Anyone care to suggest a car for me?

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I pay about $1,600 per year for full insurance.

How much is it in Canada?

wow in light of those expen$es, I wonder if prevailing wages are higher up there [compared to south of the border] in compensation for that?

No. They're typically lower in most industries. Plus we have some of the most expensive real estate on the face of the earth, which is making the working class truly the working class poor due to high housing costs. We have the 2nd least affordable real estate on the planet. You get that by having high prices coupled with low local incomes = unaffordable.

Yet.. we stay. Because this place!

i'd still trade places with you in a heartbeat. there must be rural places that are about as cheap relative to the big city you live in, as Shelton WA. would be relative to Seattle whose cost of living is roughly 4 times that of Shelton.

Ummm, Canada is a huge country. Insurance rates are different in every Province & Territory. Different systems & calculations. Some have government run insurance monopolies, others have private corporations, some have a lot of competition.. some are used as tax collection centres etc. Prices vary.

Also, no one could give you an insurance quote with the lack of information you provided - ie what your policy is as "full insurance." Chances are that it would cost more almost anywhere in Canada, though. We have 1/10th the population of the USA, so prices of pretty much everything are higher.

"Full insurance" here in BC is going to vary based on the car, driver's discount level etc. Could be $3600, could be ~$2K.. depends. More if someone has a surcharge due to accident claims.

Ever thought about leasing a car?

If you have decent credit, you could pay about $200 a month or less

am pretty sure leases demand full-ride insurance rather than the liability he likely is using.

Nope.

I was bankrupt a few years ago, so that's still on my credit report for another 4 years.

There are very few leases under $200/month here, and most of those would require a few thousand dollar downpayment. Besides that, leases that cheap wouldn't include milage allowances high enough for how much I drive and I'd end up paying $$$ at the end for the extra depreciation on the car.

And yeah, insurance would be a lot more expensive, too. probably more than $2K/year with my 35% discount.

I don't have credit, but I do have cash. If I wanted a new car I could have just gone and bought a brand new car. But money is for other bigger long term goals, not to be wasted on a new car I don't Need (which would depreciate a lot very quickly) and that's why I just bought the best fuel efficient cheap to insure $1K car I could find.

The only time leasing would likely really make sense is in the future when I have a business of my own again. Tax laws here make new car leases a 100% tax deduction write off vs. only a % of purchased vehicles. So, at that time I might consider it. Otherwise I'll just continue to pay cash for whatever car meets my needs and then drive it 'til the wheels fall off (or I need something different) while I continue saving money for bigger better things than cars.

I understand your reasoning.

My little Mariokart 1990 Honda Civic is still going.. buuuut, you never know, maybe not for long.

I've put 21K kms on it in ~6 months. I had to replace the battery and alternator, but otherwise it's just gas and oil... a lot of oil lol. When oil was on sale I bought 4 5L jugs of 10-40 because it burns it like a 2-stroke. Whenever I accelerate hard there's a black cloud of oil smoke spewing out of the (broken lol) exhaust. The valve seals and/or rings are shot, so the engine could pack it in any time. It could also last for years like this. It's not worth repairing vs. replacing the engine. I won't likely have the engine replaced if it dies. The body is in excellent shape, so, if it dies I'll just sell it as is and take a small hit on it I think & then let someone else drop another engine in it and have a car to drive. The only way I'd pay for an engine swap is if it was going to make me money on the sale - which is unlikely.

I'm hoping it lasts at least the Winter & then I'll buy something a little better next Spring. But IF it dies I'll have no choice but to go buy something to get around. Chances are that I'll buy the best hatch/wagon car available for ~$1000cdn again, but still it's kinda fun to think about options so figured I'd bump this thread. Same criteria as before, same low dough budget - what would you consider buying as a replacement if Mariokart packs it in?

If you get a Jeep, just make sure you check to see where the gas tank is located and that the power windows go up and down. I'd give anything to go back to the non-powerless windows and I refuse to get a crappy looking trailer hitch installed just so I won't blow up! They can kiss my patooty!

Love or hate 4chan, they have good product suggestions (When the users aren't suggesting you buy stuff to kill yourself with) lol

Might not be your first car but still, these suggestions don't seem bad.

^ Some of the suggestions in that list seem pretty good... others not so much. There's a few in that list that are known to be money pits, so not sure why they'd make the cut. There are a few more that are massive gas guzzlers, so are only really good reco's where gasoline is cheap cheap. Yes, I know it's an American list and gas is cheaper there. Also, the list is $5000USD & under - $5K USD is $6580CDN and cars tend to cost more here, so probably more like ~$8K CDN.

Should my car crap out any time soon I'll probably replace it with something around the $1000cdn mark again. Because I'm cheap and money is for other goals. Also, there's a very fun sense of freedom driving a cheap beater.. I drive it up on curbs to get around things, I drive it through muddy off road areas on construction sites, I drove it through a giant pile of leaves last week I never worry about anyone scratching the paint etc. It's like Biggie said, "Mo' money mo' problems.." if you drive something worth enough money to worry about it's a waste of energy, IMO. Well, at this stage of the game, anyways. I'll drive something respectable once life/work/business dictates that I need to make a better first impression when I show up somewhere. Until then, as long as I'm punching a clock working for The Man, then F it - Mariokart'll do. Plus it gets my kites and boards and things to the beach just fine.. although there is water pooling on the floor and if I don't find and fix the leak soon then I'm going to have to drill some holes in the floor.

Speak of the devil.. Mariokart may have just died it's final death.. funny noise starting this morning, defrost fan wouldn't turn on, opened the window - thought the sound was coming from the exhaust.. put it in drive, moved a couple feet, still no fan.. put it back in park and the noise came back.. popped the hood, got out, opened it just in time to hear a *Snap* and see a puff of smoke rise up from the engine bay.. and now it won't start. I'm pretty sure that's not good. Hmmm

Having a coffee and a laugh, gonna call my uncle and confirm it's toast vs. a cheap fix, then either fix it asap or go buy another beater like today.

My thought process of the moment is that if the car's toast AND the guy selling the nice truck will let it go for the right price so there's pretty much no way I can lose on it, then I might just have myself a nice truck in the very near future.. It's the nicest most expensive vehicle I'm considering on craigslist right now at an asking price of $8000cdn. The ad's only been up for 4 days so chances are it's still for sale.. higher mileage, but well maintained & looks great. If my car's done AND this truck is good AND I can get it for $7K or less then I don't really think I could lose on it. Also, beaters have been costing me ~$1500/year and a $7K truck isn't going to depreciate even $1500/year.. and running on dual fuel propane/gas it won't cost much more for fuel than my civic did. If the numbers add up and the stars align I might even have myself a truck by the end of the day.

This is the truck in question:

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rds/cto/5818077284.html

Or for a little less money and and a lot lower kms there's this:

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/bnc/cto/5785529723.html

Practical, like my civics, just not very "trucky." hmmm

There's another 1990 civic.. 5spd - buuuuut, 26 years old still.

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/rds/cto/5819812882.html

Or there's something middle of the line practical and newerish like this awd vibe:

http://vancouver.craigslist.ca/pml/cto/5813471621.html

hmmmmm

It was just the starter motor. My uncle guided me through the replacement. Cost $108.14.

..but then I got an unexpected bill in the mail for $930 :/ ouch. Ah well, at least my stocks went up today! But too bad my bid was too low to buy more before it spiked up.. Hmmm, I really should do my back taxes and get my tax returns this Winter - then I'll have cash sitting at home to buy another car whenever this one does call it quits for good.