Of course it doesn't pen out if you're only driving 8k a year - but what if you're driving 24K a year?
The other thing to consider - if you drove the truck you'll have to put tires on it too (same as changing the oil) - tires for MOST cars are lot cheaper than those that go on a truck.
24,000 miles a year at 27 MPG -vs 12 MPG. Annual fuel cost for car (at $3 per gallon) $2666 - annual fuel cost for the the pickup $6000. Fuel savings of $3,334 per year. On the maintenance side you actually save money since you're putting CHEAPER tires on the car and they'll probably last longer then they would on a pickup. Oil changes (every 3000 miles in a car or pickup) will be cheaper on a 5 quart oil pan car instead of a 6 quart (or more) oil pan pickup.
The cost of the car, tags and insurance are "true" increases in the cost of ownership but the rest are dependant upon miles - miles that would be driven in either the pickup or the car - not both at the same time. I'll use $4000 for the car, $720 a year insurance and tags of $60. Four years gas savings = $13,336. Cost of owning the car 4 years $7,120.00. Take care of the car and sell it for $1400 and you true cost is $5,720 for 4 years. You are $7616 ahead owning the car. Not to mention how much more your truck is worth if it has 100,000 LESS miles when 5 years old. On most pickups that would easily be another $5,000 in increased value. Or instead of trading your truck every 5 years you trade it every 10 years - thats $10,000 or $15,000 in additional savings.
You maintenance numbers shouldn't be used because if you're driving the car you not paying for maintenance on the vehicle that's sitting.
I do agree that you won't get much of car at $2000, but if you spent $4000 you could get a pretty decent vehicle. I just bought a 2000 Mercury Sable with 73K miles and it averages the 27 MPG that I used above. If you wanted to go cheaper with better mileage you'd be looking at Neon, a ZX2 or a Cavaler with same mileage and a little better mileage.
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