When to Say Goodbye to Your Old Car

Everyone knows that it's cheaper to keep your old car than to buy a new one, right? Well, that's true up to a point. But once you pass that point, it can actually be more expensive to keep your old car than to get a new one. Consumer Reports gives us four times when it's time to say goodbye to your old car:

• It needs repairs costing more than its value.
• The vehicle's structural integrity is threatened by a badly rusted floor pan or sills.
• Despite repairs, the car remains unreliable, and it seems likely you could be left stranded.
• It has been in a flood or serious accident.

A combination of #1 and #3 above is what drove us to turn in our last two cars (at about the 100,000-mile point) and buy new vehicles. We were ready to buy anyway and had saved the cash, but once the old cars started acting up and costing us a good amount of money, we knew it was time to move on.

Regarding #4, I've had a bit of a different experience. My brand new (less than 10,000 miles) Nissan Maxima was in a flood early on in the car's life. $4,000 in repairs later, it was fine and ran well for another 90,000 miles. Of course they replaced the major stuff (such as the car's computer) and the flood wasn't high enough to get into the engine, so maybe that's why it did so well.

BTW, I'll have to tell you all about the flood story some time. I can laugh at it now, but it certainly wasn't funny when it happened.

Comments

[Beastlike]

Those sound good to me!

[Noman]

Why should you buy a different car when the repair costs more than the car is worth? I have seen this repeated many times, but no one has backed it up. Let me give you a different take on the situation:

We bought a 1998 Olds minivan brand new for $24K. Nine years later, our cost per year is $2,666 (not including oil changes and gasoline). Since we had 150K miles on it, it was worth about $3K. At this point the engine died and needed to be replaced. $4K later and we have a van that is still running. If it lasts 1.5 years ($2,666/$4,000) then it will be worth it.

Or we could have bought a new/used minivan and still be making payments. After all, it is hard to find a used van for $4K.

I do agree with the other 3 points, especially the one about leaving you stranded. Been there, done that, hate it.

[justin]

@beastlike: Why replace a car when repairs cost more than its value? How do you know that once the engine is replaced the tranny won't go? That wouldn't be at all unusual. What that really tells me is don't buy an Olds/GMC product.

[Susy]

Yep, we're in the same boat. We have a 10 year old Ford Contour. It currently has 120,000 miles on it. It has been a great car. We've never had to do anything other than routine maintenance on it (brakes, belts, etc).

Recently we noticed the shocks are going to need replaced and we occasionally on hilly trips notice the transmission can get jerky.

We have a family member that works are goodyear and we always call him to get an idea of repair costs (he knows which models of cars do well, we'll definitely consult him before buying a new car!) He says it will cost around $4000 to do both, and suggested we not bother with the age of the car.

Hopefully we can get it to hang on for another 2 years by taking it easy. He gave us a few suggestions to make it last for a while longer, then it's off to the junkyard for our beloved "sport".

[Susy]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention be only paid $4500 for the car 5 years ago (45,000 miles), so we've gotten our money's worth for sure!!!

[poundwise]

Point one is well-intended but misguided IMO. The comparison should be between the cost of repairs and the cost of a replacement vehicle, not the value of the current vehicle.

I also think there is a decision a person has to make in general as it pertains to holding onto a car. Basically, you either keep it until it is not good for much of anything except to be sold as scrap (i.e. - run it into the ground) or sell it while it still has some value (i.e. - before you have to.) In the latter case, you are playing a bit of guessing game, however, I prefer it because (a) you get some money out of it, sufficient to help pay for another vehicle, (b) you can sell your car in decent working order to someone else. People who wait until the repair work needed cost too much to keep the car then usually end up (a) selling it for scrap/junk, (b) ripping off another person by selling them the problem without revealing it.