Dont know how to get around it

I just sat down this evening thinking how much it cost the wife and I to go to work a month! The number is bigger than I thought it would be but were spending ruffly 1300 month for us to have reliable transportation to go to work! Thats insurance oil changes license and vehicle payments! Now we both have decent paying jobs now! But 1300 month might need to start looking for jobs that pay less but closer to home! How do they expect people to get ahead? When vehicle prices are insane! Her car is 3 years old and my truck is 11! So I dont really think we can go and get older vehicles not in our rust out state of Pennsylvania! It just seems crazy on how we spend just to go to work!

Long commute distances waste both money and time. The risk of a crash is higher too. My auto insurance company has lower rates when I have a shorter commute. Sometimes there is no choice but to commute further.

There are some used car dealers from the Midwest that come to AZ in February and buy rust-free used vehicles. They buy enough to load a couple transports and take them back to the Midwest, where they sell pretty fast. They buy from private parties if they can and fill out the loads at the auto auctions.

Glad I am furnished with a company truck and all fuel is paid for. It's a 04 beat up F150, but it's reliable and does the job. Beats the wear and tear on my own truck. Especially since my commute is 60 mile round trip

You have my sympathy. Back when I quit my good job and started farming all the talk was how crazy I was. But we even made it through those years with the wife being a stay at home full time mother. Even back then we were defying the conventional wisdom of what could, or couldn't be done. I still think it's possible if a frugal lifestyle is acceptable. Whether it be a home, or farm, or even a business, if an individual can stay at or near home, and work to save, or even make some money, a second "job" might not be so necessary.

You could always do like me. My newest vehicle was made in 1999 and I spend every weekend working on cars.

Even though I walk to work my 2015 truck has got 16000 km on it since June . In some ways you can't get around the cost of transportation, unless you live in a urban area. Eben then , you would have to pay bus or subway fare. I do agree with living close to work to save money on gas , and time traveling but, only you can decide on whether you want to live in paradise or town.

Thats the thing your either working on them or making payments and if your making payments betime thier paid for thier junk!

i drive 75 miles one way thats 150 miles everyday april thru december mostly six days a week.i would love to work closer but i would probably have to move to town because i couldnt afford to live way out in the boonies so i guess im gonna keep driving
RICK

Have you considered dropping Collision and Comprehensive Insurance, particularly on the older car.
Also buy used cars south of the snow/salt belt.

A job that pays a little less but is closer to home will save a ton.
I used to drive 130 miles a day round trip until I found something closer.

That fixed the every other day gas fill-ups, every six week oil
changes and new tires once a year, but it didn't fix the problem
with financed vehicles and full coverage insurance premiums.

In my opinion, an 11 year old truck should not have a payment.
Neither should a 3 year old car.
Buy what you can pay cash for and drive it until it costs more
to fix per month than a payment or until it is no longer reliable.
Whichever comes first. Maintenance is obviously required.

Put the rest of the "payment" money away for when your furnace
breaks or you need to replace the current vehicle.
Soon you can buy a new vehicle and pay cash for that too.
If you don't mind the depreciation factor.

I know first hand that this is not as easily done as it is said,
especially if you have young kids or grandkids you want to spoil.
I found my answer to those issues in the mirror.
Your mileage may vary.

I read years ago that if you have medical insurance thru your job to drop it on your vehicle insurance. Also if you own a home and need to buy a car take out a home equity loan, it's tax deductible and you get a nice chunk in return when you do your taxes.

I worked construction 40 years, closest job was 5 miles farthest was over 100 both one way. On the longer rides you have to weigh the cost of driving or finding a place to stay cheap. Also how long the job will last. Always carpooled as much as I could and stayed some times. It was always fun to put in 10 or 12 hours to get 8. Been retired 9 years with a good pension so was worth it, I think. joe

well the War Dept does a ton of driving for her job now that they gave her two more countys to work . Her trusty old 2003 Dodge Durango with almost 220000 miles on it just started giving us some problems and it was not something i was going to be able to fix in one day or even two . SO i had been looking since April for something and i found two One at a dealership that i liked , drove it it was nice but it had lots of stuff that we really did not need , the miles were good and they had been setting on it for a good while . Well my BUDDY said he could get me a good deal YEa sure , when they got done playen with the figures they were wright back to the org asking price . Nope you come down 1500 and i'll come up Nope they would not budge So that is two deals that they Blew and are still chewing on them .as of Dec. 26 this year they still were setting on a car that my daughter tryed to buy off them that had been setting since the 2015 came out So now they can chew on both of them . Well i found a 2013 Dodge Avenger with good miles made a resonable offer and the guy took the deal . So i saved over 7 grand . Now the best part is that now with all the miles she puts on she is now doing it with less then 15 gallon of gas verses the 40-45 gallon a week that the Durango used . Now you talk about Costing to diver for work think about how much we went thru each week when gas was 3.60-85 a gallon .The gas savings alone will more them make the payment as long as gas stays down we MIGHt i say might catch up .

I consider my self lucky. I was driving 70 mi. a day on 3-4 dollar gas when I hit 30 years. Quit good paying job and picked one up 5 mi from home for 10 an hour. Now I weld some. Fabricate some. Work most days but can get off by just asking, not having to schedule it 6mo. in advance. The land and cows I invested in over the years pay for the wife's car and I'm not on the road near as much. What made it possible was the retirement health care that the union got me. And the 401k I got into years ago. Dont forget to pay the pig. ;')

I retired in 2001. What I really noticed was how much money I was saving from just going to work. Food, clothes, gas, vehicle maintenance,etc. Guess is was something I just never thought off. I told a friend of mine about that that was thinking about retiring and he thought I was crazy. Later after he retired he said he was wrong. So yes you do spend a lot of money just to go to work every day. Rich people will tell you that you have to spend money to make money. Guess that's what you are doing. Have a good day. Norm

I was working in a cabinet shop,it was a little over 30 miles one way. I made about 2 dollars an hour more and I always had at least 5 to 10 hours of over time and I was on day shift . I took a job with the school system doing custodial work. two bucks an hour less,and no overtime,and Im still money ahead not driving as much. I cant imagine how those poor dudes in california that are commuting an hour each way can stand it.I guess sometimes if a person is willing to settle for a bit less you can still come out ahead

5000 miles a month. Like clockwork. In a truck that's 5 years old and just turned over 300,000 miles. With a 5.7L engine. Gasser. I learned this from the great Capt A Hazard who always drove the biggest Cadillac on the market. His Motto: "Let'r Suck!". (;>))

(quoted from post at 20:41:02 01/11/16) I just sat down this evening thinking how much it cost the wife and I to go to work a month! The number is bigger than I thought it would be but were spending ruffly 1300 month for us to have reliable transportation to go to work! Thats insurance oil changes license and vehicle payments! Now we both have decent paying jobs now! But 1300 month might need to start looking for jobs that pay less but closer to home! How do they expect people to get ahead? When vehicle prices are insane! Her car is 3 years old and my truck is 11! So I dont really think we can go and get older vehicles not in our rust out state of Pennsylvania! It just seems crazy on how we spend just to go to work!

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What makes you think "they" either want you to "get ahead' or care one way or the other if you don't? What "they" care about is you paying taxes and voting for them. That's all "they" care about.