speaker 1: There's much less traffic out there on the roads. People
Speaker 1: are leaving their cars in their driveway kind of like
Speaker 1: you do a lot of the time. Welcome to my world.
Speaker 1: Uh And and so hopefully your car is not experiencing
Speaker 1: many issues right now, but it's important for us to
Speaker 1: discuss on this episode if you do have an older
Speaker 1: car that's having more and more issues, well, maybe your
Speaker 1: mechanic is really nice person, but you still don't want
Speaker 1: to become best ease with him or her. And there
Speaker 1: is of course a point where repairing an older vehicle
Speaker 1: no longer makes sense and you'll be throwing good money
Speaker 1: after bad. But many folks make the decision to abandon
Speaker 1: their still solid vehicle based on the desire to drive
Speaker 1: something newer instead of an actual need to upgrade their
Speaker 1: vehicle and and get something that's more reliable. And also
Speaker 1: it's important to note that the cost of upgrading your
Speaker 1: car could blow a hole in your budget, since cars
Speaker 1: are typically the second biggest line item in our budget. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's right, transportations typically second on the list. I actually
Speaker 1: should know if it's second on my personal list, because
Speaker 1: we do drive so infrequently. I bet, like health insurance
Speaker 1: or you know, our health coverage, I'm guessing that probably
Speaker 1: has the second place spot. But I should know that though,
Speaker 1: right I've I've got all the numbers there. I should
Speaker 1: dive into those numbers and share that with you, gay man.
Speaker 1: While you gotta do is like if you care run
Speaker 1: a quick program. I'm sure on your excel and you
Speaker 1: can figure it out. Well, I mean, we we total
Speaker 1: our expenses every year, but I've never actually ranked them.
Speaker 1: And so I don't know why I've never done that
Speaker 1: because I like numbers. I don't know I've set you
Speaker 1: off exactly, but no, I totally agree, man. And as
Speaker 1: the repair costs of owning an old car like they
Speaker 1: will start to increase, and so the question you know,
Speaker 1: we're often asking ourselves is should we keep that car
Speaker 1: or should we ditch it? And so today we are
Speaker 1: going to discuss when you should repair a used car
Speaker 1: and when you should consider getting rid of it and
Speaker 1: opting for something newer. And we'll also touch on how
Speaker 1: to sell your old car and where to go if
Speaker 1: you decide to upgrade. So before we get into kind
Speaker 1: of the finite points, well, a lot of this episode
Speaker 1: is going to dive into those nerdier aspects of things
Speaker 1: that you need to consider when you're you're asking yourself
Speaker 1: this question things like math repair costs exactly. But before
Speaker 1: we dive into the numbers, it's important to address that
Speaker 1: there are a few reasons why it might make sense
Speaker 1: to replace and not repair that old car. Basically, there
Speaker 1: are different personal considerations to keep in mind, and all
Speaker 1: those depend on who you are as an individual and
Speaker 1: what your car means to you. So partly depends on
Speaker 1: what you value. Right. For instance, you might really appreciate
Speaker 1: being the first owner of a vehicle and completely knowing
Speaker 1: the history of a car starting with the first hundred
Speaker 1: mile that you put on it. Right, These are cars
Speaker 1: that are treated like a member of your family. You
Speaker 1: might even have a name for that car, like Scottie
Speaker 1: or Steve, Like j L's got Steve in his garage.
Speaker 1: Yea our friends, our friend j L who came on
Speaker 1: recently and Steve Steve two point out, Or speaking of garages,
Speaker 1: like you might even have a separate room of your
Speaker 1: house dedicated to housing this car, you know, like, if
Speaker 1: you think about garages, it's a house for your car
Speaker 1: that you park in like it's it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: crazy if you think about it, Like how much of
Speaker 1: the percentage of our homes is dedicated to the care
Speaker 1: of our vehicles. And maybe I'm saying all this because
Speaker 1: I don't have a garage, jealous garage envy, but like,
Speaker 1: until I have a garage, I can make fun of it.
Speaker 1: But some people really love their car that much and
Speaker 1: so and so for them having a garage, having a
Speaker 1: place to work on it, having a place to keep
Speaker 1: it clean, it makes a lot of sense. And so
Speaker 1: if you are one of those people who really values
Speaker 1: having a new car, Matt's got a fairly new used car.
Speaker 1: I've got older used cars. But the great thing about
Speaker 1: how we view money is that it's not necessarily the
Speaker 1: worst thing in the world for you to buy a
Speaker 1: new car. If it's something that you value, it's high,
Speaker 1: high up on your priority list, well then we would
Speaker 1: say let your money follow your values. Well, Joel real quickly,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's worth mentioning. This is why
Speaker 1: we have a nice craft beer on every episode. We
Speaker 1: quickly cover this on our interviews, right like we talked
Speaker 1: about how beer for you and me, uh, craft beer specifically,
Speaker 1: it's a little bit of a splurge. Sometimes we'll get
Speaker 1: some really nice beer. Is that we really enjoyed because
Speaker 1: it's something that we value. And so whereas a lot
Speaker 1: of people are thinking, why would you drink beer like
Speaker 1: water is for free or next to free, you know,
Speaker 1: you get it out of your faucet, like that is
Speaker 1: something that's better for you. This is hot water though. Basically,
Speaker 1: come on, that's what I would say to those people.
Speaker 1: It meets the Bavarian standard of being considered a beer
Speaker 1: in Germany. What is it? There's like a high standard
Speaker 1: to be considered. Uh, it has to include four ingredients
Speaker 1: and maybe only four water, malts and hops, yeast. I
Speaker 1: don't know, something I don't know. Yeah, yeah, we're probably
Speaker 1: gonna get lampoon for for that right there. But but again,
Speaker 1: for us, this is a parallel. This is why we
Speaker 1: spend our money on this because we value it. And
Speaker 1: you know, when it comes to vehicles, even though I've
Speaker 1: never purchased a brand new car or even near new,
Speaker 1: right like, I totally get this line of thinking of
Speaker 1: as far as putting your money towards something you value,
Speaker 1: especially to if you're looking at getting something newer, like
Speaker 1: I understand wanting to have that predictability in the peace
Speaker 1: of mind that comes with being the first owner and
Speaker 1: the only owner of a vehicle, right, Like, you know
Speaker 1: the ins and outs, you know the maintenance history of
Speaker 1: that vehicle. It's something that you can count on. And
Speaker 1: so while I know that it can be just a
Speaker 1: strong sticking point for a lot of people to where
Speaker 1: it's just across the board. You should never have a
Speaker 1: new vehicle or even a newer vehicle. Uh, that's something
Speaker 1: that you and I would push back against. Your money
Speaker 1: should follow your values. And if you value you know,
Speaker 1: having a newer vehicle and it works into your budget
Speaker 1: really well, then that's not something we would follow people for.
Speaker 1: And at the same time, I think car ownership can
Speaker 1: have like this emotional component. That's another consideration that people
Speaker 1: have to make is I know some people have this
Speaker 1: strong attachment to their car, or this strong detachment they
Speaker 1: almost hate their car. And I think sometimes we can
Speaker 1: make a decision because of past history and we have
Speaker 1: a negative emotional tied to the vehicle that we're driving,
Speaker 1: Like I just want to get rid of it. I
Speaker 1: don't care about the finances. I don't care about the
Speaker 1: fact that I'm gonna lose money or that I can't
Speaker 1: really afford it. But this car I'm just so tired
Speaker 1: of it. I'm fed up with it, or they or
Speaker 1: they say I love it, like this is something I'm
Speaker 1: wanting to spend a lot of money on some guy.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna put that four thousand dollar transmission into
Speaker 1: it just because I love this car, even though it's
Speaker 1: not worth it. Right, And so I think we do
Speaker 1: have to step back, and it can't just be an
Speaker 1: emotional decision either way, whether it's a good one or
Speaker 1: a bad one. Yeah. Man, Well, so you know, we're
Speaker 1: talking about these different personal considerations of repairing a vehicle
Speaker 1: or getting a new one. A lot of it depends
Speaker 1: to on if there is a change in what you
Speaker 1: need out of the vehicle, right, Like this might be
Speaker 1: an obvious reason, but what we need out of the
Speaker 1: vehicle it changes over time. It's safe to say my
Speaker 1: old CB five fifty motorcycle, you know, back from my
Speaker 1: bachelor days, that wouldn't really cut it these days with
Speaker 1: the kiddos. Although I have seen little kids with helmets
Speaker 1: on the back of motorcycles as passengers before. Dude, if
Speaker 1: you had all four kids on the back of a
Speaker 1: motorcycle with helmets on, you guys are be in a
Speaker 1: circus or something. Yeah, it really would be like the circus, Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna or you get arrested. Well, that's the thing.
Speaker 1: It's not illegal, Isn't that crazy. There's no age limits
Speaker 1: to how old a passenger on a motorcycle can be.
Speaker 1: So like, I'm not gonna judge anyone, but there's no
Speaker 1: way that I'm going to do that myself. And so
Speaker 1: for us man moving from a small old sedan to
Speaker 1: a vida up station wagon like that made sense for us.
Speaker 1: That was back when we were doing tons of garden
Speaker 1: and yard projects. And by the way, we're driving around
Speaker 1: a baby in a full size Great Dane around the holidays,
Speaker 1: and so like, for us, that was a smart move.
Speaker 1: We couldn't continue to do those things and include those
Speaker 1: aspects into our personal life with that really really old,
Speaker 1: tiny little sedan Great Dane. Even harder to take around
Speaker 1: on a motorcycle. Uh, you gotta do the sidecar, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: You've seen those dogs in the sidecars with the goggles
Speaker 1: in the scarf. Adorable, pretty freaking hilarious, so cute. And
Speaker 1: so I think another personal consideration that people need to take, Matt,
Speaker 1: and this is what we're gonna spend most of the
Speaker 1: rest of the episode talking about is what is your
Speaker 1: specific financial situation. If you've been doing smart things with
Speaker 1: your money your entire life, you're a millionaire, right, go
Speaker 1: ahead and replace that old car for something newer. It's
Speaker 1: likely just to drop in the bucket for you compared
Speaker 1: to your overall net worth. And and that was one
Speaker 1: of the things that Jail mentioned too, just recently, just
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago. Was he felt comfortable buying
Speaker 1: a brand new superru Forest or not going overboard. I mean,
Speaker 1: he didn't buy a Bentley or anything like that, but
Speaker 1: he bought a nice new car. And he basically his
Speaker 1: defense for it, Matt was, I'm financially independent, and this
Speaker 1: moves the needle. Not at all on my overall network,
Speaker 1: this doesn't have an impact, but it did with a
Speaker 1: needle when it comes to his enjoyment of life exactly.
Speaker 1: Like they drive around the country all the time when
Speaker 1: they're back in the States, like that kind of thing.
Speaker 1: And he wanted a vehicle with foil drive because he
Speaker 1: had this like steep, snowy driveway. Just all these things.
Speaker 1: It made so much sense for him to actually get that. Sure,
Speaker 1: But like you said it had very little impact on
Speaker 1: his actual financial situation. Yeah, And for our listeners out there, well,
Speaker 1: you might not even value cars all that much, but
Speaker 1: if you're doing really well financially, then you might value
Speaker 1: the convenience of not having to deal with the repairs
Speaker 1: and a maintenance schedule of an older vehicle, and that's
Speaker 1: a real benefit to you, right, And so I think
Speaker 1: our personal financial situations have to be taken into account.
Speaker 1: If like we've talked about matt cars being one of
Speaker 1: the most expensive line items in our budget. Most people
Speaker 1: don't have the free willing cash, aren't financially independent, aren't
Speaker 1: in the place where jail is, and so we have
Speaker 1: to make a decision that makes more sense for where
Speaker 1: we're at financially. And so yeah, I think there's a
Speaker 1: lot of information that we have to kind of get
Speaker 1: out there so people can make an informed decision when
Speaker 1: it comes to repairing or replacing. That's right, man, So
Speaker 1: real quick before the break, I wanted to ask you
Speaker 1: what was your or what is your favorite car of
Speaker 1: all time that you've owned. So it's probably a tie
Speaker 1: between the Nissan Leaf that I'm driving now because it's
Speaker 1: fun and zippy. Yeah, I got the little e V. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but in my first car nine nine Toyota Camry because
Speaker 1: it was a manual transmission. And I gotta say, I
Speaker 1: missed driving a stick shift so bad. So what about
Speaker 1: it do you miss? Just? I mean, it's just fun
Speaker 1: to drive a stick Yeah, it's just the sense of
Speaker 1: act of driving experience, exactly, the sense of kind of
Speaker 1: control you have while you're on the road. I miss
Speaker 1: my care, I mean, and I really do think if
Speaker 1: I hadn't have been involved in like a minor accident
Speaker 1: which basically total the car, I think I'd be driving
Speaker 1: that car to this day. It was such a good car. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I never drove a stick as a primary vehicle,
Speaker 1: but I learned on all my friends sticks, which means
Speaker 1: that I was average at best drive stick shift cars.
Speaker 1: And they can still but well they're so rare though
Speaker 1: they're still they're rare. So your favorite car, okay, Well,
Speaker 1: the most fun car I've ever owned was in college.
Speaker 1: I was driving a nineteen nine, not in eighty nine.
Speaker 1: I was slightly knewer than what you had going on,
Speaker 1: but I had a white Land Rover Range Rover Man.
Speaker 1: This car was the most fun vehicle of all time.
Speaker 1: Just first of all, it was so unique, right, like
Speaker 1: you never saw these on the road. It wasn't very
Speaker 1: practical though at all. One time I was driving out
Speaker 1: on the Interstate and it kind of got like the
Speaker 1: speed wobble thing going on, and I thought, we're just
Speaker 1: gonna flip for like doing nothing like like I didn't
Speaker 1: really swerve or anything, but it just started getting really fishy.
Speaker 1: That might be the time you know that you need
Speaker 1: to replace that whole car, all right, Matt, Well, all right,
Speaker 1: we gotta talk more about the specifics of repairing. What
Speaker 1: are the average repair costs, and how do you know
Speaker 1: where your car fits in and whether your specific car
Speaker 1: needs to be repaired to replaced, And we'll get to
Speaker 1: some thoughts on that right after the break. All right, man,
Speaker 1: we're back from the break and we're talking about whether
Speaker 1: we should repair or replace that old car. And so
Speaker 1: before we dive into the repairs, man, I think let's
Speaker 1: let's touch for a second about financing. Right, if you
Speaker 1: are upside down on a car and you still owe
Speaker 1: money on it, the decision to repair or replace a
Speaker 1: vehicle it becomes a lot more difficult when you still
Speaker 1: owe money on your car, your options are going to
Speaker 1: be more limited, and so the goal here should be
Speaker 1: to get out of debt on your car as soon
Speaker 1: as possible. Once you own it free and clear, then
Speaker 1: you can make an informed, rational decision about upgrading to
Speaker 1: a newer car that might be in better condition. It's
Speaker 1: just a terrible place to be in financially when you
Speaker 1: trade in your old ride and you get into one
Speaker 1: by rolling that old loan into the new one. Uh,
Speaker 1: your interest rate is going to skyrocket, and then you'll
Speaker 1: owe far more on this new loan than that new
Speaker 1: car is even worth. It's just a terrible sort of
Speaker 1: perpetual cycle to find yourself falling into. Yeah, it's like
Speaker 1: a slippery slope. And for folks that don't have a
Speaker 1: paid off vehicle and they're trying to roll that into
Speaker 1: the purchase of the next it is financial armageddon for you.
Speaker 1: For you, if you continue to do that, it balloons
Speaker 1: your payment and if you have issues with that car.
Speaker 1: Then people do this not just once, but sometimes two
Speaker 1: and three times, and and car dealers are more than
Speaker 1: willing to to lend them the money at higher and
Speaker 1: higher interest rates, jacking up that payment. It's just not
Speaker 1: a good situation. It reminds me of like a previous episode.
Speaker 1: We're talking about interest rates, right, and when you have
Speaker 1: interest rates working for you, it's like being on the
Speaker 1: correct escalator and it's just kind of like shooting you
Speaker 1: up to the next level. But if you have interest
Speaker 1: payments working against you, and this is so easy to
Speaker 1: do with car payments, when you are adding to that
Speaker 1: principal amount, well that's like you trying to run up
Speaker 1: the wrong escalator where it's working against you. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: you're you're a salmon trying to swim upstream when you
Speaker 1: have interest that's working against you like that, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: So all right, Matt, let's get nerdy. Let's get into
Speaker 1: the numbers of repairing or replacing. And so oftentimes that
Speaker 1: decision to repair a place comes down to the math,
Speaker 1: and and really in large part it should you know,
Speaker 1: we've covered some of those personal considerations, and I think
Speaker 1: that's really helpful, Like people should take the math into
Speaker 1: consideration and filter it, I think, through their own personal values.
Speaker 1: But the math is crucial here. So that's why we
Speaker 1: recommend matth that people keep track of repairs and associated costs,
Speaker 1: because I think it's easy for people to think that
Speaker 1: their car is a dud, but is that actually accurate?
Speaker 1: You'll want to have some facts to go on. Not
Speaker 1: just like we said earlier, being emotionally done with your
Speaker 1: ride and keeping track of the actual repair costs that
Speaker 1: you incur on that car will help you make an
Speaker 1: informed decision as opposed to just assuming that it's costing
Speaker 1: you an arm in a leg. Yeah, just like with
Speaker 1: all of the different amounts that we budget for and
Speaker 1: track when it comes to our spending, it's easy to
Speaker 1: fool ourselves into thinking that, you know, I spend way
Speaker 1: less than that on going out to or not in
Speaker 1: spend that much on vacation. But when you actually track
Speaker 1: and see how much you are truly spending, you can make,
Speaker 1: like you said, you will, informed decisions based on those
Speaker 1: dollar amounts. I could just see Shakira saying the numbers
Speaker 1: don't lie and shaking her hips or whatever. I'm taking
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl halftime exactly. Okay, So you know
Speaker 1: how much you're spending on your actual vehicle, and then
Speaker 1: next you'll want to know what the average repair rates
Speaker 1: are going to be for your specific vehicle. Consumer reports
Speaker 1: they have some great data on this, and just like
Speaker 1: we mentioned at the beginning of the episode, generally speaking,
Speaker 1: it turns out that's a five year old vehicle. It
Speaker 1: takes about three fifty dollars worth of expenses every year
Speaker 1: to keep that car running. And it's in yeal vehicles,
Speaker 1: it takes just under six hundred dollars annually in repair costs. Right,
Speaker 1: and so knowing where your specific car where it stacks
Speaker 1: up like that s helpful information, and you know, it
Speaker 1: can also allow you to know that if the repairs
Speaker 1: you're having made to your vehicle, uh, if you're getting
Speaker 1: a good deal or not. If if if you can see
Speaker 1: that like Consumer Reports says that my Toyota camera should
Speaker 1: cost me about four hundred bucks to maintain and repair
Speaker 1: every year. But you look back at your records and
Speaker 1: you see that you're spending eight hundred dollars. Well, like,
Speaker 1: there's maybe a chance that you're overpaying, maybe you're getting
Speaker 1: ripped off every time you have to take your car
Speaker 1: to the shop. You might be, and you all, but
Speaker 1: you also might have experienced just a year that costs more, right,
Speaker 1: and so maybe that year you had a timing belt
Speaker 1: and water pump go bad. And that's just something that
Speaker 1: when you look at the life cycle of a car
Speaker 1: is bound to happen, and just because you had that
Speaker 1: one extra pair that year doesn't necessarily make your car
Speaker 1: a dud either. So you do have to kind of
Speaker 1: look at these these repair costs across multiple years in
Speaker 1: order to get a good gauge of what that car
Speaker 1: is actually costing. If you look at just last year,
Speaker 1: it might look like a dud, but it might not
Speaker 1: be a dud. It might just be that one big
Speaker 1: repair that you incurred. But but the car is now
Speaker 1: good to go for a while. Yeah, it wouldn't that
Speaker 1: be a terrible position to be in, Like you drop
Speaker 1: all this money on, like you said, maybe getting the
Speaker 1: timing belt changed, which basically means that your car is
Speaker 1: good for another hundred thousand miles. Yeah exactly. But but
Speaker 1: you know what if you saw that though, and then
Speaker 1: the next year you thought, you know what, I don't
Speaker 1: want to go through that again, and then you sell
Speaker 1: your car to somebody who's going to be able to
Speaker 1: not change the timing belt, that exactly. It's good to
Speaker 1: take multiple years into account for sure. Yeah, it's also
Speaker 1: really helpful and smart to to look into the reliability
Speaker 1: numbers for your specific make and model, and that will
Speaker 1: help you determine if the car that you have is
Speaker 1: worth hanging onto for the long haul. So JD Power
Speaker 1: and Consumer Reports come out with lists every year which
Speaker 1: would help you see which cars are typically the most
Speaker 1: reliable and so Lexus, Mazda, and Toyota are top three
Speaker 1: in the most recent findings from Consumer Reports. And if
Speaker 1: you're curious about your specific car and and model and year, well,
Speaker 1: you can pay for one time access to a sightl
Speaker 1: Consumer Reports, or you can go to your local library
Speaker 1: and get it get it for free. But it's worth
Speaker 1: looking into, like, Okay, how reliable is my vehicle because
Speaker 1: if typically those vehicles are historically reliable, well, and that's
Speaker 1: at least one check mark in the decision to keep
Speaker 1: it and make the repair, have the repair done. But
Speaker 1: if your car falls along Matt like your land Rover
Speaker 1: would have would not have been a good vehicle to keep.
Speaker 1: Consumer the information from Consumer Reports would have said, get
Speaker 1: rid of it now and find something more reliable. Lots
Speaker 1: of fun in the short term, a lot of heartache
Speaker 1: and the long term, well, then here's the thing though,
Speaker 1: next step. If you find yourself at a crossroads with
Speaker 1: a repair, and you're trying to figure out whether it
Speaker 1: makes sense to move forward with that fix. That's when
Speaker 1: you need to know how much this current repair is
Speaker 1: going to cost, obviously, and so with that in mind,
Speaker 1: a good rule of thumb for you is if that
Speaker 1: repair costs more than half of what the car is
Speaker 1: currently worth, then that's when you want to seriously consider
Speaker 1: ditching your car in favor of a newer one. Obviously,
Speaker 1: rules of thumb don't apply to every single situation. We
Speaker 1: know that in a lot of cases, like the older
Speaker 1: vehicle gets, if you know everything on it is solid
Speaker 1: in your car, unfortunately though, it's not gonna be worth
Speaker 1: very much. And like you said, again, let's reference back
Speaker 1: to a timing belt. Timing belts cost a lot of money.
Speaker 1: But if you know that that one fixed will allow
Speaker 1: you to continue to drive that car for for years
Speaker 1: and years, well, then that's an instance where this rule
Speaker 1: of thumb, you know, it may not be quite as applicable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think the older your car gets, it almost becomes
Speaker 1: a does the repair cost more than what your car
Speaker 1: is worth as opposed to more than half of what
Speaker 1: your car is worth? So, yeah, if you're driving that
Speaker 1: older car, and an engineer transmission goes bad. I think
Speaker 1: that's that's a completely different scenario then. But yeah, the
Speaker 1: next step in this process is to estimate the value
Speaker 1: of your car, and Kelly Blue Book and Edmonds are
Speaker 1: the best sites to help you see what your car
Speaker 1: is worth. When you're entering in the information, make sure
Speaker 1: that you're filling it out accurately so that you can
Speaker 1: get a decent representation of the actual value of your car.
Speaker 1: There's a big difference between a car that's an excellent
Speaker 1: condition and a car that's in fair condition, right, that
Speaker 1: has scratches and dense or that just hasn't been kept
Speaker 1: in overall great condition. But that's the number you want
Speaker 1: to weigh your repair costs against when you're making this decision.
Speaker 1: And having kind of that informed value in your hands
Speaker 1: as to what your car is actually worth is really helpful,
Speaker 1: totally man. And the reason for this is because we
Speaker 1: can be unfortunately very emotional when it comes to our vehicle, right,
Speaker 1: because we can talk ourselves into doing anything. We can say,
Speaker 1: oh no, my car is worth way more because I've
Speaker 1: taken care of it. Like we recently talked about the
Speaker 1: endowment effect, right, and that's when something you already own,
Speaker 1: like it's you're gonna perceive it as being more valuable
Speaker 1: than it actually is. And so in that case, you
Speaker 1: might think your car is worth way more and so
Speaker 1: you can justify these expenses because you really want to
Speaker 1: hang onto that vehicle, or you might really be hankering
Speaker 1: for like a new car, and so you might think,
Speaker 1: all my car is not worth anything, you know, like,
Speaker 1: is there a worse option than fair? Like, is there crappy?
Speaker 1: Because because I'm gonna sell like that, you know, but
Speaker 1: like be honest with yourself because you want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you are making an informed decision based on facts,
Speaker 1: not just what you are trying to convince yourself into doing.
Speaker 1: You don't want that fake news, Matt, when you're facts
Speaker 1: not fiction when you're making that decision. Yeah, another thing
Speaker 1: that considers does your car have lingering issues, like other
Speaker 1: issues besides the main thing that you feel like needs
Speaker 1: to be repaired, So it's not necessarily just about the
Speaker 1: singular repair. You'll you'll want to take into consideration the
Speaker 1: preponderance of other issues that might be happening with your
Speaker 1: car at this point in time. So if you can't
Speaker 1: remember the last time you took your car into the
Speaker 1: shop even to get the oil change, then there's a
Speaker 1: good chance that there might be other work that's been
Speaker 1: left undone that needs to be completed too. You're like,
Speaker 1: does my car take oil? I'm not sure. Then you're
Speaker 1: in a bad spot. Yeah, well to answer that if
Speaker 1: you have a gasoline vehicle, like, yes, your car takes oil.
Speaker 1: It's also worth considering if you can do the work yourself.
Speaker 1: So neither you nor I are car nerds that know
Speaker 1: how to fix major issues, but learning how to do
Speaker 1: maybe some basic repairs, it could allow you to extend
Speaker 1: the life of that old car. If you're pretty handy
Speaker 1: in mechanically minded, then that's an instance where you can
Speaker 1: put that skill to use. Joe Hery told you about
Speaker 1: the switch I installed on my old Jeep. No, oh man,
Speaker 1: you're gonna love this. So I had an issue with
Speaker 1: my old Jeep to where the the radiator fan it
Speaker 1: wouldn't kick on at the right time, and that's the
Speaker 1: fan that cools your engine. Oh, I think you did
Speaker 1: tell me I tell you about this. I think we
Speaker 1: talked about it on podcast. With the switch Okay, Yeah,
Speaker 1: basically I installed like a manual switch to where I
Speaker 1: would turn that fan on myself because I was sick
Speaker 1: of it kept breaking and I was tired of taking
Speaker 1: it into the shop, and so I was mechanically minded
Speaker 1: enough to install a manual switch. But it probably generally
Speaker 1: thinking wasn't a good idea to kind of mess with
Speaker 1: the electrical installed the switch that bypassed everything else at
Speaker 1: the computers and the car was telling it to do.
Speaker 1: I would not recommend doing that yet, not for use
Speaker 1: at home, but but for for for some people who
Speaker 1: you know. I've changed an alternator before with the help
Speaker 1: of a friend, Yeah, which is uh, depending on what
Speaker 1: where it's located in the car. That can be semi
Speaker 1: easy or really really really hard. And spark plugs whatever,
Speaker 1: stuff like that, whether it's bigger like an alternator or
Speaker 1: or smaller like spark plugs or changing your own oil,
Speaker 1: whatever you can do yourself. And by the way, YouTube
Speaker 1: so helpful, or having mechanically minded friends who can help
Speaker 1: you out, that can be the difference between feeling like
Speaker 1: you need to get rid of your car or or
Speaker 1: being able to kind of salvage some more years out
Speaker 1: of it. And of course d I ying almost anything
Speaker 1: in your life is going to save a whole lot
Speaker 1: of money as opposed to taking something to a professional
Speaker 1: for help. And so yeah, not that we don't need
Speaker 1: mechanics most of the time. I mean, I know I do.
Speaker 1: We do in our family. But if there are those
Speaker 1: little things you feel like you can tackle on your
Speaker 1: own or something you can at least try that can help,
Speaker 1: you know, lower the costs of continuing to keep that
Speaker 1: vehicle on the road and allow you to continue to
Speaker 1: benefit from not having a car payment or having to
Speaker 1: go into debt in order to to get another vehicle.
Speaker 1: That's right, man. And something else to consider is that
Speaker 1: you might even have to make some of these repairs
Speaker 1: anyway just to sell your vehicle if you did want
Speaker 1: to sell it, and if you don't want to make
Speaker 1: these repairs, and you're gonna have to settle for less
Speaker 1: money when it does come time to sell. So keep
Speaker 1: that in mind. Like that's an instance where when you're
Speaker 1: on KPB and you're entering that the condition and some
Speaker 1: of that stuff, you can see how much of an
Speaker 1: impact that is going to have on the resale price.
Speaker 1: Experiment there figure out what the actual impact of those
Speaker 1: repairs are going to have on that resale value and
Speaker 1: you can make an informed decision from there. And Matt
Speaker 1: will also link to a calculator that has detailed inputs
Speaker 1: that can help you make that decision with the numbers
Speaker 1: in hand. Yeah, what's great about that calculator specifically is
Speaker 1: that it takes a new account other factors, not just
Speaker 1: repair costs as well. Right, Like it's taking into account insurance,
Speaker 1: sales tax, or ad valorum if you're purchasing a new
Speaker 1: vehicle gas mileage. There are a number of factors that
Speaker 1: you do want to keep into account when you're considering
Speaker 1: a new vehicle. Yeah, for sure. All right, but let's
Speaker 1: say you've determined that your car is right for the
Speaker 1: chopping block and you need to sell it. We have
Speaker 1: to cover the best ways to go about selling that
Speaker 1: vehicle and to go about buying another vehicle that that
Speaker 1: works better for you, that's more reliable. And we'll get
Speaker 1: to some thoughts on that right after this break. All right,
Speaker 1: Joel back from the break, and let's go ahead and
Speaker 1: keep talking and about cars. And we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: how you can sell your ride. Right, if you've determined
Speaker 1: that it's time to sell your car, one of the
Speaker 1: biggest things we want you to take away is to
Speaker 1: remember to not trade your car into the dealer. Why
Speaker 1: is that, Matthew Well funny that you ask, because you
Speaker 1: get a much smaller amount for that car when you
Speaker 1: trade it in as opposed to selling your car to
Speaker 1: an individual buyer. You're gonna see that difference if you
Speaker 1: look at your car's value on a site like KBB
Speaker 1: dot com, you're gonna see that discrepancy between what you're
Speaker 1: going to get as a private seller versus versus what
Speaker 1: the trading value is going to be. Yeah, that descrepmancy
Speaker 1: can be huge. When you're playing around on KBB and
Speaker 1: you're trying to figure out how much your car is worth.
Speaker 1: It literally has a couple of buttons, and one of
Speaker 1: them is to press to see what it's worth if
Speaker 1: you're selling to an individual, and the other one is
Speaker 1: to press what your car is worth if you're trading
Speaker 1: it in. And the difference can be huge, thousands of dollars.
Speaker 1: And what's interesting too, is that that's it's one of
Speaker 1: the first things that you click. It's not like a
Speaker 1: final option, so where you can go back just one
Speaker 1: step and and kind of bounce between the two. It's
Speaker 1: interesting that they put it at the very beginning, and
Speaker 1: they kind of make you commit to doing one versus
Speaker 1: the other. And so I would challenge folks to, you know,
Speaker 1: go through all those steps again and actually see what
Speaker 1: it would be if you were to do a dealer
Speaker 1: trade in and compare that to private sale, because I think,
Speaker 1: you know, seeing that, you know, multi thousand dollar difference
Speaker 1: like that would be enough of the kick in the
Speaker 1: pants to make you pull up your fancy iPhone or
Speaker 1: whatever phone you have and snap some really nice pictures
Speaker 1: of your car, shine it up, you know, take it
Speaker 1: to the car wash, have a looking real good before
Speaker 1: you list it yourself. Yeah. So, on that note, Matt,
Speaker 1: for someone trying to sell their car, I think we
Speaker 1: would say that the best way to do that to
Speaker 1: get the most money for your vehicle is to sell
Speaker 1: it to another private individual. And I've kind of thought
Speaker 1: through it. I think the best way for someone to
Speaker 1: approach this, Matt, is especially if they have like a
Speaker 1: week or so that they want to sell their car. Well,
Speaker 1: there are giant used car companies like Carbona and CarMax
Speaker 1: that you could tell your vehicle too. You could get
Speaker 1: a quote from them quickly. Carbona Online in almost no time. CarMax.
Speaker 1: Take your car there, they'll tell you what your car
Speaker 1: is worth, and they will actually literally hand you the
Speaker 1: amount that they will buy your car for and it's
Speaker 1: good for a full a week. So what I would
Speaker 1: say is you're gonna say that they'll hange your money,
Speaker 1: and if you give them the car, the cash sticks around.
Speaker 1: But if you hang under your car, then then then
Speaker 1: the cash just disappears. Well that would be one way
Speaker 1: of sweet magic. But basically what you're doing is you're
Speaker 1: getting this guarantee that you can go back the very
Speaker 1: next weekend and sell your car for the amount of
Speaker 1: money that they promised. And so what I would suggest
Speaker 1: is go to car Max, get that number in hand,
Speaker 1: and then for the next week, try to sell your
Speaker 1: car via like Craigslist and the Facebook marketplace. Matt and
Speaker 1: the car that we sold most recently we sold on
Speaker 1: the Facebook marketplace. That was where we got the most
Speaker 1: buzz and it's free to list it. So yeah, like
Speaker 1: you said, take some good picks with your phone, write
Speaker 1: up a listing for your car that makes it sound appealing,
Speaker 1: and see what trickles in over the next week. Listing
Speaker 1: it closer to that private party value that you've been
Speaker 1: able to determine from Kelly Blue Book, right, and so
Speaker 1: you'll notice that there's a big discrepancy. But at minimum,
Speaker 1: we think it's important to give yourself a week to
Speaker 1: try to sell it privately because it will make a
Speaker 1: big difference in the return that you get when you
Speaker 1: do decide to to sell a car. Yeah, maybe another
Speaker 1: way to look at it is think about that difference
Speaker 1: almost as a commission that you get to pay yourself,
Speaker 1: Like this is extra money that's going to be rolling
Speaker 1: in were you to do that yourself. And Jel you mentioned,
Speaker 1: you know, making sure you take some nice pictures of it,
Speaker 1: make sure you have that car nice and clean to
Speaker 1: like take it to the car wash, maybe splurge on
Speaker 1: like the sixty dollar car wash where there's actual people
Speaker 1: touching your car, you know, like like not just the
Speaker 1: drive through, but they're kind of detailing your car. That's
Speaker 1: gonna go a long ways and how your car shows
Speaker 1: and people are gonna want to pounce on that. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was frugal or cheap, but
Speaker 1: I just took mine down the street to the five
Speaker 1: dollar car wash and I vacuumed it out really nicely,
Speaker 1: and I did you get some arm or all like
Speaker 1: like to make stuff shiny? I feel like that that
Speaker 1: like a wet wipe kind of like down the dash
Speaker 1: so shiny for a second and then they got dull
Speaker 1: and dusty looking exactly. Yeah, yeah, but you know it
Speaker 1: did the trick. It works fine. But yeah, you'll be
Speaker 1: surprised at how good your car looks after one of
Speaker 1: those car washes. Let's talk about if you are going
Speaker 1: to buy like quote unquote new. If you do make
Speaker 1: the decision that replacing your car is best, you'll have
Speaker 1: a decision to make. You know, do you buy used
Speaker 1: or are you gonna buy new? We much prefer that
Speaker 1: you buy used, but there are certainly some paces where
Speaker 1: buying new makes sense. We have an article up on
Speaker 1: the site at how to money dot com that Joel
Speaker 1: wrote that helps you to decide when buying a new
Speaker 1: vehicle might make sense for you. Just like a lot
Speaker 1: of the different financial decisions we make in our lives,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of different considerations than things you
Speaker 1: want to think through. And may you did a good
Speaker 1: job and kind of walking us through that process. But
Speaker 1: if you opt for a used car, then probably the
Speaker 1: most important thing that you can do is to make
Speaker 1: sure that you have it checked out by a private mechanic.
Speaker 1: They'll usually charge you maybe for an hour of their
Speaker 1: time to go over the car, but man, that small
Speaker 1: fee can save you thousands of dollars and a ton
Speaker 1: of hassle. Man. You can ask Google, you can ask Siri,
Speaker 1: obviously in those instances you'll get some highly rated local mechanics,
Speaker 1: but also don't overlook a personal recommendation or a word
Speaker 1: of mouth. I know, when we're looking for a specific
Speaker 1: mechanic for for our van, I guess around the neighborhood
Speaker 1: and there are multiple folks that mentioned this one mechanic
Speaker 1: that they've been going to for over fifteen years. So
Speaker 1: of course it was a super easy decision for me
Speaker 1: to check him out. And we couldn't agree more. Man,
Speaker 1: we've been going there for years now. Yeah. Man, I've
Speaker 1: totally had next give me the thumbs up and the
Speaker 1: or the thumbs down on a car that I've brought there.
Speaker 1: And I really appreciate that if you go to a
Speaker 1: mechanic that you know and trust, who is going to
Speaker 1: be able to shoot straight with you and and tell
Speaker 1: you you know what this car has enough problems that
Speaker 1: it doesn't make sense for you to jump into it, Well,
Speaker 1: then I would listen. And it has helped me avoid
Speaker 1: buying a car that I thought, on the surface looked
Speaker 1: really good, looked like it was kept up nicely, but
Speaker 1: I didn't realize all the issues that were lingering. So, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a really important step. Yeah, that could save you
Speaker 1: a lot of heartache and a lot of hassle. Yeah, completely.
Speaker 1: And on that note, we know that repairing a car
Speaker 1: can be a hassle, right, but when you compare that
Speaker 1: cost to the years of new car payments that you
Speaker 1: will incur by upgrading yourself and getting something a whole
Speaker 1: lot newer or buying a new car, it will likely
Speaker 1: for you make sense to fix your car instead of
Speaker 1: dumping it, especially if owning a really nice car just
Speaker 1: isn't high on your list of values. And the highest
Speaker 1: cost of car ownership isn't the cost of the repair,
Speaker 1: which when we're faced with the repair, especially in expensive repair,
Speaker 1: that's all we can think about in our minds is
Speaker 1: how do I get into something new or that's not
Speaker 1: gonna break down on me and make me pay the
Speaker 1: mechanic money. That's just kind of the way our brain works.
Speaker 1: But the actual most expensive cost of owning a car
Speaker 1: is the cost of depreciation, And so when we're faced
Speaker 1: with the cost of repair, we just have to have
Speaker 1: that in the forefront of our brains. Okay, if I
Speaker 1: do decide to sell this car and upgrade into something nicer,
Speaker 1: I just have to know that one of the trade
Speaker 1: offs is I'm going to pay a lot more in
Speaker 1: depreciation in the coming years. That is where my money
Speaker 1: is going to go. It might not be going to
Speaker 1: the mechanic to to fix this car that has a
Speaker 1: couple of issues with it, but it's definitely over a
Speaker 1: longer period of time, going to massive amounts of depreciation
Speaker 1: if we decide to upgrade instead of to continue rolling
Speaker 1: with the car that we we currently have. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: you know, and we think that whether or not you're
Speaker 1: going to repair a vehicle or you're going to replace it,
Speaker 1: you want to make sure that you're doing that from
Speaker 1: a standpoint of financial security. Right Like, if you're going
Speaker 1: to hang on to an older vehicle, you know that
Speaker 1: you're going to incur these repair costs, so start putting
Speaker 1: money aside into maybe an emergency fund. But like ideally
Speaker 1: you would have a separate fund specifically for repair costs,
Speaker 1: repair and maintenance. It's going to cost you money to
Speaker 1: maintain that vehicles. To start setting that money aside now,
Speaker 1: or if you know that in the near future you're
Speaker 1: going to replace that vehicle, well you need to set
Speaker 1: aside even more money because we don't want you financing
Speaker 1: that vehicle. That's something that we again want you to
Speaker 1: do from a position of strength, to start saving now
Speaker 1: for a new or newer car before you get to
Speaker 1: that point of having to make a tough decision that
Speaker 1: could hurt you financially. Yeah, Matt, having cash in the
Speaker 1: bank when you're making this decision and not scrambling, because
Speaker 1: cash in the bank changes the game completely. You don't
Speaker 1: have to make a rash decision that will actually, maybe
Speaker 1: in the short term, be better for your incoming and
Speaker 1: outgoing cash flow, but ultimately is going to lead you
Speaker 1: into more debt and a lower net worth right and
Speaker 1: and and having an expensive car that you're paying on
Speaker 1: monthly is a detriment to your overall wealth building process.
Speaker 1: And so fixing that older car it might or might
Speaker 1: not be the best decision. There are certainly a lot
Speaker 1: of factors at play. Here, But it makes it so
Speaker 1: much easier for us to make a rational decision if
Speaker 1: we have a well stocked emergency fund, if we have
Speaker 1: been saving and investing consistently, and if we're able to
Speaker 1: make this, like you said, decision from a position of
Speaker 1: financial strength as opposed to financial weakness, it just means
Speaker 1: we're gonna make a better decision ultimately, no matter which
Speaker 1: side of the aisle we come down on, whether we
Speaker 1: buy a nicer used car or a brand new car
Speaker 1: that is inexpensive because we're gonna own it for more
Speaker 1: than ten years, or we decide to repair that car
Speaker 1: and roll with it for a couple more years because
Speaker 1: that's best for our finances. Either way, doing it from
Speaker 1: a place of financial security and stability is is gonna
Speaker 1: be a game changer, and it's gonna be a whole
Speaker 1: lot less anxiety producing too, well, said Buddy. All right,
Speaker 1: let's take it back to the beer. This episode, we
Speaker 1: were drinking Zombie Dust and this is by three Floyd's
Speaker 1: out of Indiana, and this one was donated to the
Speaker 1: show by Doug. So Doug thinks so much for this beer. Um,
Speaker 1: I'll go ahead and give you give you my thoughts
Speaker 1: on this one, Buddy, Like, so it poured a clear
Speaker 1: kind of golden color right, like, just a nice looking
Speaker 1: pale ale. And for a pale, I feel like it
Speaker 1: kind of had like a nice kind of pineapple citrusy
Speaker 1: kind of hot presence going on, but at the same
Speaker 1: time is balanced with this kind of nice, bready maltiness.
Speaker 1: It was just a well balanced, easy to drink pale ale.
Speaker 1: I feel like it's a now it's a classic example
Speaker 1: of what a pale ale should be in the US.
Speaker 1: Really enjoyed this one, buddy, Um, Yeah, but your thoughts
Speaker 1: on it. I feel like this beer was what made
Speaker 1: brewers start to make pale ales actually taste good. Yes,
Speaker 1: this beer has been around for a while, and they
Speaker 1: really brought a ton of tasty hops to the game
Speaker 1: in this one. And I love three Floys. I love
Speaker 1: their braining, I love their style, I love their kind
Speaker 1: of brash attitude, and and this beer was kind of
Speaker 1: at the forefront of that attitude, bringing just a lot
Speaker 1: of hops into the beer and making it taste superb.
Speaker 1: I totally agree they kind of put pale ales back
Speaker 1: on the map. Yeah, most beer nerds usually relegate pale
Speaker 1: ales to the back of the line then, and this
Speaker 1: beer definitely does not deserve to be there because it
Speaker 1: really has stood the test of time. It's a fantastic
Speaker 1: beer full of all sorts of hot flavor. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I really enjoyed this one. Big thanks to listener Doug
Speaker 1: for sending it our way. All Right, man, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be it for this episode. For listeners who want the
Speaker 1: show notes for this episode to see that calculator. That's
Speaker 1: gonna help if you make this informed decision on whether
Speaker 1: to repair or place your old car, well, you can
Speaker 1: go to our website how to money dot com and
Speaker 1: wherever it is that you listen to your podcast. We
Speaker 1: would be incredibly thankful if you mash that subscribe button
Speaker 1: right now, if you are not already subscribe to our show,
Speaker 1: and if you haven't yet already leave us a review
Speaker 1: over at Apple Podcasts. It helps others to to find
Speaker 1: the show who haven't already discovered the beauties of personal finance,
Speaker 1: as well as the huge impact that it really does
Speaker 1: have on our lives, on our everyday lives. Agreed, Buddy Man.
Speaker 1: All right man, that's gonna be it for this episode.
Speaker 1: Until next time. Best Friends Out, Best Friends Out,