If you like the car it is worth it.

If the car has the personality of a lawn mower then who cares.

If the cost of parts (my labor is "free", to me) exceeds the car payment -each and every month, continuously- then I might consider selling a vehicle.
I've yet to have this happen, even with my '04 BMW.

Cost of repairs divided by the reasonable number of months of additional usage expected.

If that number is smaller than an expected car payment, then you fix it.

Pretty straightforward.

Can you afford, or do you want, car payments? That's the only question you need to ask.

If the answer is yes, ditch the old heap. If the answer is no, fix it. The fix will be undoubtedly less than car payments.

That's it. Don't worry about the math, or the principles of sound investment, or any of that. You either want car payments, or you don't.

It depends on the brand, but 10 years, 100K miles, I'm probably fixing it. Last summer I spent $2500 to replace the head gaskets, radiator, timing chain, and do a valve job on my 10 year old Tundra because it's otherwise sound, it's a Toyota, and with 333,000 miles it didn't owe me anything. Needs sway bar end links and an O2 sensor now which is minor, but AFAIC, it still doesn't owe me anything.

If you don't want to keep it, it's not really worth anything not running, so fix it and sell it, and you're $2500 ahead as long as it really is worth $5000. Be realistic about the market for the car, but right now is a good time to sell cheap cars because people have refunds checks coming in.

The caveat about fixing it is too many people decide to get rid of a vehicle AFTER dropping the money in it for a big repair, and then it breaks again.

My daily drivers are either a 1994 Volvo 940, just ready to turn 100,000 miles, and a 1995 GMC Jimmy, with less than 125,000 miles.

The Volvo has been relatively pain-free with two exceptions:

• The radiator broke where the upper hose connects to it, so a new radiator had to be installed, cost was not terrible, and
  
  
• Crank sensor failed resulting in a no-run condition. AAA paid for a ride on a flat bed from the Publix parking lot where it failed, to the repair shop. Again, the repair cost was not horrible.

The Volvo shows signs of a long service life still to come.

The Jimmy on the other hand, now has repair costs that are getting out of control. It has had several AAA rides to the repair shop and is, in fact, there right now. The disabling problem was a failed fuel pump, which required replacement of the gas tank because a previous owner had used something like JB Weld to seal the fuel pump access plate to the tank and the shop couldn't remove it. At the same time, it needs about $300 or more in steering linkage, and the brakes have a problem that nobody has been able to diagnose, rear wheels (drum brakes) locking up for no known reason, especially when the air is humid, and this is Florida, so we have many days with high humidity.

Engine, transmission, etc. on the Jimmy are strong, it's all the bolt-on pieces that are failing.

Will probably not throw any more money at it, not fix steering nor further attempt to diagnose brakes, just fuel pump to get it running and drive it to CarMax next week to get their price on buying it, and I can look at a whole array of potential replacements. Would really love an F-150 with a six, but that probably won't happen -- $$$

quote:

rear wheels (drum brakes) locking up for no known reason

Probably your power brake booster is bad due to seals. When braking, all the fluid goes to the rear brakes and little to the front brakes. My 1990 C2500 had that problem.



The steering problem is probably due to lack of lube to the steering parts every 5K miles or so over time.

41

You want opinions; here's mine.
I stick with pick-ups. I generally buy them cheap (less than $1800) with over 80,000 miles on them and they'll have 200,000 plus on them when I trade/sell them. I pick the ones I buy based on history of the drive train. Rust isn't too big a consideration in Ohio. I do my own work and pull maintenance religiously. And I've only been stuck twice needing a tow and the blame goes on me for not catching a problem before it became a disaster. I finally brought a new truck in 2008 when caught between a rock and a hard place. I hate it everytime I get in it. If I had it to do over I'd had rented a chap car and drove it for a month or so until a suitable replacement popped up on craigslist. Would have saved sizable $$$.

quote:

Originally posted by DoctorSolo:
If you like the car it is worth it.

If the car has the personality of a lawn mower then who cares.

This right here. The Impala I like and it has a personality and value. The Cruze? No.

My math on this. Add the value of the carcass to the cost of repair. Can I get a replacement for equal or less money?

Another thing I look at is, would I buy this truck as is, if I knew it had a brand new trans or whatever just installed.

Age related stuff is a fairly large factor to me. Electronic gremlins due to corrosion, rubber deterioration in suspension parts, door and window seals F'n sunroofs. 3 years old 170,000 less concern than 21 years old 90,000 miles.

My newest vehicle is a 1979 Ford F 250, I prefer to drive my 72 Ford F 150, both were gifts and I love them. Don't know how many miles are on them, have had to replace speedometers several times, they just don't make them like they used to.

I am in a forever quandary on this. I have a 2002 Tahoe that I love. Paid off, reliable, has 210,000 miles on it. I know that I'm probably staring down the barrel of a new transmission and motor coming soon. That will probably be about $5k in repairs when it is all said and done.

I've thought about a new Tahoe, or keeping the one that I've got and purchase a car that gets good mileage for road trips. I keep going back and forth on what to decide.

Had an 88 Toyota Tercel bought new, fast forward to 2011, car had 180k on the odometer and ran great but needed complete AC rework including hoses. Since I do not do AC work traded it off for work around the house to handyman. You need AC here in Texas.

My opinion only, is that most items on cars that need maintenance have a life cycle of 3-5 years or so. I would rather spend $500 twice a year than spend $500 a month for the next X- amount of months. Here in Virginia we have property tax, so a new $40K car I could be paying $1600 for the first year then lower the next. With my still working used car I am only paying less than $100 a year for it. However I admit, sometimes it is nice to have a NEW car !!! God Bless

I never really understood the idea that when the cost of repairs exceed the sale value of the car to dump it. Once the repair is done the car is now worth more. If you bought someone else's car for $5k instead of fixing yours, their car might need that repair too! Or some other costly repair. If you wait until the expensive repair becomes necessary, you've lost that money no matter what you do.

If you otherwise like the vehicle it may be worth fixing. However, if the vehicle may be on the verge of many expensive repairs it may be too much potential trouble to keep.

I've got an '04 Audi A8L with 120k miles I am considering replacing to reduce overall transportation costs over the next 20 yrs. Book value is about $6k. One major repair could easily be $2k or more. An engine or transmission problem could be more than $6k.

One calculation is if a major disaster occurs then I lose the entire current value. If I sell now, I gain that cash to put towards a new vehicle. On an Audi this is a real factor, but on other vehicles not so much.

But if nothing big goes wrong, it may cost me $1k per year in depreciation anyway, plus a some minor repairs which are becoming more frequent.

Fuel economy of a new(er) vehicle will be quite a bit better, which saves $. The repair costs on a new vehicle should be zero.

I plan on keeping the new vehicle forever, hopefully the last car I ever buy. So depreciation is not a factor (except for my heirs if I die soon). Regardless, depreciation on a new vehicle will not be greater than the dollars at risk if my current vehicle has major problems.

So I see the question really being one of risks and guesses.

quote:

Originally posted by jljones:
I am in a forever quandary on this. I have a 2002 Tahoe that I love. Paid off, reliable, has 210,000 miles on it. I know that I'm probably staring down the barrel of a new transmission and motor coming soon. That will probably be about $5k in repairs when it is all said and done.

I've thought about a new Tahoe, or keeping the one that I've got and purchase a car that gets good mileage for road trips. I keep going back and forth on what to decide.

I'm in the same situation and have pondered this many times. My current vehicle 2008 Expedition with 93k miles has been reliable and is my work vehicle. I manage and maintain yachts, so I have tools, detailing supplies, parts I always keep in the back for work. While I don't NEED to replace the Expedition, i've had zero reliability problems, I've had it 10 years and just getting tired of it.

I pondered the either get a fun weekend car and keep the Expedition for work. But decided to just get a new 2018 Expedition when it comes out. I can only garage one car, so the car would sit in the garage and expedition baking in the FL sun and be 100F everytime I get into it to go somewhere, I'd have to keep 2 cars clean, insure 2 cars, one would be taking a spot tieing up my 2 car driveway, so in the end. I'd rather have one new, nice, vehicle I use 24/7 rather than having the hassle of keeping up with 2.

quote:

Originally posted by joatmonv:

quote:

Originally posted by DoctorSolo:
If you like the car it is worth it.

If the car has the personality of a lawn mower then who cares.

This right here. The Impala I like and it has a personality and value. The Cruze? No.

Exactly. I paid $1600 for a 1990 GMC W/T with 120,000 miles and had it for 10years. 4.3 V6 w/ 700R transmission. Change fluids/filters, did brakes, tires. NORMAL maint. costs.
Frame rusted in two at 374,000 miles. The motor tranny live on in another truck.
I loved it. Great truck. I miss it dearly.

My 07 Tundra has 191k. At 155k it needed the air injection pumps replaced. That was just over $2k. I get free oil changes, they have paid for that repair. I maintain it well, and plan to keep if for at least 3 more years. I'd say it's worth the repair bill if the rest of it is in good shape.

Fix them till they don't run no more.

Whenever the annual cost of repairs is greater than the annual payments on a new car........that is the point at which you can say that a used car is more expensive than a new car.