How often do you replace a car?

[Anonymous]

I have a 17 yr old Honda with 180k on it. Only needed routine maintenance so far and I park it on the street so it's been ideal for our needs. Use it mostly to take kid to school and pickup and errands. Don't need to commute to work.

We should get a new car but it's hard to part with it since I never have to worry about it getting dings, getting stolen, etc. who's going to steal a 17 yr old civic?!? I've forgotten to lock it a few times and nothing's happened except maybe someone going through all the junk in the glove box. They left it all in a neat little pile!

[Anonymous]

^^ Hondas and Toyotas are stolen a lot for parts. Even older models because the cars run for a long time and it's harder to get parts for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Hondas and Toyotas are stolen a lot for parts. Even older models because the cars run for a long time and it's harder to get parts for them.

Well, I guess if it's stolen, it'll be time for a new car!

[Anonymous]

Had one car for 17 years and would have kept it longer except that it broke down and the cost to repair didn't seem worth it.

Currently have one car that is 10.5 and another that is 3.5 and we will keep them both as long as we can.

[Anonymous]

In my family its almost a contest to see who can keep a car running the longest. My mom basically had one car my entire childhood (had an 82 corolla) and my dad one for 14 years (89 volvo). My mom still has her "replacement" corolla ( 98) and my dad has an 03 accord..both still running strong. Our household consists of a 00 camry and a 12 pruis. We will replace the camry the second we have to put money in it over normal maintenance. My mom always had this theory that cars should last about how long dogs last.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my family its almost a contest to see who can keep a car running the longest. My mom basically had one car my entire childhood (had an 82 corolla) and my dad one for 14 years (89 volvo). My mom still has her "replacement" corolla ( 98) and my dad has an 03 accord..both still running strong. Our household consists of a 00 camry and a 12 pruis. We will replace the camry the second we have to put money in it over normal maintenance. My mom always had this theory that cars should last about how long dogs last.

My uncle had the same theory, only with Guinea Pigs....

[Anonymous]

We are planning to hit at least 100k miles on each car and see where we are. I have a 2008 Toyota matrix. It is a great not too little car, and I would like to have it a long time.

[Anonymous]

When it starts falling apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH and I typically buy a new car every 5 years, and keep each of our cars about 10. We figure after 10 years and about 100k miles we want something more reliable to haul around the kids. I am curious what other DCUMers do...we see some who lease and replace every 2-3 years, some replace a main car every 4 years while keeping a secondary car for 10-15. It's not a money issue for us - we typically pay all cash and don't buy anything flashy. Should we be keeping our cars longer? I am amazed that we can still typically get 40% or so of the car's original price as a trade-in 10 years later.

This is pretty much what we do. Keep them about 10 years and alternate, so we get a new car every five years or so.

[Anonymous]

I drive my cars into the ground, keeping up on required maintenance to keep them running as long as possible.

[Anonymous]

The new safety features like Collison avoidance and blind spot monitoring are a major game changer and a new advancement worthy of an early upgrade. In fact the new cars of today with insurance safety discounts and zero percent finding cost less then used cars In the mid term. (Someone who is probably going to trade in early).

[Anonymous]

I am almost at 124k miles on my 2005 Mazda Tribute. I go back and forth between wanting to trade it in before anything major goes wrong and wanting to run it into the ground. I absolutely love it, though! Just wish I got better gas mileage (part of what sometimes motivates me to trade in).

My mom has a 2001 Tribute with almost 90k miles and she will probably run hers into the ground as well.

[Anonymous]

We drive them into the ground. Unfortunately, mine collapsed 1 year earlier than planned and we ended up with 2 aggressive car payments sooner than wanted. We're almost done though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new safety features like Collison avoidance and blind spot monitoring are a major game changer and a new advancement worthy of an early upgrade. In fact the new cars of today with insurance safety discounts and zero percent finding cost less then used cars In the mid term. (Someone who is probably going to trade in early).

Isn't this what the auto manufacturers always want us to believe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new safety features like Collison avoidance and blind spot monitoring are a major game changer and a new advancement worthy of an early upgrade. In fact the new cars of today with insurance safety discounts and zero percent finding cost less then used cars In the mid term. (Someone who is probably going to trade in early).

Just because you drunk the dealership kool-aid doesn't mean we all did.