Euro Motorworks

Janis Joplin sang, “O Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz.” These days it seems only the Good Lord could afford one. At least that’s the perception. When you factor in the total cost of ownership as well as all the factors like personal satisfaction, peace-of-mind, confidence, etc… it could be that owning a nice European made car is actually a bargain.

Granted, if you are buying a new Benz every two or three years then that entirely negates the argument. It doesn’t take much to get to a $100,000 price tag with these beauties.

My education on this principle came when I read a book that was popular a few years ago, The Millionaire Next Door. In this book, the author advised buying used, late model premium vehicles like a Mercedes Benz or Volvo. These cars tend to have a long life when well maintained. If you can drive a car for twenty years it’s not hard to see that your average cost per year for a vehicle comes way down.

Obviously, it means you have to purchase a quality vehicle to begin with. Not to knock American-made cars but let’s be real. You aren’t likely to be able to get twenty years of driving out of Chevy Aveo regardless of how religiously you stick to a service schedule. How many 1990 Ford Escorts do you see on the road these days?

Some people are averse to buying a used car. So be it. But when you let someone else absorb the depreciation it makes much more sense. With the economy as bad as it has been there will be a lot of high end cars on the market recently orphaned. As it is with real estate - it’s a buyer’s market right now.

You’ll still have to do a little homework to research what particular models offer the best value and have reported the least amount of problems. Again, keep the long term in mind. A few weeks of research is nothing compared to the satisfaction of driving a luxury car for twenty years. Heck, you might even be able to hand this car off to one of your grandkids.

Budgeting for repairs and routine service work will still be necessary. Maintenance isn’t cheap on European cars. Keep in mind that cheap isn’t the same thing as value. Every time you put new tires on or have the car serviced it’s going to be a little painful to the wallet. Again, it’s important to consider the total cost of ownership not just one repair or oil change. Don’t be shortsighted.

Saving some money by learning to do a few things yourself is an option. It’s important not to bite off more than you can chew. Paying for a tow truck to haul your do-it-yourself project to the garage will definitely eat up all your savings. But changing the oil, bulbs, windshield wipers, and other similar small jobs is very doable. Besides, you might as well get to know the car you’re going to be driving for the next decade or two.

“Worked hard all my life,” Janice sang. Put your hard earned money to good work. Get a long term perspective on car ownership. And by all means, if all your friends drive Porsches, get some new friends who drive an old Mercedes-Benz.

Tags: Auto Repair Indianapolis, auto service indianapolis, mercedes-benz repair

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 10:59 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.