Prius Math

Man, owning a car sucks. It's so damned expensive. I've had my 2006 Prius for ~18 months now, and I just pieced this all together...

So, as of today, the Kelly Blue Book Private Party Good Condition value of the Prius is $21840. There’s an additional $1500 for the extended warranty (from 3->7 years), and another $500 for the value of the Lojack. So that comes to a total value of $23840.

Sadly, if I paid it off today, it would cost me $22804.81. So I’d net about $1000, minus the $8000 I’ve lost since I bought it for $32k, minus the ~$3600 I’ve spent on insurance, minus the ~$1000 I’ve spent on repairs and maintenance. Ah well. I guess in the end it’s only cost me ~$650/month to own, plus gas costs.

Dear god that’s a lot of money. That doesn't include costs to park the thing, which since moving to SF I've been doing for free at my friends' place in Mtn View. Given that I'm traveling 4 days a week to San Diego, and most wknds I don't use it... It costs me at LEAST $100/day to drive on the days that I actually drive it. And that's not including gas.

So yeah... definitely time to sell it. I could do wknd rentals with Avis for FAR cheaper than the cost of car ownership. Especially if I charge those rentals to my employer, in lieu of taking cabs to/from the airport. ;)

So... say buh-bye to the Prius! Unless you want to buy it off me for roughly $23.5k. =D