How often do you replace a car?
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Anonymous
| 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. |
Anonymous
| I'm on year 11. I can't find a good reason to trade it in yet. It still works even though it's kind of a piece of crap now! (It's only got 90,000 miles on it). |
Anonymous
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My husband replaces his car much more frequently than me. He drives a ton though.
I kept my first car for 9 years, and am now on only my second car ever that is 12 years old and has only 80K miles on it. We need to replace it soon, though, with our second child arriving soon. It's too small - a beetle 
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Anonymous
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I have often tired of the car I buy. Or I find a flaw in it which drives me crazy. So, three to four years in, I sell, and buy a new one.
I finally figured out what the problem is....I buy what I need, not what I want. With my last car purchase, I bought what I wanted....and am still in love with the car, as 18 months. |
Anonymous
| Until I limp into the dealer with a sputtering car and they know there's no way I can drive it back out again. Dammit. |
Anonymous
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I have a 7 year old Honda that needs nothing but maintenance (so far). Just hitting 100,000. I will likely keep it til at least 150,000. Not sure how many years that will be. Longer if it is still going strong.
I am diligent about preventive maintenance. I do not want a car to leave me stranded. As long as it doesn't do that, it's all good, and I'll keep it. |
Anonymous
Oh, and I should add it has all the current safety features. Nothing new of great importance has been added since I got this car. Huge advances in safety would make me want to buy new. |
Anonymous
Does it have blind spot monitoring? Will it warn you if you fall asleep or are on path to hit something? |
Anonymous
Us too. College expenses looming so we will continue to drive our over-sized heaps into the ground. |
Anonymous
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2004 Volvo SUV with 144K miles, and just passed inspection yesterday, after paying $300 for emergency brake repair....
The worst part about an old car is the inspection, tensest twenty minutes of the year!! |
Anonymous
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Until the bluebook value becomes the price of a good meal.
We would give up any car we thought was unreliable, but so far, we haven't bought any cars that haven't lasted forever. We drove one for 16 years and decided it wasn't worth the price of a new transmission. We sold one that wasn't old but gave us backaches (didn't like the seat in that brand), and replaced it a few years back. We also drive a 2001 and are willing to put some $$ into it so that it lasts another few years. We don't like waste. |
Anonymous
Not the poster: I'm sure not, but those features give me pause.... are they for people with apnea, no neck flexibility? I have blind spot monitoring by driving defensively. |
Anonymous
| We buy until we reach a point where we think the car is about to die. One car lasted 16 years, another 10 years, another 12. Our current cars are 7 and 10 years old and doing fine. The 7 year old one has 120k on it an I hope to get it to 200k. |
Anonymous
There is no blind spot if you adjust your mirror's correctly. I do not drive when I am tired. I don't know what you mean about the third thing. |
Anonymous
| When the car reaches 100K and I can still get some money for a down payment on another car. After $120K you are not getting much for the old car. |