Should I keep it?

[BurghRunner]

My 4Runner is actually my wife's truck. I have a company car (pretty permanent situation, but limited use - back and forth to work). I also have a 2008 VW GTI.

I love the GTI. It has been a great car - 0 problems at 24,900 miles. Since getting the company car again 5 months ago, I have put less than a couple hundred miles on the GTI. It is paid for, but just sitting in my garage. My revelation today was that it is just depreciating. In addition, my second job seems to be keeping my 2.5 year old son away from it while he is swinging swords and throwing matchbox cars.

Should I keep it?

 

[Buck87]

I had a turbo golf that I bought with 30,000 mi that I finally sold with 60000 mi because it was a money pit.
Love my Accuras and my Toyotas, but I kinda miss my mechanic.

 

[Uneek]

Since it's paid off, I would keep it, unless your company car allows for personal use... like mine. I don't have a company car, but they are totally open and we're told the technology assigned to us can be for personal use.

It's nice to have a fun to drive car and another alternative.

 

[JohnsD90]

Get another car, as your job may be secure today but you never know, and its kinda nice to have a car for yourself at all times as opposed to sharing 1 car with the wife, given that you lost the job. But yes maybe a car that you wont lose much money on if it sits with little use is better than a car losing money not being driven, might i suggest an 05.5 GTI if you want to keep the same kinda car.

 

[peter78]

It is nice to have an extra car. My family has three cars. One car does tend to get driven less though. The GTI is a highly desirable car and being a 2008, it is quite new. If I was in your situation, I might consider selling the car, being so new, the biggest cost is depreciation. With my third car, it is old and has very little depreciation, plus I have no collision coverage.

If your job is stable and you use the company car, I might consider selling the VW and then maybe look for an older car that you like, but I wouldn't rush it, maybe, just maybe, you will find you can live with just 2 cars.

 

[Thai]

My 4Runner is actually my wife's truck. I have a company car (pretty permanent situation, but limited use - back and forth to work). I also have a 2008 VW GTI.

I love the GTI. It has been a great car - 0 problems at 24,900 miles. Since getting the company car again 5 months ago, I have put less than a couple hundred miles on the GTI. It is paid for, but just sitting in my garage. My revelation today was that it is just depreciating. In addition, my second job seems to be keeping my 2.5 year old son away from it while he is swinging swords and throwing matchbox cars.

Should I keep it?

My situation was similar to yours. My wife drives the Acura. I had a 2004 Mercedes G500. My family car is the Toyota Sienna (minivan). I was driving the minivan to work daily. My G500 just sat in the garage collecting dust. Since i have been busy with work AND (like you) have young toddlers (2.5 and 1 years old), i just did not have time to go off-roading. The G500 was a gas guzzler. So, i had to drive to work only once per week to keep the oil running...and at 14 mpg (max) on the highway, it drank a lot of premium gas on my commute (70 miles roundtrip). At the same time, my G500 has depreciated from MSRP $78k (new in 2004) to $26,500 (April 2010). My brother traded in his 2001 Lexus LX470 just a few months before for a mere $11k. What was the point of keeping it if i am not going to use it for its intended purpose because the other uses (mall crawling for example) for the G500 is so wasteful?? So, the G500 was just sitting there and losing value, esp. if gas prices climb. In addition, i wanted something more efficient (cheaper on gas) to use to commute to work. I had to keep the minivan because of the kids. So, i sold my G500 and got a Prius for commute. My minivan is now a weekend car.

For me, if you're not driving the GTI and you don't care about image (midlife crisis, sports car love, etc.), then yeah, getting rid of it now rather than later will get more money. But make sure that you won't miss it too much, which usually equates to spending more money down the road to get another one. And i agree with Peter, having an extra car in the house makes life easier. For example, my wife today took the minivan to work so that i can bring the Acura in for service. Or if one of our cars breakdown, then we won't have to miss work or call in late.

Good luck.

 

[BurghRunner]

Thanks for all the responses. It seems to be a conflict of knowing it is losing value vs. needing an additional car for some reason later and spending more than I got for the VW.

How I do wish that I was sometimes not a "car guy". These decisions are much easier without emotion involved.

 

[JohnsD90]

Thanks for all the responses. It seems to be a conflict of knowing it is losing value vs. needing an additional car for some reason later and spending more than I got for the VW.

How I do wish that I was sometimes not a "car guy". These decisions are much easier without emotion involved.

The Golf R32 is a good investment car, as i know the 04 R32's are still close too original MSRP, the 08 R32 shouldnt be much different, but thats only if you are really interested in another VW.

 

[Sama]

If it means much, my husband has a 1984 Rabbit [how many names do you think they'll give these little cars over the years?] and it's still running strong a quarter-century later. No idea how many miles it's gone - the odometer is broken and has said something like 94K since, when, 2004? Aaanyway, you never know, maybe your little man will drive it one day. =)

 

[Chef-j]

If buyer willing to pay for what the car value, I will sell it. That's just me.

 

[philsey]

.......Should I keep it?

Guess my question would be "why"?

Cost of tags, insurance, space in the garage. Me, I don't keep stuff I don't really need. You can always buy another car.

The biggie for me would be how secure I was with the job/company car.

Secure = sell it.
Not so secure = keep it.