When I was 15 years old, one of my favorite cars was a 1996 Volkswagen GTI VR6. I wanted that car to be my first car so badly as they were going for $5000 at the time. My parents could not afford to buy me one and instead gave me a 1996 Mazda Protege for 1/4th the price. It wasn’t until I was 21 years old that I saved enough for money for my own first car. My top three choices at the time were the 2003.5 Mazdaspeed Protege, 2007 Volkswagen GTI, and 2000 Porsche Boxster. All of them were similarly priced but I couldn’t say no to the Porsche. The Cayman S after all is my ultimate dream car and this was the next best thing. Years went by and when I turned 30 I decided it was finally time to cross the Volkswagen GTI off my bucket list.
Just before the pandemic spread across the United States, I bought a one owner immaculate 2013 Volkswagen GTI Wolfsburg Edition DSG with 59,000 miles on the clock. This was the first time in my life that I owned an automatic, though the DSG automatic transmission operates like a manual. I purchased the GTI for $11,200 out the door including dealer doc fees, title fees, taxes, and inspection fees. I delivered food for DoorDash and made about $1600 in April of 2020. I kept that $1600 to pay for gas and maintenance costs.
While the Volkswagen GTI is known for being one of the best all-round driver’s cars with many awards under its belt, it’s also known for its unreliability and high costs of maintenance. The GTI did not disappoint. Within the first 1200 miles, the check engine light came on. I spent $156 on a part and fixed it myself. At 65,000 miles, the check engine light came back on, only this time it was flashing along with another light, EPC. The car started to misfire and immediately went into limp mode where I couldn’t get up to speed on the highway. After my 1 hour risky drive home, I diagnosed that the car needed new coil packs. I replaced both the spark plugs and coil packs in the parking lot of my local AutoZone. With another $150 expense out of the way, it was time to change the engine and transmission oil. Unfortunately the DSG transmission needs an oil change every 35,000 miles at a cost of $379, and the choice in engine oils are limited to premium oils commanding premium prices. Even though I changed the engine oil and filter myself, it still cost about $45. I also had to replace the tail light bulb for $5.
At this point, the entire cost of the GTI was $11,935 and I used the car to make $1600 delivering for DoorDash. After having the GTI for almost a year, my $1600 DoorDash earnings used specifically for gas and maintenance was almost gone. I had the choice to continue dashing to pay for my cost of ownership, or sell the car.
Why would I sell the car I waited so many years to get? Remember how I said I bought my GTI right before the pandemic spread across the United States? The COVID-19 pandemic caused a shortage in cars, especially used cars. With high demand and low supply, used car prices went up. Car manufacturers and auctions shut down nationally, bringing rise to delivery based car sales from Carvana. Out of curiosity, I got a free appraisal from Carvana. Their offer $12,685!
With an offer that high, the sale of my car would mean that I got to own a 200 HP turbocharged Volkswagen GTI FREE for a year. The sale price even covered my insurance costs. I decided to go for it and contacted Carvana to take my car. About 2 weeks later, Carvana showed up with their flatbed tow truck and had me sign some documents before I handed them my keys. It was a very simple 5 minute process. While the GTI was a fun car that I had hoped to own for a longer period of time, I could not let that deal escape me.
