26 Miles

I’m Not Taking It Anymore!

// August 18th, 2005 // Life

Gas prices finally pushed me over the edge.

Yesterday I traded my 17 MPG 2001 Ford F-150 SuperCrew truck for a 26 MPG 1999 Mazda Protege ES. It had low miles for the age and was pretty clean. The Mazda Protege has been a Consumer Reports Recommended Buy for many years now and has a stellar reliability and consumer satisfaction rating.

Sure, I could have bought a 34 MPG Honda Civic, but I couldn’t find one in comprable condition with as few miles as this one for less than $5000 more than I paid for the Protege…and $5000 buys a lot of gas.

Gas prices near my house hit $2.63/gallon yesterday. At those prices, and given the lower payment by moving to a cheaper car with cheaper insurance, I stand to save over $1800/yr in total cost of ownership over my truck. For a vehicle that’s primarily used to get me between my 42-mile-roundtrip work commute four days a week (for family outings we use our 24 MPG 2003 Toyota Highlander), I can certainly live with that.

It’s the second car I’ve bought from CarMax and I continue to recommend them highly if you’re looking to sell your car or buy a used car. They make it all very straightforward and easy. There’s no haggling on either end. The price is marked, take it or leave it. Their prices are pretty competitive. They don’t sell lemons and provide free AutoCheck reports. They also have a 5-day no-questions-asked return policy and a 30-day limited warranty. You can also purchase an extended warranty should you choose. If you’re selling your car, they’ll appraise it and make you an offer that’s good for 7 days or 300 miles.

I’ve bought two new cars from traditional dealers and working with traditional car dealer finance people is akin to a short walk through hell. I always felt like I needed to rush home and shower after dealing with those slimebags.

With CarMax, my experience has been excellent both times.