Every article, in one place.

100 pieces on what cars really cost: budgeting, borrowing, insurance, running costs, leasing, and buying and selling.

By subject

A to Z

• 36, 48, 60, 72, 84 months: one loan, five terms

  The same $28,000 loan at five lengths, side by side, with the case made at the foot of each column.

  Borrowing

• A car budget for a college student

  Four semesters of car costs laid out side by side, with the lumpy months marked and a way to fund them.

  Budgeting

• A car budget when a baby arrives

  Every line of an illustrative car budget, before the baby and after, and why each one moves or stays put.

  Budgeting

• Adding a driver to your policy

  Six illustrative households, one new driver each, and what adding that person tends to change on a car policy.

  Insurance

• Asking for the out-the-door price

  From the advertised price to the total you pay, one step at a time, and how to get that total in writing.

  Buying & Selling

• Before you co-sign a car loan

  Co-signing, set out as numbered I-understand-that clauses, each with a plain explanation.

  Borrowing

• Budgeting for a teenager behind the wheel

  A letter to the parent of a new driver about the money: insurance, the car, and who pays for what.

  Budgeting

• Budgeting maintenance as a car ages

  A car's maintenance needs, told in four chapters, and how to budget each.

  Running Costs

• Building a car fund, envelope by envelope

  Five envelopes, five sinking funds, and a plain method for deciding how full each should be.

  Budgeting

• Buy here, pay here lots, examined

  Seven claims from the banners on a buy here, pay here lot, and what each one usually means once you sign.

  Borrowing

• Buying your leased car vs another used one

  What you already know about the car you lease, set against what you would have to guess about someone else's.

  Leasing

• Car costs in retirement

  A composite couple in three scenes: the last working year, the first retired year, and a decade on.

  Budgeting

• Car costs on an irregular income

  Lean month, normal month, flush month: a playbook of car-cost rules for incomes that won't sit still.

  Budgeting

• Car expenses and taxes: the basics

  Who each car-and-tax situation applies to, what's involved, and exactly where to check the current rules.

  Running Costs

• Car title loans

  A car title loan, read like the warning label on a box: contents, directions, side effects, alternatives.

  Borrowing

• Choosing a deductible: the break-even arithmetic

  Premium saved per year against extra cost at a claim, worked out as years to break even.

  Insurance

• Dealer service or independent shop

  Dealer or independent shop? Nine criteria scored, and how to weight them.

  Running Costs

• Depreciation, the bill that never arrives

  Depreciation never sends a bill. One curve shows what it costs anyway.

  Running Costs

• Ending a lease early

  The ways out of a car lease before the end date, and how each one is priced.

  Leasing

• Every line on a buyer's order

  The dealer's buyer's order, reproduced line by line: what each entry means and whether you can negotiate it.

  Buying & Selling

• Excess wear and tear, and what gets charged

  A mock turn-in inspection sheet, zone by zone: what usually passes as normal wear and what gets billed.

  Leasing

• Extended warranty arithmetic

  What an extended warranty is worth on average, worked out line by line.

  Running Costs

• Filing a car insurance claim, hour by hour

  A composite incident log from the moment of impact to the settlement letter, with what to write down at each step.

  Insurance

• “Full coverage” isn’t a policy

  The phrase everyone uses for car insurance, taken apart into the coverages it bundles and the ones it leaves out.

  Insurance

• Gap coverage, and when it earns its keep

  A loan balance and a car value drawn on one chart, with the stretch where gap coverage matters shaded in.

  Insurance

• Getting paid safely when you sell privately

  Payment methods for a private car sale, ranked by risk to the seller, with handling notes for each.

  Buying & Selling

• Going down to one car

  Every consideration for selling the second car, placed on a two-pan scale, with the arithmetic for the priced ones.

  Budgeting

• Going over your lease miles

  A mileage projector for your lease, then what to do with the number it gives you.

  Leasing

• How a car lender reads your credit report

  Your credit report, one section at a time, and what a car lender is looking for in each.

  Borrowing

• How a lease payment is calculated

  Depreciation fee, rent charge, tax: a lease payment derived line by line, with one worked example.

  Leasing

• How an auto loan payment is built

  Same payment every month, a different mix inside it: interest versus principal, drawn to scale.

  Borrowing

• How big a car repair fund should be

  A three-layer method for sizing a repair fund from your own car's facts instead of a round number.

  Budgeting

• How interest rate moves change what you pay

  The same $28,000 loan at five rates: the payment bars barely move, the interest bars triple.

  Borrowing

• How much of your income a car payment should take

  Sixteen computed payments on a bar ladder, and the case for picking your percentage before anyone else does.

  Budgeting

• Insuring a leased car: a requirements checklist

  What a lease usually asks of your insurance, item by item, and where in the agreement to confirm each one.

  Insurance

• Is gap coverage already in your lease?

  Where to look in a lease contract for gap protection, and the exact words to search for.

  Leasing

• Lease or buy, six years out

  Leasing twice vs buying once, tracked year by year for six years, illustrative figures.

  Leasing

• Leasing vs buying an electric car: a debate

  Lease or buy an EV? Both sides make their case, rebut each other, and a referee sums up.

  Leasing

• Leasing when you drive a lot: the mileage math

  Higher allowance, overage charges or buying: one table, three annual mileages, illustrative rates.

  Leasing

• Liability limits, decoded

  What each number in 50/100/50 pays for, where it runs out, and who covers the rest.

  Insurance

• Loan-to-value on a car loan

  One ratio, what you owe against what the car is worth, read on a meter with zones marked.

  Borrowing

• Making the first offer

  A composite car negotiation, annotated line by line: what each move does, and why the first offer matters.

  Buying & Selling

• Money mistakes people make when buying a car

  Fifteen field notes, a paragraph apiece, on where car purchases go wrong with money.

  Buying & Selling

• New or three years old: the money

  Five years of owning a new car versus the same model at three years old, in one illustrative ledger.

  Buying & Selling

• Parking, tolls and the costs nobody counts

  One week of tolls, parking and small car costs, tallied and annualized.

  Running Costs

• Paying a car loan off early

  A decision tree for paying off a car loan early, opened one branch at a time.

  Borrowing

• Paying a private seller without getting burned

  Twelve side-by-side do and don't pairs for handing money to a private car seller.

  Buying & Selling

• Paying cash for a lease buyout, or financing it

  Ten if-then rules for paying cash or financing a lease buyout, each with the reasoning behind it.

  Leasing

• Paying cash or financing a car

  Cash or a car loan? Nine illustrative combinations of savings yield and loan rate, worked out properly.

  Buying & Selling

• Paying yourself a car payment

  A loan balance falling, a savings balance rising, the same monthly amount — and where the two lines cross.

  Budgeting

• Reading a retail installment contract

  A specimen car finance contract with numbered callouts, starting with the federal disclosure box.

  Borrowing

• Reading the fine print on a lease ad

  One illustrative lease ad, decoded line by line, from the headline payment to the last footnote.

  Leasing

• Registration, title and the other state fees

  Title, registration and the other government fees on a car, defined.

  Running Costs

• Residual value, explained

  A textbook buyback, told in full, then mapped onto the residual value in a car lease.

  Leasing

• Roadside help you may already be paying for

  An audit of the places roadside assistance hides, and a diagram of where they overlap.

  Insurance

• Rolling negative equity into the next car loan

  Three cars, one carried balance, climbing a step at every trade. An illustrated staircase.

  Borrowing

• Sales tax when you buy out a lease: what to ask

  Treatment varies by state. Ten questions that get you your state's actual answer.

  Leasing

• Selling a car you still owe on

  A flowchart for selling a financed car, including the branch where you owe more than it's worth.

  Buying & Selling

• Setting up a car budget spreadsheet

  Four tabs, every column and every formula, row by row — a car budget you build once and keep for years.

  Budgeting

• Shopping your car insurance at renewal

  A phone script for getting like-for-like quotes, and a sheet to compare three of them line by line.

  Insurance

• Should you buy out your lease?

  A checklist and an equity worksheet for deciding whether to buy your leased car.

  Leasing

• Sorting out the car after a separation

  Whose name is on the title, whose is on the loan: four combinations, and what each one means when a couple splits.

  Borrowing

• Splitting car costs as a couple

  50/50, by income, or by use: three ways to split a shared car's costs, run on one household.

  Budgeting

• Taking over someone else's lease

  A lease transfer, argued out between the person leaving and the person stepping in.

  Leasing

• The 20/4/10 rule, tested

  A popular car rule of thumb, run against five households. Two pass. The failures are more useful.

  Budgeting

• The add-ons that end up inside your car loan

  Eight common add-ons, each with two prices: the menu price and the financed cost.

  Borrowing

• The car bills that arrive once a year

  A year of irregular car bills on one calendar, and the arithmetic that turns them into one steady amount.

  Budgeting

• The car money glossary

  Loan, lease, insurance and ownership terms from car paperwork, defined in plain English, A to Z.

  Budgeting

• The car you can afford vs the car you're approved for

  A lender's yes and your own yes answer two different questions. An essay on the gap between them.

  Budgeting

• The disposition fee, examined

  The last charge on most leases: what it covers, when it applies, and how to stop it surprising you.

  Leasing

• The last 30 days of a lease, day by day

  A countdown checklist for a lease's final month, from the first decision to the signed return receipt.

  Leasing

• The lease payoff call, as a call log

  Every question for the payoff call, what to write down, and why each answer matters later.

  Leasing

• The money factor, and how to convert it

  A cut-out conversion card for lease money factors, then one quote converted and priced.

  Leasing

• The real per-mile cost of driving for a rideshare app

  One illustrative week of rideshare driving as a profit-and-loss statement, with the costs the payout screen leaves off.

  Running Costs

• The service menu, translated

  A quick-lube menu board, translated line by line against your manual.

  Running Costs

• The true cost of a free car

  An itemized receipt for a hand-me-down car's first year. The price line says zero. The total doesn't.

  Budgeting

• Three numbers to set before you shop

  A one-page card to fill in at home: all-in price, maximum payment, and the point where you leave.

  Buying & Selling

• Tires as a line item

  Turn one set of tires into a cost per mile and a monthly budget line.

  Running Costs

• Twelve questions before a lease buyout

  The twelve questions to answer before you buy your leased car, and why each one matters.

  Leasing

• Uninsured motorist coverage, in three crashes

  Three different collisions with three different at-fault drivers, and which of your coverages steps in for each.

  Insurance

• What a car loan preapproval actually is

  An imagined skeptic grills us on car loan preapprovals: what they promise, and what they don't.

  Borrowing

• What a car really costs per month

  A month of car debits as a bank statement, then what the statement quietly leaves out.

  Budgeting

• What a gas price change does to your month

  See what a pump price change costs your month, by mpg, in one grid.

  Running Costs

• What charging an EV at home costs

  Work out the monthly cost of charging an EV at home, step by step.

  Running Costs

• What happens if you miss a car payment

  Day 1 to day 90 after a missed car payment: how it usually escalates, and what to do at each stage.

  Borrowing

• What moves your premium at renewal

  The factors behind a car insurance renewal, sorted into the ones you can turn and the ones you can only watch.

  Insurance

• What moving to a new state does to your car costs

  A three-phase checklist for taking a car across state lines, and who to ask about each cost.

  Running Costs

• What your insurer pays when your car is totaled

  Actual cash value built step by step for an illustrative car, then the places the number can be questioned.

  Insurance

• When a cheap car turns out expensive

  Two illustrative cars raced over five years of repairs, fuel and resale: where the cheap one gets caught.

  Running Costs

• When dropping collision coverage makes sense

  One rule for deciding when collision coverage has outlived its use, tested on three cars of different values.

  Insurance

• When in the year cars cost less

  The car-buying year as a twelve-segment wheel, and the forces that tilt each season toward buyer or seller.

  Buying & Selling

• When money is tight: what to cut first

  Car costs ranked from cut freely to never cut, one rung at a time, with the reason each sits where it does.

  Budgeting

• When to trade in

  The money moments across a car's life, drawn as a timeline, and which ones make a trade-in sensible.

  Buying & Selling

• When you stop commuting: the car's first year

  Month by month through the first year after going remote: what falls, what creeps up, and what to call about.

  Running Costs

• When your leased car is worth more than the payoff

  One leased car, three markets: positive, flat and negative equity, each worked through.

  Leasing

• Why the day you pay your car loan can matter

  Simple interest on a car loan, one day at a time, and what paying early or late really moves.

  Borrowing

• Why your credit can affect your car insurance

  From credit file to premium, one link at a time, including where some states cut the chain.

  Insurance

• Year-end sales events: what they're worth

  Seven familiar year-end car ad claims, quoted, rated and assessed by a skeptic.

  Buying & Selling

• Your options at lease end

  Return, buy or trade: three doors at lease end, and the steps behind each one.

  Leasing

• Your real cost per mile

  A fill-in worksheet for your car's true cost per mile, with a worked example beside every line.

  Budgeting