save for car or go on ski trip?

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I'm agonizing over this choice right now: should I continue to save for a car, or go on my local university's ski trip, recuperate my spent money and save for a car later?

A little background info for consideration:

I managed to save $2500 cutting grass this past summer but since spent ~$1500 on a PC and other things. I had no choice regarding the PC, my laptop went into a permanent sleep. I haven't worked for pay since going back to school in September, but voluntarily work at an engine machine shop and (involuntarily) as a ski instructor at my local hill (read: ditch). The machine shop isn't allowed to hire me until March and the best cheque I can hope for from instructing is $150.

Anyways, the ski trip is $640 for travel to Kicking Horse, room and 4 days of skiing. Now I live in the Canadian prairies, where my ski hill of work/play is our city's floodway ditch (that alone should give away which city I live in), so a trip to BC is a big deal; I had the best time of my life on last year's trip to Fernie.

As for the car, I was planning to save for a 1999 Subaru Legacy touring wagon, imported from Japan through a trusted broker. I was planning to save ~$5000, as that was the estimated price for it after the car would land in Vancouver/clear customs/bought all necessary DOT parts for passing safety. It was going to be a joint saving venture between my brother and I.

I'm leaning towards ski trip, as I can always save for a car later...

I would continue saving for the car.

Do you have a reason as to why? Couldn't I just save for it later, and take the ski trip? On the other hand, would saving for the car first, then going on the ski trip next year be just as feasible?? I fear any extraneous expenses I might run into/haven't accounted for, which could leave me financially strained.

When you have a car, you have freedom. Without a car, you are, potentially, a slave for the whims of a person who owns a car.

I think this is a difficult choice, in part because you are a ski instructor.

Obviously, skiing is a big part of your life. Do you have any aspirations at all to increase your involvement in a ski instruction capacity? Would more experience/meeting more people/seeing a new ski resort via this trip help you do that?

Cars do not last forever. The engine eventually fails or the bodies rust out. That is not to say that a car is not a good long-term investment. But, once one has a car, there is the cost of gas, maintenance, and insurance, and other fees that one must consider. Do you/will you have the money to take care of those things if you are not working during the school year?

On the other hand, the memories made from the ski trip do last a lifetime and that can be priceless.

However, skiing always involves risk.

How badly do you need a car? Can you walk, bike, or use public transportation to get where you need to go? Yes, those are less convenient and less comfortable, but can provide other benefits, like saving money over driving and providing more opportunity for exercise.

There's a freedom of going where you want when you want, but when one is out of school and living an "adult life" tied to the schedule of a job, etc. there's not much opportunity to just get away when you want. And, if you are not paying your own housing bills now, that will come up some day and you won't necessarily have money to just go off on a skiing trip, and you may not have a group of people to go with.

That is another thing to consider - will going on this ski trip help any relationships you might have or want to have?

I lean toward going on the ski trip.

Depends.

Do you Need a car by a certain date? Have you made a commitment to your brother to have the money saved by a certain date?

Do you have any other savings? You mentioned that going on the ski trip and not accounting for unforeseen expenses could leave you financially strained. Might not be the wisest to go skiing and leave yourself flat broke… but then again, I've done things like that in the past and am still here now!

IF I didn't Need a car asap AND it wouldn't leave me Mr. Noodles broke, I'd probably going on the Uni ski trip vs. possibly regret not going later on. I once read that those who live it up and party a bit during their college years, even if done on student loans/credit, have fewer financial regrets about it than those who pinch pennies and come out of Uni with lower debt as you can always make more money but can't replace those good times with friends.

As for a 1999 Subaru Legacy.. I had a 2000 Legacy Outback Limited - very comfy car.. but man did a lot of stuff break on it. Looked good, but it cost me a lot in repairs the year or so I owned it. Could have just been a bit of a lemon. Bringing it in through Japanoid? Or some other Vancouver broker?

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No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

In May we were in Sicily, we arrived at Trapani, the car was waiting for us at the airport. It was already dark, the distributor filled in the surname and driving license number in the receipt and gave us the keys. We asked about insurance, he responded that ‘all was included.’ We asked about car defects, but he gave up and left. In the morning we looked at the car in daylight and understood there were many dents and scratches. What to do and where to run? If we had rented a car through the [url=https[/url] application,

Keep saving for the car, and keep the trip for a later date. You will enjoy your trip much more if you have your own car to drive.

The best thing you can do is return the car at the appointed time. If you don't, then you're really screwed.

Did you reserve the car with a credit card?

I don't think anything untoward is going to happen. But, perhaps, take pictures of the dents and scratches to protect yourself.

Years ago I use to buy car magazines and drool over the beautiful cars. Then I figured out that these magazines were expensive. So I stopped buying the car magazines and instead pocketed the money and after a few years bought a car.

Anyways my suggestion is go with the car.