A Necessary Evil

Well nearly everyone wants a new car but who looks at the after effect of buying one. Who looks at the after effect of buying anything? Not my wife that's for sure, the only thing she thinks about is 'oh crap what is Tim going to say'. No really she is gorgeous she just loves to buy presents :-)
 
I now work in the motor industry and would make the worst car salesman ever! I see people every day making awful financial decision without them even realizing it. Now I'm by no way having a go at anyone as when I was a young lad did exactly the same thing myself. However I have studied into the temptation of buying that new car and what the costs really are and was hoping to share with anyone willing to listen,

Here is my first example:
I have a 2001 Nissan patrol 3ltr turbo diesel. I bought it nearly 5 years ago for $30,000 a very good price through my uncle at the current car dealership im working in. 
Now at the time of purchase I was using this vehicle as a work car for my financial planning duties with BT Financial Group traveling thousands of km every month around the top end of Australia. Now my repayments on the car are about $500 a month so over 12 months my repayments alone cost me $6,000 annually and over 5 years that's $30,000. Now when I took out a loan for the car I took what they call a Balloon payment at the end to keep my payments down and my intentions were to trade it in on another vehicle every 5 years. So my balloon payment is $12,000 at the end of the contract. Now the trade in value of this car is going to go close to that and I may need to pay an extra 1 or 2 thousand difference, however my point is after this time we still own nothing! Just paid out over $30,000 and really don't have anything physical to show for it.
 
A mate of mine at work bought a RallyArt Lancer last year against my advice and he will pay in excess of $62,000 for it after the 5 years, and will have a car lucky to be worth $15,000. I had explained this to him before he purchased it but he was stuck in the emotion of the new car experience and regrets it now. ''Man, I should have listened to you' were his exact words
Cars really are a money pit but keep reading and I'll explain the necessary evil of a car. I'll discuss  my experience in second hand cars and discuss cars that fit your lifestyle. Let me know if you have any questions.