I took the car in yesterday for my state emissions and inspection with a side of oil change and tire rotation. I also asked them to check out a rattle that has been driving nuts for weeks. We couldn’t quite tell where it was coming from, just somewhere on the passenger side.
Let’s review:
It’s a 2001 Nissan Altima with over 130,000 miles.
It’s 8 years old, less 19 days. (Picked it up November 2000)
I’ve replaced the clutch once around 91,000 miles.
It still runs really peachy.
It’s got a spot of rust from a hit and run accident.
It’s never had the windshield changed.
I used to have the oil changed religiously every 3000 miles.
Now I wait till at least 4000 have passed.
I put excellent tires on it the last time and I can feel the difference when I drive it in the rain or cornering at speed. ZOOM!
My girlfriends are shocked the windshield has never been broken by flying gravel. Considering how much I’ve driven on crappy, carved up, rough roads with lots of gravel, I’m amazed too. I’m thinking of having the windshield changed just so I don’t have to squint at night through chips and divots that prevent a perfect view. I can’t decide if I should wait till it actually breaks though. I swear it’s coated with titanium.
Someone at the office has a really old Honda Accord. It dates to the 1990’s. His A/C is out and the transmission has been wonky through the summer. He figured he’d replace it in the spring after he spent some time researching a new car. Not a bad strategy since he doesn’t need A/C over the winter. But alas, his plans got thwarted earlier this week when the transmission died. It’ll cost him $1200.00, which is more than the car is worth. I cracked a joke that maybe he should just fix it because a car payment is more like $3600-5000 a year. Conventional wisdom says that you should not spend more to repair a car than its worth. I’m not so sure about that.
Last year I spent $4K on my car and closer to $6K. I admit two years ago was really expensive, but that was the clutch repair and I needed new engine mounts. Pretty serious stuff. I thought of selling the car then, but I dug in and decided that I’d keep it till I needed a second clutch. That would get me really close to 200,000 miles. So far this year, I think I’ve spent about $1200 on car repairs. And that’s only because of stupidly expensive brake job at the dealer. I think if I can keep my maintenance at around $1200 a year, I can keep my car for another 70,000 miles.
So what’s your threshold for buying a new or newer car? Do you follow conventional wisdom or will you fix the car till the repair costs are more than new payments for a year?
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Initially, I would’ve said that I would go for buying a new car than doing all these repairs, but then again, after some thought and reflection on how much money I would and could save if I just repair my old car and well take better care of it, I reckon, I’d prolong the new car purchase—until I really need to.
Cheers!
I am in the same position as you with 2 cars 1999 Toyota Corolla and 2000 Ford Focus. My decision would be if it cost me $4k to repair, it’s time to invest that in a new car. That’s a down payment.
I’ve also been there where it’s been $500, $500, $500 say 4 months in a row, then I’m more okay with it.