Anonymous wrote:I have a 2014 Subaru Forester with 90k miles on it. Every year it needs about $600 to $800 of work - I'm getting new rear brakes today. It might need new tires later this year. I've heard the engine can need replacing at 100k miles on this particular year/model.

This is the family car for camping, visiting grandma, going to Costco. It's also my commuter into the city once a week. It drove 12k miles in the last two years. Our other car is an older sedan that just gets driven around town as a secondary car. Oldest kid is 11, so a third car is some ways off.

Carvana puts the trade-in at $10k, which I think is optimistic. I've priced newer used cars to replace it (Subaru or Toyota SUVs) and I'm looking at $30 to $40k which is definitely uncomfortable.

Even though major repairs are expensive, it still seems more cost-effective to repair than replace. Are there factors I'm not thinking of? How long would you keep a car?

Everyone is going to tell you to drive your car until it dies --- if you are looking for true financial advice, that is it. Cars are a sunk cost. However, I am in the same boat right now and will be upgrading -- I usually do after 10 years. To me, I'd rather bail out when my car still has some value and I don't have to deal with the maintenance that comes with old cars. Plus safety and EV technology have come so far in the past 10 years that my car (2013) feels particularly dated these days.

OP, does your car wear tires quickly because it needs an alignment service?

Anonymous wrote:OP here, thanks for the input. I do understand cars require maintenance, but I am trying to figure out the point at which it's a waste of money on the old car, as compared to getting a new car.
For example, let's say the engine does die at 100k miles and engine replacement is $8k. That's probably the value of the car ... but a lot cheaper than a new car.
If you wouldn't do that replacement, then does that affect how willing you are to replace tires or other systems in the years leading up, again as compared to a new car (not as compared to driving with bald tires).

Well, you're not far off here with the engine repair mention.

I had a 2005 Subaru Impreza. When it was 14, and 110K miles, I sold it for $1,000 to a coworker who wanted it as-is for his car-repairing father to use as a winter car (trade in value was $750 at a dealer). For $1K, it was a good deal. He and I both knew that it had a head gasket oil seepage issue of unknown seriousness that kept triggering Check Engine codes. It had been expensive for me to repair the car a few times because Subarus aren't very typical. There were plenty of small things wrong, like the CD player stopped being able to intake CDs, the tailgate latch spring broke for a 2nd time, and a key fob failed (that was easily $700 of repairs right there that I never made).

The car lasted for another running year then it broke down for good. The father sold it non-running for $500 to a guy who wanted to wrench on it and get it running. Which he did. But he did about $4K retail value of work by himself over a period of weeks.

My next car was a certified used sedan which was 3 years old with less than 20K miles for less than $20K right before the pandemic. I was happy to have the newer car vs. putting in $5-$6K for a car with a lot of cosmetic and functional deficits to stay on the road for maybe max 5 more years. It had more safety features than the old car and more space.

With cars living longer these days, a low mileage off-lease car can be a good deal. I'd say you should keep your eyes open and shop a little. With kids, reliable transport is more critical than wringing every drop of value out of the Forester.

You might also consider that your car may have a recommended timing belt and water pump replacement coming up soon. That's easily $2K or so. I had done that on my Subaru to keep it running and got about a year of use on that investment before I got skittish about the car and gave up. I was avoiding doing 200 mile road trips in hot weather because of the check engine light issue recurring. And that was affecting my happiness/freedom.