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Oceania Life in America

Britsimon said:
Which means you'll drop about 25k in depreciation in 3 years... So - be prepared to keep that truck for along time to make it worthwhile (when the depreciation curve levels out.
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Sometimes we buy things just because we have wanted them for a loooong time, and not out of pure logic!
 
Britsimon said:
Which means you'll drop about 25k in depreciation in 3 years... So - be prepared to keep that truck for along time to make it worthwhile (when the depreciation curve levels out.
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Wow I didnt realize that the big ticket cars drop that much in a small time frame. I guess its the same with the smaller ones but it doesnt seem like as much of a drop.
 
Britsimon said:
Cheapie.

Leasing is basically you buying and financing the depreciation, plus interest and "rent charge". That's an OK idea if you can write of the lease on tax, but a bad idea if you can't. Just bought a Merc for example their lease residual value after three years is 53%. So basically I have to pay them for the 47% in the lease over that three years, plus the cost of the money and so on.
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Plus you are limited with the amount of miles you can use over the cost of a year right? Is leasing common in the United States?
 
SusieQQQ said:
I’m kind curious as to why many of these non-OC specific questions are here rather than in the general life after Dv thread? I mean I can understand things like tax issues etc being in an OC specific thread.... these kind of things like car and rental have been discussed already and makes sense to me to continue In same place? Of course you’re entitled to your own thread, just curious.
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I guess we just wanted a place where we could continue on the conversations once we had all moved to the United States. We all seem to have a pretty great rapport which of course is thanks in part to this forum bringing us all together. As more of us make the move no doubt there will be more Oceania specific questions and observations in the thread but I guess for now its a meeting point. Keeping the conversations in here rather than in another platform like facebook or twitter etc.
 
Have any of you signed up for the "Patriot America Plus Comprehensive Coverage" health plan?
 
Mijoro said:
Wow I didnt realize that the big ticket cars drop that much in a small time frame. I guess its the same with the smaller ones but it doesnt seem like as much of a drop.
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I look at it this way - In Australia, it can cost 120K to 150k to buy a vehicle that costs 50k in the US. An immediate cost/loss of 70k to 100k. Comparing that to a depreciation of 25k over 3 yrs makes it seem like it's still a good buy.
 
F150s are popular among teenage girl high schoolers here. 2 in my street (small street) have them. Go figure.
 
Mijoro said:
First question did y’all mostly use the health insurance links that Simon posted or use the ACA plans when first moving over?
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Yes I used that. In fact, I only switched to my work insurance just a few days ago.
 
Xarthisius said:
That's one of my biggest regrets: not buying F-150 as soon as I moved to US. Now, 5 years and one kid later, I'm having a really hard time convincing my wife we need it...
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Just hound her incessantly. ;-)

But seriously, the wife and I drove F150s for years working overseas. Great truck, but not as comfortable and simply "nice" as the Ram Truck line up. And sticker prices are only "suggestions".

SusieQQQ said:
F150s are popular among teenage girl high schoolers here. 2 in my street (small street) have them. Go figure.
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Yes, when my girls are older, I might buy them a F150 each....they'll need a "smaller" truck.
 
The wonderful thing about the truck culture is that it makes parking so much easier for everyone else. What we considered "big" SUVs back home (audi Q7, BMW x5, merc... whatever is the same kinda size, lol) generally fit into the "compact" parking spaces here :D Parallel parking a normal size car is a piece of cake, even on the wrong side of the road.
 
Its amazing the price difference as well between automatic and manual cars there as well. You can pick up a bargain if you know how to drive stick.
 
Mijoro said:
Plus you are limited with the amount of miles you can use over the cost of a year right? Is leasing common in the United States?
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Correct on the miles, leasing is fairly common. A dealership just told me 80% of their sales were leases.
 
Mijoro said:
Its amazing the price difference as well between automatic and manual cars there as well. You can pick up a bargain if you know how to drive stick.
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But when you come to sell the car you'll have a tough time because most yanks can't drive stickshift (actually, most can't drive. Period. )
 
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