Math on having a second vehicle

When I looked into it, the math didn't work out. In your case, 200-250/week means about 12K miles per year. I don't know what kind of mileage you get right now, but say for instance you get 18 MPG average based on the diesel price from gas buddy, it would cost you about $2530 for fuel. If you get 20 MPG, it would be about $2280. If you get a car that gets 30 MPG (gas), you would spend about $1440 and at 35 MPG you would spend about $1230. So it will cost you about $1000/year more in fuel for the truck. So just for fuel, you are looking at a 5-6 year break-even point. That doesn't count the additional insurance, license, registration, taxes, and/or maintenance for the car.

When I was trying to see if it worked, I think I ended up with the break-even point at about 7-8 years. Only you can decide if it is worth it to you based on the numbers for your situation.

lanerd wrote:
Well, let's see. 250 x 52 = 13,000 miles @ say 15mpg =666 gals of fuel at say $3.75/gal = $3250.

A small car would get about 30mpg so 13000 miles would be =430 gals at $3.75/gal would cost about $1625.

So subtracting the two $3250 - $1625 = $1625 that you would save each year in fuel savings.

At these figures it would take you about 3.7 years to pay for itself in fuel savings.

Plug in your own actual figures for mpg, $/gal to get a better/worse cost savings.

Hope this was what you were looking for.

Ron

Don't forget additional insurance costs and depreciation! Also what rig would you want to be in with a head on collision?

It's funny, I'm doing the opposite math as you are. I already have a Toyota Avalon as my daily driver. It gets about 25MPG around town. With diesel fuel prices going down and gas prices going up, I started to wonder if it would be cheaper to park the Avalon and do my commute with the Duramax truck.

When I do the calculations, the Avalon comes out cheaper. Plus the cost to maintain or repair the Avalon is a lot less than the truck.

So my daily driver is the Avalon.

mbutts wrote:
The thing that stops me from doing this is the cost of insurance.

Same here. Getting a small SUV (Suzuki Sidekick) would nearly double my premium, even as a 2nd car, simply because I'd be going from a low risk vehicle to higher risk vehicle. Small cars weren't quite so bad, but sill a hefty premium hike.

We do just that as our Chevy 3/4 ton gasser sits in the garage awaiting to tow our 32' TT. Whether it's more economical to do so depends on the math you use, but it's easier for us to have a small 4 banger import for commuting than to drive, park, and refuel a Silverado Crewcab. Over the last couple of years we picked up 2 used commuter cars for our kids in college and they were in the price range you stated, both get around 35 mpg and the kids have not had any problems with them.

I understand the savings in fuel, but what about tires, oil changes, deprecation, etc. There has to be more to the savings than just fuel. Insurance on a little car isn't that much. Maybe $20 a month.

I use my truck for all my trips. Another consideration in the additional cost is the maintenance and insurance of the second vehicle.

The thing that stops me from doing this is the cost of insurance. With two teenagers at home, it costs more than the car and fuel.

I had a similar scenario. I got a 1997 Saturn commuter/ run around beater. Gas mileage is in the high 30s. The Excrusion stays home and is used for towing, trips and family outings. As a result it only has 86K on it and is a 2001. The way I figured it I would rack up the miles on the beater and extend the life of the Ex. It also delayed me having to pay to replace Ex. The beaters I buy are under 2500 bucks. They are high mileage but reliable. The saturn has 165K on it. We have a second beater and its a 2001 Sentra that has 136K on it. My wife drives it on crappy/ snowy days and leaves her Mustang at home. Insurance is next to nothing on them and they cut us a break on the Ex and the Mustang because we keep the yearly mileage down on them.

Well, let's see. 250 x 52 = 13,000 miles @ say 15mpg =666 gals of fuel at say $3.75/gal = $3250.

A small car would get about 30mpg so 13000 miles would be =430 gals at $3.75/gal would cost about $1625.

So subtracting the two $3250 - $1625 = $1625 that you would save each year in fuel savings.

At these figures it would take you about 3.7 years to pay for itself in fuel savings.

Plug in your own actual figures for mpg, $/gal to get a better/worse cost savings.

Hope this was what you were looking for.

Ron