When to repair versus replace car

[Anonymous]

Is this your only car? How much do you drive? Do you live in the city or suburbs? Will you need a bigger car in a few years (growing family etc.) - all factors I’d consider.

We live in the suburbs and have two cars. We like to go away on road trips for weekends, so we always like to have one newer mid size SUV that fits our entire family and is good for weekend drives to the snowy mountains, grandparents etc. so for us, once the primary car is aging, has lots of miles and requires repair we will probably get a newer one.

If you drive less, or it’s a secondary car, only used to drive to a train station etc, I would put the money in because you’ll likely get as many years as you want out of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Repair no doubt.

+1
Back in the day I sold an old Corolla with 350k miles. The guy who bought it said that he was going to ship it overseas and rebuild the engine. He said the car would last another 350k miles.

Corollas are all over Afghanistan, so that should tell you how tough they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are people keeping thee really old cars, they are very dangerous, cars get outdated every 5-7 years and should be replaced

Lol. Says the car makers. If it gets me safely to where I need to go and is still reliable, why would I buy a new one every _____ years?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people keeping thee really old cars, they are very dangerous, cars get outdated every 5-7 years and should be replaced

Lol. Says the car makers. If it gets me safely to where I need to go and is still reliable, why would I buy a new one every _____ years?

+1. That also seems incredibly wasteful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people keeping thee really old cars, they are very dangerous, cars get outdated every 5-7 years and should be replaced

So untrue!! I drove a MDX for 14 years, got rid of it at 130K. Acura basically rebuilt the engine when it was 5 years old/60K (the oil leak issue) for free. Only got rid of it when it had 2 electrical issues (alarm system and Bluetooth not working)---figured I wanted a car alarm that actually worked and handsfree for calls, So I sold it. Mainly because A) once you start with electrical issues, it's never 1 or 2 things, more starts to go and those can get expensive, as it's labor intensive and difficult to find the exact issues at times and B) because I got 25% of what I had paid for it 14 years before when I sold. But if the issues had not happened, I'd still be driving it 3 years later. It was a great, safe vehicle.

That car was a lemon from the start.

Google is your friend. Honda/Acura had tons of vehicles in a range around that with Major Oil issue. I was aware of that and got my engine rebuilt for free as soon as the first sign of issues---told the manager, "I know the issues, what do I need to document so Acura fixes this sooner rather than later." 3 weeks later, I had a rental car for 3 weeks while they waited for parts to fix it. Had there been engine damage, I would have gotten an entirely new engine.

Other than that, the car was 14+ years old before I had any issues. Electrical issues at 14+ years is not unusual---shit happens with older cars. Hardly a lemon.
I'll take an Acura/honda anyday over a Kia/Ford/etc. Honda actually recalls/fixes problems much sooner than most manufacturers.

You keep harping on the 14-yr thing, but your car was a lemon from the start, needed a completely new engine at the 5-yr mark and only had 130k when you finally made the terrific decision to get rid of it. LEMON

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people keeping thee really old cars, they are very dangerous, cars get outdated every 5-7 years and should be replaced

Lol. Says the car makers. If it gets me safely to where I need to go and is still reliable, why would I buy a new one every _____ years?

+1. That also seems incredibly wasteful.

This. Exactly. I drive cars til they won’t move or right before they become unsafe. It’s ridiculous to believe cars need replacing this often. I’m 60 and have only had 4 cars in my life. Bought first at 22.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are people keeping thee really old cars, they are very dangerous, cars get outdated every 5-7 years and should be replaced

So untrue!! I drove a MDX for 14 years, got rid of it at 130K. Acura basically rebuilt the engine when it was 5 years old/60K (the oil leak issue) for free. Only got rid of it when it had 2 electrical issues (alarm system and Bluetooth not working)---figured I wanted a car alarm that actually worked and handsfree for calls, So I sold it. Mainly because A) once you start with electrical issues, it's never 1 or 2 things, more starts to go and those can get expensive, as it's labor intensive and difficult to find the exact issues at times and B) because I got 25% of what I had paid for it 14 years before when I sold. But if the issues had not happened, I'd still be driving it 3 years later. It was a great, safe vehicle.

That car was a lemon from the start.

Google is your friend. Honda/Acura had tons of vehicles in a range around that with Major Oil issue. I was aware of that and got my engine rebuilt for free as soon as the first sign of issues---told the manager, "I know the issues, what do I need to document so Acura fixes this sooner rather than later." 3 weeks later, I had a rental car for 3 weeks while they waited for parts to fix it. Had there been engine damage, I would have gotten an entirely new engine.

Other than that, the car was 14+ years old before I had any issues. Electrical issues at 14+ years is not unusual---shit happens with older cars. Hardly a lemon.
I'll take an Acura/honda anyday over a Kia/Ford/etc. Honda actually recalls/fixes problems much sooner than most manufacturers.

You keep harping on the 14-yr thing, but your car was a lemon from the start, needed a completely new engine at the 5-yr mark and only had 130k when you finally made the terrific decision to get rid of it. LEMON

And sold it for 25% of what I paid for it at the 14 year mark. CarMax sold it about 10 days later for even more than that---so someone will be driving it for years to come, A$$hole! Just not me, because I replaced it with a $100K vehicle, paid for with cash

[Anonymous]

It would depend on your situation.

I have a 2007 Corolla with less than 80K miles on it. Fall of 2023, I had to drop a $5K repair for wear and tear, plus replacement of things that commonly wear out at that mileage. I don't pay for parking and 90% of it is short trips since I have lived closed to public transit for nearly 15 years, but have not had to pay parking premiums and the car is paid off. Most years the maintenance is less than $2,000 so still makes sense to drive it into the ground and save up for a new car.

My car body will likely rust out before the engine actually dies. Every time I take i to the shop they call it a "warrior." I mainly use it for very short trips, and it's the car we take on longer trips to visit the in-laws.

If I had to drive a lot for work more regularly, I would have replaced the car a while ago, ideally before the $75-100K mark when the expensive stuff starts to wear. But if I can get 5 more years out of the car spending $2-3K a year on maintenance, I still come out ahead, especially considering I have not had a car payment in 14 years.