Repair or Replace Car?

[Anonymous]

We have a 2002 Camry with 147,000 miles on it. My original plan was to hold off until this summer to replace it when our other car, also a Camry is paid off (6 more payments, 0% interest) so as to not be paying two payments at once. It's still in good shape overall, but we're expecting our second kid in June so we wanted something with more room - so we were probably going to upgrade even though we could easily put more miles on it.

I had the 2002 car appraised at Carmax about 6 weeks ago and it was around $1,500. Today we got a repair bill for $850.

Should we just bite the bullet and pay off the newer Camry ($3,000) now and buy a newer car today. Or should we spend the $850 and get 6-8 more months out of it and stick to the original plan?

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

850 Is 3 car payments. Id fix it and drive it till it won't drive anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:850 Is 3 car payments. Id fix it and drive it till it won't drive anymore.

Even if you were planning on a new car in 6 months?

[Anonymous]

If you are planning to get a new car, I would not bother fixing it. I drive my cars just as long. I buy new and keep till it is no longer worth fixing.

[Anonymous]

I concur as the owner of the minivan that just won't die. It's ugly and the interior is no longer shiny and pretty but it seems silly to replace a car at a mere 140,000 k when it is still road worthy.

[Anonymous]

If it were me, I'd repair and keep as long as possible (but I'm cheap and the Camry is fairly big, isn't it?).

But between the options you laid out, I'd just buy the new car rather than put any money into it. Not sure I'd pay off the 0% loan early unless you really really can't swing both payments.

[Anonymous]

I think you should get a new car and not repair since you are planning to get a newer bigger car soon anyway. I say this having spent $2500 on my 2004 Camry this past Nov. I only have 86,000 miles on it and wasn't planning to get a new car in the near future.

It worked fine, but there was an oil leak that if it lost pressure completely (which could happen at any time), the engine would seize and the car would be worthless. I took 10 min. to discuss with DH the possibility of buying a new car rather than repairing it -- and it was pretty tempting -- but, for me it made sense to repair it and keep using it.

In your case, you have plans to get a new car anyway. Don't fix. just go ahead and get it.

[Anonymous]

Carmax appraised a car for me back in August and offered me $1,500. I sold it privately for $4,750. Just saying, OP. Carmax lowballs the lowest possible offer.

[Anonymous]

If you don't want the hassle, you get rid of it now.
However as PP said, you can sell it yourself on Craiglist for quite a bit more than what Carmax offers.
I would repair and then sell it in 6 months privately, not through a car dealer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
If you don't want the hassle, you get rid of it now.
However as PP said, you can sell it yourself on Craiglist for quite a bit more than what Carmax offers.
I would repair and then sell it in 6 months privately, not through a car dealer.

I'm kind of leaning towards this option at the moment.

Where's the best place to sell a car privately? Craigslist? Autotrader? Post?

[Anonymous]

Camry is pretty reliable car, should run for another 50-60 000 miles. What kind of repair does it need?

[Anonymous]

$850 is not that much for an older car. We have a 16 year old car and my limit is $2000 per year on maintenance. Depreciation on a new car will be higher than $850 in the first year!

[Anonymous]

With a child on the way why would you want to have another car payment. I'd fix it and drive until it completely dies. Camry will give you another 100 if you do the maintenance.

[Anonymous]

Here is how I would approach it:

1). What's the repair for? Is it essential of just recommended? Could you get it done (or partially done) somewhere cheaper? Is it possible to sell the car without doing the repair?

2). I would not pay off a 0% loan early. There is no financial reason to do so. While it may "feel better" to have the payments gone, the better course is to just wait and pay them on time.

3). You're at the time of year where there may good deals on cars and competition between dealers. I'd consider shopping around and seeing if you can negotiate a value of trade in for your Camry. It may be you get more than $1500 credit. However, as PP notes, you'll likely get the most value selling privately. But selling privately requires time and patience - something you may not have right now.

4). If you really plan to buy the bigger car in a few months, I would cap any repair bills at the equivalent of one months new car payment (approx 400?).

[Anonymous]

You're too worried about having two loans at once for a few months concurrently. Don't be worried about that.