So I bought a car last week.  DH's car was totalled at the beginning of the month and we haven't replaced it.  Well we sort of did but not really.  We are planning on replacing his 2016 Subaru Legacy which we got paid out $16k with a 2021 Tesla Model Y for about $33k.  Haven't found the right one year but that's what the plan is.

That being said I was driving a friend two weeks ago and said I was looking for a car and she said "i'm looking to sell mine."  Well I said great can I buy it?  She said yes.  So I picked it up and had it taken to a mechanic and bodyshop and decided okay.

It was a 2011 Subaru Impreza with 31.5k miles.  One old lady driver who garaged it and maintened it but hadn't driven it in a year.  She had broken the passenger mirror but for $1k fixable she said.  Can do!  Was excited.  Then I pulled it out and turns out her family had driven it and damaged it severely.  How bad?

Well it needed a new battery, new tires, and alignment about $1k.  The mechanic then did an oil change and flush of fluids for $1k.  I paid for this and said I would take it off the cost of the car.  Then the damage to the bodywork.  It needed a new fender, fender liner, bumper front and back and polishing of all four doors because it looks like it had been run between two cars or something.  All in around $5k in work according to the body shop with taxes included.

She was so upset that it would need so much work to be driveable.  You could hear the fender scraping on bare metal without the liner and the bumpers were screwed in with screws to attach it.  But I said I'd still buy it because I wanted a non-gas guzzler to drive instead of my minivan.  And in 18 months my DK1 will be 16 and needing to drive.  

So I bought the car for $2k and paid for the registration and excise tax around $500 and we made the deal. I took it to the repair shop this weekend and negotiated to have a rental covered and paid in full cash instead of credit card for a discount.  I paid $3500 in cash.  So I'm into the car for $2500 + $3500 + $2000 = $8000 for a low mileage subaru.

Brought it home today and my DH flipped out.  The car he said looked like a trash dump heap two weeks ago was painted and polished and looked like his DREAM car from his 20s he said.  The cute red hatchback was perfect. It really did remind me of his old ford focus and I told him it was the perfect first kid car.  Since she was a hoarder I still need to have it detailed it's so dirty.  I had about 6 garbage bags of crap I cleaned out and it'll be detailed next Friday.

I picked up my friend and showed off the car.  She smiled and said she was so glad someone was going to keep it instead of sending it to the salvage.  I told her the car would be well loved and provided for at least another 10 years! 

Plan is drive it 18 months, hand it to DK1 for 2 years till 2028 when she graduated.  DK2 has it 2028 to 2030 till she graduates.  Then in 2030 DK1 might need a car for college 2030-2032, then DK2 from 2032-2034.  If the car can make it that long then we are set.

So all in around $8k for a 2011 Subaru Impreza with 31.5k miles.  Not a bad deal at all.  And I get something to run around in for 18 months and if we make more money I might just buy myself another car.  Or DH might get a new tesla at that point and I'll take the 2021 model Y.

So I ended up cancelling last thursday our trip to Zion and Bryce Canyon because the Narrows was closed and unsure if they were opening.  I didn't want to do a trip that honestly the highlight was the narrows.  The national parks website says it's partially opened today but I would really want to do everything and hope it was calmer than just below the opening number.  So instead I rebooked the trip for next memorial day and crossing my fingers it's better next year.

Instead I rebooked us to Washington DC.  This was a trip I had on my calendar for next summer, but it was a bit daunting since I had been thinking of doing it over 10 days or a week and two weekends.  I was thinking of doing it with Philly and NYC.  But honestly a trip of that magnitude seemed overwhelming long and too much.  So when this opportunity arose, I thought let's just do DC.  Yes it's more expensive to do three trips back to the east coast, but at the same time, I think doing DC, NYC, Philly and still planning a Boston/New England trip seemed like a lot.  Instead we'll just do a week in DC, then maybe a week in NY/Philly and then Boston another time.  

Zion and Bryce is still on my bucket list and making the reservation now for next Memorial makes it still seem possible.

Well I managed to snag mileage tickets going into Reagan Airport and arriving at 9 pm on wednesday for 30k miles one way for each of us.  The tickets are runnign around $700 per person one way otherwise.  I then had a 40% bonus on Chase Ultimate Rewards points for transferring to Marriot and instead we are staying in DC for 200k for 5 nights until Monday 5/27.  Then we move for the night to IAD Marriott Hotel for $90 including taxes and fees so we can leave 5/28 at 9 am out of IAD Dulles.  Both flights are non-stop to and from DC.

Between our free "hotel" and free one way airfare, and I paid $370 per person to flight on 5/28 home for a total of $1480 plus $90 hotel, we are looking at $1570 so far.  All the museums are free and we may do a bus or trolley tour.  This trip will be mostly eating out.  Will it be cheap?  Pretty reasaonable.  

I'm guessing we can get away with $200/day in Lunch and Dinner out for a family of four as long as we don't go to a nice sitdown place.  How does it compare to Bryce and Zion?  Well it's substantially more to go to Bryce and Zion because I was paying $250/night to stay in the lodges in the park so $1000 for 4 nights.  Then a night in Caesars and a night in Manadalay Bay coming and going out of las vegas.  Then $300 for a rental car.  Our flights were around $400 round trip per person.  So I would say that we just happened to have points for the hotel and if we didn't I think we would have found a hotel chepaer than $250/night.  

So yes we are struggling with no capital tour and no timed entry to african american museum, and I have to hope i get the washington monument.  But at the same time it'll be pretty nifty.  I was told the kids ages 11 and 14 are a great age to go. I went at age 13 (8th grade like my DK1) to Washington DC from Hawaii.  Can you imagine? It was incredible to go so far from home on a school trip without my parents?  

It was the start of my love of traveling.  Till today I still love traveling. Although now as I get older I notice I need a bit more comfort and better seats. I'm looking at trying to upgrade my seats to premium economy.

I'm nerdy and if you are reading this you are nerdy too about money.  You wouldn't be on this site if you didn't care or like to excel and plan your spending.

Anyway for years DH and I have a running excel spreadsheet of our car mileage.  We have price, miles driven, etc.  DH said it was so we could observe if a MPG thing happened then we'd know something was wrong with our cars. So I've been doing it since 2010 when we bought our subaru outback.  The car 14 years old is still being driven by my mom.  So any I decided I'll price my tracked PPG for the past 14 years.  Mind you it's a bit odd since it started on the east coast and has now landed on the west coast.  But it's been consistently a Costco fill up since we've always weirdly lived by costco.  Now we live about 1.5 miles ( I can walk there) and it's pretty much our closest grocery store.  Costco is always the cheapest gas and if you are on a roadtrip you can usually find them right off the highway.

6/12/2010 $2.74/gallon

6/12/2011 $3.84/gallon

6/14/2012 $3.60/gallon

6/15/2013 $3.52/gallon

6/19/2014 $3.66/gallon

6/11/2015 $2.54/gallon - last fill up on the east coast we left on epic road trip 7/3/2015 (recall photos???)

6/22/2016 $2.48/gallon - west coast and subaru legacy instead of outback

6/18/2017 $2.50/gallon

6/6/2018 $3.26/gallon

6/19/2023 $3.46/gallon

6/17/2020 $2.44/gallon

6/12/2021 $3.90/gallon

6/14/2022 $5.20/gallon

6/14/2023 $4.57/gallon

Now are heading into our annual check but last fill up?  4/24/2024 was $4.57/gallon.  

Do but we drive an annual average of around 9000 miles a year we have 80k miles in 9.5 years and our average miles per gallon?  24.519 mpg and average cost has been $0.14 cents per mile.  So about $1260 in gas per year average. Of course with prices much higher we are spending more.

This leads me into our pursuit of trying to figure out our next car, kwim?  You know our insurance debacle and garage door totalling our car.  Monday I'm finally dropping it off for "repairs" but I am pretty sure I'll be getting  call about it being totalled.  It has to be 80% of the value to be considered a total loss and that is like $12,800 our repairs are $12,300. So a sneeze and we're over the number.

Anyway just though you budget nerds would love this.