Cheapest Transportation in FL

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greenleaves

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Jan 25, 2008
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First off; thank you to those who helped me find awesome areas in FL. I'm in the process of apartment/housing hunting. I should be done with that soon.

I'm now on to a vehicle.

I want the cheapest possible transportation. By cheap, I don't mean a $1000 car that will cost $10k/year to maintain. I mean, cheap total/mile or /day cost after depreciation, maintenance, gas, insurance, etc.

I'm considering either buying a new/dealer pre-owned car (that is no more than 1-2 years old, I want to drive under warranty and give it up before it expires) or possibly leasing. Within the leasing world, there are two options, leasing directly, or getting something from a site like leasingtrader.com

For cash flow purposes, I'd rather lease (if a black swan hits my biz, I don't want to have to take out a $13k loan after I just plunked down $13k for a new car; especially at the point where I'm at now in my biz; which is investing heavily in inventory (ecom))

I'm a gay webmaster, so I'm not going to be traveling a lot; likely less than 12,000 miles per year (I'd rather fly if I'm going anywhere for fun)

So... anyone got any suggestions? I see good deals on leasing, but I'm put off by all the fine print. I don't want to go into something that will cost more than I budget. Anyways; any suggestions, anecdotes, personal experiences or ass pics (I'm looking at you suddenly ass) are more than welcome.
 


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Depending on the part of Florida...

1. A scooter (be careful during rainy season though - but as a gay webmaster, you can just stay indoors when it rains).

2. Swapalease.com / Offleaseonly.com are other viable options.
 
Ford Focus?

If you moved to Lauderdale then just hang out at the beach and Hooters with flip flops 300 days a year. Dont stop on Sebasitan Ave....
 
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I wouldn't worry about warranty too much. Modern cars (barring some manufacturing defect) are pretty reliable up to 100k miles with no maintenance other than oil changes. Get the newest, most low mileage car you can reasonably afford without putting your business at risk. Something low end. Honda Civic, Ford Focus, etc. Then stash another $2-3k away just in case something goes wrong.

Leasing is great if you have a ton of cash flow and plan to trade the car every 2-3 years on something newer. Otherwise it sucks.

If you have to lease put absolutely nothing down. You lose it all if the car gets totaled in some way (hurricane force winds blow a tree on it).
 
The average car on the road is now 11 years old. So pretty much a bunch of 2002 models with some going back as far as 1992 and as early as 2010-2012.

The average cost is $4k a year in upkeep ( not gas and wash, but maintenance ) on that 11 year old car.

Id hit 2 options:

1. Lease it thru your biz. With this, you can take the entire amount of the lease payment off in taxes per month. You cant get this just outright buying a car in the biz name, or just doing the mileage deductions. Skip paying the government their part and put it in a lease ( full amount ).

2. Buy an older car ( or 2 ) if your worried about issues. One of the best things I ever did was buy 1 extra car then I needed. No, Im not talking a new car either. Go buy yourself a used Honda Civic for cheap ( easy on gas generally, easy to work on too IF you need to or if a mechanic has to ) and then go buy another even older car and let it sit in the driveway. Make sure this other car is cheap as hell so your not wasting money on insurance, parts, and taxes. My "emergency" car use to be a 1964 Impala that prob. got used 4-5 times a year. I dont have an emergency car now, but Im looking to get an old Ford F150 just for this. With this method, your never out a ride ever and not much in $$$ either.

Plenty of dealers can get you a junker for $500 at the auto auctions, just slip them a couple $100 bills for the trouble. If you only have to use it 2-3 times a year, you will be glad you did. If you get sick of it at some point, put it on Craigslist and get your money back out of it. Now you have it when you need it, and are out almost no money.
 
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