The Short List
Compares cars on what they actually cost per month, not on the sticker price.
Private Private and access-controlled. There is no public link.
The Short List is a two-person household tool sitting behind access control, so this page is a description rather than a door. It is listed here because one idea in it generalises, and that idea is below.
Two cars, one of them four thousand dollars cheaper on the window sticker, and the cheaper one costs more to have owned three years later. The sticker answers a question nobody is actually asking.
What it does
The Short List ranks vehicles on two numbers rather than one. Cash out of pocket (loan, fuel, insurance, maintenance) answers whether you can make the payment. True cost (depreciation, tax and fees, interest, fuel, insurance, maintenance) answers which car was cheaper to have owned. The two rank differently, and living in the gap between them is what buying a car actually feels like.
It also models the things a spreadsheet skips. Pennsylvania taxes the difference on a trade rather than the full purchase price, which makes a trade-in worth meaningfully more than its face value, and a comparison that ignores that ranks the wrong car first.
The part worth stealing
Every number carries a label saying how much it should be trusted. Fuel economy and safety ratings come from federal APIs. Prices come from live listings. Resale, the maintenance ramp and insurance are estimates, marked as estimates, and editable per vehicle. Rendering a measurement and a guess in the same typeface is the most common way a decision tool misleads the person using it, and it is avoidable in an afternoon.
Who it is for
Built for one household making two real vehicle decisions. Nobody else can open it. What is worth taking from it is the method, not the tool.
The details
| Access | Private, two people, access-controlled. |
|---|---|
| Cash out of pocket | Loan payment, fuel, insurance, maintenance. Whether you can make the payment. |
| True cost | Depreciation, tax and fees, interest, fuel, insurance, maintenance. Which car was cheaper to have owned. |
| Hard sources | Fuel economy and safety ratings from federal APIs. Prices from live listings. |
| Estimates | Resale, maintenance ramp, insurance. Marked as estimates and editable per vehicle. |
Questions
Why two numbers instead of one?
Because they rank differently, and the gap between the two rankings is the actual decision. Cash out of pocket answers whether the month works. True cost answers which car was cheaper to have owned.
Why label every number with how much to trust it?
A model that hides its guesses is worse than one that admits them. Fuel economy comes from a federal API and resale value comes from a guess, and a tool that renders the two in the same font has told you they are the same kind of number, which is false.
Can I use it?
No. It holds one household's finances and it is access-controlled. The method transfers; the tool does not.
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