Have you ever added up how much money you’ve put into your TJ?

Don’t know, don’t care. It’s why my Wife and I worked all those years to buy and pay off a home, buy another house and fund our hobbies.
She makes quilts and probably has enough fabric to open a store.
And if C-19 or high insurance premiums don’t kill us first.....
Since she makes quilts have you ever told her about the pitfalls of running a long arm?

For you guys out there that don't know that's a high-end quilt making machine.
 
Honestly not as much as a few other types of vehicles and toys. But its gonna get bad. I got a great deal on this on and stole it for 7 grand cert, have about 4 grand in aftermarket stuff thus far. Few repairs have maybe 13 grand and have had it maybe 3 yrs. Alot of money will probably end up getting spent. But the pursuit of adventure lives in many of us. And Jeeps are how some lucky folks get to do it.
 
14k purchase. 1000 maintenance. 2000 fix and upgrade. I need another 2000 to take care of some odds and ends still.

The old YJ was 3500 purchase plus 5000 over 10 years.

I don't like spending money like some of you. I'm on track to retire at 50 :)
 
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Here's what needs to happen when this thread runs its course.

It need to be deleted from the forum and everyone's browser history and Google needs to have an injunction served not to ever publish it.

It could ruin marriages, Christmas for a lot of kids, break up homes and bankrupt several good aftermarket parts manufacturers.

It's already been a tough year. Y'all think covid 19 is bad, have 21,000 forum members let the cat out of the bag on build cost.

It would be so over.

I can honestly say I have put $300 in mine. And I can say $301. And keep going.

Let's all just stick to the story that it's better than a drug habit and something we can enjoy as a family.
 
Since she makes quilts have you ever told her about the pitfalls of running a long arm?

For you guys out there that don't know that's a high-end quilt making machine.
Trust me, she and I know about the pitfalls of owning a long arm. That’s why she doesn’t have one.... yet.
Over the years, we have met and become good friends with a few of the well known long arm artists and fabric designers, so we trust in them.
She also “rescues“ antique quilts and some of them have been appraised at more than the cost of a set of wheels and tires. Hell I used to have 3 old Land Cruisers and a Ford GPW that I sold to help buy our new home in MT.
And now have a place where the sq. footage of the garage and shop are bigger than the house.
It all works well for us.
 
Let me tell you how they think... If you say you don't want anything for the Jeep... They think you've already bought something big or spent a bunch of money they don't know about for it.

And if you tell them you want something for the Jeep... Oh well here you go again... Spending everything on that jeep.
Here’s the trick - you do tell them you want something for the Jeep, but something fairly inexpensive and innocuous. That will throw them off the trail. They will think, ”well, if he won’t buy that for himself he‘s probably not buying expensive stuff...”
 
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Here’s the trick - you do tell them you want something for the Jeep, but something fairly inexpensive and innocuous. That will throw them off the trail. They will think, ”well, if he won’t by that for himself he‘s probably not buying expensive stuff...”
Brilliant ... Chris we may need to hire this guy.
 
Here’s the trick - you do tell them you want something for the Jeep, but something fairly inexpensive and innocuous. That will throw them off the trail. They will think, ”well, if he won’t by that for himself he‘s probably not buying expensive stuff...”

The bad thing is that my wife works for an auto parts company so she is very well attuned to new parts and their cost
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$22k purchase price + $15k or more after that in the past 2 years with more to come. I could easily spend another 25k today but I'm not prepared to extend my retirement date lol so I need to spread that out over the next couple of years.
 
We have been trying to come with a hood decal for the side, you know like cool Jeeps have. Some clever saying.We almost went with "this is the way" with grogu's finger pointing forward. But my wife has the current winner now: MY401K-00TJ
 
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I told my wife I've won all the new parts that have arrived at home, and the parts I pick up from people on craigslist and OfferUp are given to me for free because the Jeep community is a very given community. I tend to believe my own stories to cope, so I've spent $0 on my Jeep.
 
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I've always kept track of what my vehicles cost until I had my own business and was too busy to keep up.

It took me a while after my accident and losing the business to start doing it again but I started keeping track again when I bought the Rubicon in April 2018. It was also the beginning of separating what the government takes and adding insurance costs.

$17,116.00 = original cost of TJ to dealer
$1349.41 = vehicle tax & temp tag
$145.75 = 3 yrs of license plates
$4428.10 = misc maintenance and all improvements so far
$1709.50 = 3 yrs insurance
$1531.37 = 3 yrs of gasoline

Grand total = $26325.13

Divided that by the 32 months I've owned it, it's at $822.66 per month. So far the highest cost but also the best vehicle I've ever owned.
 
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Here’s the trick - you do tell them you want something for the Jeep, but something fairly inexpensive and innocuous. That will throw them off the trail. They will think, ”well, if he won’t buy that for himself he‘s probably not buying expensive stuff...”

I'll one up ya.
My wife is the one that wanted us to buy our first Jeep.
And the one that wanted us to upgrade to the TJ.
You guys gotta pick your wives better... :LOL: