# Car Recommendations:  High Mileage Ensues

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-recommendations-high-mileage-ensues/512973>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 7, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-recommendations-high-mileage-ensues/512973 "2009-10-07T20:09:59Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\
**Post date:** [October 10, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-recommendations-high-mileage-ensues/512973/61 "2009-10-10T20:10:47Z")

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> [@sfbiker](#):
>
> If you’re only doing it for the money, then it may not be worth it depending on what your salary closer to home was. Assuming that you’re commuting an extra 3 hours / day, that’s 3 hours \* 250 working days / year = 750 hours over a year on top of 2080 hours in a 40 hour work week.
> 
> So if you were getting $40,000 close to home and $50,000 far from home, that’s $19.23/hour versus $17.66 taking into account the extra hours spent in the car.
> 
> It you were making more money close to home, the numbers are even worse… $60K with no commute is $28.84/hour, $70K with a long commute is $24.73/hour
> 
> This doesn’t even include the price of gas and car maintenance – 4400 miles/month in a 35mpg car @ $3.00/gallon is $4500/year in gas alone.
> 
> You might be better off taking a $9/hour part-time job at Starbucks closer to home for 10 hours/week, you’ll still add $5000 to your household income, save lots of gas money, but have more time at home and be closer to home in case of emergency.
> 
> Of course, that all depends on how you value your time in the car. If you enjoy long drives and feel like your time in the car is not wasted (maybe you listen to books on tape, or you practice your singing career, whatever), then perhaps you don’t need to allocate that time to “work”.
> 
> In my case, I pay a lot of money for a small apartment in the city close to my job so I have a 15 minute walking commute that gets me home to my family quicker. It seems like a fair tradeoff compared to living in a bigger house out in the 'burbs that would give me an hour commute each way.

Well, it’s kinda like this: I have been unable to find suitable employment in my chosen field for 9 months. I don’t consider travel time as paid time. I’m a salaried worker, haven’t worked for an hourly rate in 20+ years, and am used to putting in extra unpaid hours. The usual agreement is that if I’m flexible with my hours, then so is my employer if I want to cut out early occasionally, etc.

I do in fact enjoy driving too, and so overall the additional time away from home, now that my kids are 10 and 12 years old, doesn’t bother me at all. And, if the weather stinks I can always get a motel room for the night at a reasonable price. Additionally this job is a government job with lots of perks and benefits, including a pension, something which I have never been involved with in my previous career. No, it’s definitely worth the 2 hour drive, at least for a few years and then I can perhaps look for positions closer to home again.

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