At what point does a car become not worth keeping?

At $35 for plugs and new wires for my V-6 engine, I swap plugs($12
for a full set) every year and wires every two years.

Plus, it's actually fun and simple to swap plugs if your engine isn't
crammed in there like the Audi A4(worst design I've seen so far).

If it's something like a typical inline-4 or inline-6, 5 minutes
tops.

 

Heh. I see a pattern here. Old versus newer. The older designs were
built to last as they didn't have computer models to determine longevity
and so they overbuilt a bit.

A new Dakota - plastic and flim-flam everywhere. Horrendous amounts
of things that break by comparison.

 

The same will be said of the newer car when it gets older.

My 96 Mustang had 125,000 miles on it. One bad A/C bearing and a cracked
intake manifold at 105,000. I sold it before the parts fell off, I guess.

My 2000 Durango has 80,000 miles on it. No problems. When is the plastic
supposed to fall off of that one?

If it is old enough to establish longevity, it's too old to count?

 

Vehicles will last as long as you want them to. Take care of your vehicle,
and it will last indefinitely. Abuse it, and it will not last much past
it's warranty. I have a 75 Dodge truck , that is worth more now, than when
it was new. It's been well maintained and parked out of the weather,
original auto tranie, engine, diff etc (98 % original from factory). I have
a 77 Merc XR7 (bought it in 82) that is in excellent running condition,
256,000Km, body was neglected. Now it's toast. All because I didn't take
care of the body (only the running gear) we need to replace it. Replaced
with a 03 Eclipse, lets see if it'll last 25 plus years.
All the vehicles that my wife and I have owned, over our combined 55 years
of driving, cost less than half, what we bought the Eclipse for.
Maintenance cost for that time would be less than $5,000. That comes from
buying good used cars, and being a self maintainer.
My only lemon was my first car (English) all the rest have been Detroit
iron, (well, except the new Eclipse) and even that one was assembled in the
US of A.

Life is, what you make of it.

Nirodac

 

A national CAA survey (equivalent to the AAA) among 20000 respondants
performed in 2003 revealed the average cost of maintenance for passenger
vehicules is :

age of car
1 $200
2 $350
3 $500
4 $800
5 to12: $1100 per year

Survey respondants claimed driving an average of 19k km per year, or app
12k milles. (I am sure most respondants dont keep a detailed history of
repair costs. So let's add a couple of hundred dollars to the age 5 -12
figure.)

In the last 12 months, I spent $1400 on my 1998 Max. I drove 22k km. It now
has 103k km on the odometer.

In my estimation, the economical break point for owning a vehicule is when
it reaches 7-8 years old. At that point, the average yearly total cost of
depreciation, repairs and capital cost is at minimum. Beyond 8 years, the
average yearly cost does not get any significantly lower. As a matter of
fact, you increase the risk of being stranded, car downtime, time lost while
at shops, and loss of income if you depend on the car for such. The most
economical strategy is to buy a used car between 2 and 5 years old and keep
untill it reaches 7 or 8 years of age. A made myself a rule of thumb to
seriously consider getting rid of the car if the last 12 months actual costs
or next 12 months forecast exceeds $1500. But often emotions get in the way.
Or life has other plans.

Dan, Montreal

 

Maybe a bit longer if you have coils over the plugs... 8)

 

A friend of mine put 470,000km (292,000 miles) on an '86 Honda Accord. The
engine and auto tranny never needed a rebuild. It was still running great
when he ditched it a few years ago (due to excessive rust).

 

....this obviously is NOT Toyota... <g>

I'm at 12 years and spent 200 USD for repairs last year...

Scott in Florida

 

Every year, cars are made safer- more of them have more air bags, ABS
systems, traction control, a higher percentage are AWD, they are
tweaked based on better computer and physical simulations of crashes.
Car crashes are by far the largest cause of accidental death. Your
life is worth an almost infinite amount of money to you. The time to
get rid of a car is when it is old enough that you no longer feel safe
because newer cars are so much improved. It is likely that you will
no longer feel as safe as you could be with a newer car, long, long
before the expense of maintaining the old one becomes annoying.

 

How about taking a driving course and improving your ability to avoid
a crash?

Why do people make themselves feel safer by some stupid computer when
they have the most powerful computer on the planet between their ears?

Cars don't avoid crashes...PEOPLE do...


Scott in Florida

 

At a certain point, though, the suspension and components on the
vehicle are worn to where the vehicle kind of moves in the general
direction. The crispness and instant response is gone.

Eventually it gets to be like a big old Caddy - you point and
it lurches.

IME, 12-15 years is about when this usually happens.

 

Actually driving courses would be good, people tend to get sloppy at driving
after a while. My company used to (before budget cuts) insist that all
persons driving company vehicles take a refresher course every 5 years.
Believe me, it helps.

As for the 12-15 years suspension issue I agree somewhat, it depends on the
car and the drive. After twenty years I had my XR7 inspected, and the
mechanic said the steering was almost as good as the day the car left the
factory. The secret is regular maintenance (in this case, I lubed the ball
joints at every oil change, they had grease nipples). I can't find any
grease nipples on the ball joints of my Eclipse, which means I'm probably in
trouble, in about 12-15 years (when they say "lubed for life" who's life are
they talking about). This is an improvement??. By the way, the suspension
on the XR7 did go before twenty years, but springs and bushings for a Ford
are cheap. Again I say, it's all in the maintenance, take care of your car,
and it'll take care of you.
Of course if you have a wife who is tired of an 18 foot long 2880 Kg, 6.6
liter, fuel guzzler, no maintenance in the world is going to save the car.

Nirodac

 

You would be welcome to come drive my '92 Corolla wagon.

It is a crisp as the day it was new.

The mechanics at my favorite Toy Dealer in Venice FL marvel at it and
are just waiting for me to fall in love with one of those new
Toys...LOL.

Now I have kept up with all maintenance and fixed things that went
wrong right away.

If you take care of a Toy, it will take care of you!!!


Scott in Florida

 

LOL...one of life's rules...

If Moma ain't happy....nobody is happy!!!

Scott in Florida

 

Amen

 

It is highly dependent on the maintenance the car has received.

 

You have to look at the overall condition of the body, the interior,
and the drivetrain, and ask yourself some tough questions - If I put
$1000 into rebuilding the front suspension, or the steering box/rack
and pinion, or the rear axle, or the half-shafts, or whatever, will I
get the money back by driving the car for a few more years?

It Never makes sense to do major repairs and renovations to a car or
truck if you are going to turn around and sell it, other than the
minimum needed to get the car road-worthy if the wheel fell off - if
it's not driveable you get no money at all for it.

But if the car meets your needs, isn't structurally rusting out or
otherwise approaching "the point of no return", and repair parts are
still available, it's often a LOT cheaper to keep your old car, get
things repaired properly as they break, and keep driving it.

You take a big hit from depreciation and financing when you buy a
new car - put the money you'd use for new car payments in the bank as
savings, and you'll have a big cash pool to pay for the repairs as
they come up - and usually a lot of money left over.

--<< Bruce >>--

 

True, but the value of a 12-15 year old car is usually no more than
$1500-$2000 at best. $1000 is often closer to reality in the current
tough marketplace we now have. So - when the cost of keeping it
running properly exceeds the value - time to get a better car.

 

"Happy Wife, Happy Life"

 

Well, you can't just compare it to a new car since that's the highest standard;
you could compare it to other used cars of varying ages, which was my
inspiration for the question. Like I said, I think I asked the wrong
question -- it should've been "at what age is a used car not worth buying?" and
even then, it would be too vague, since it calls for clarification. So I should
have said "at what age is a used car not worth buying if you plan to keep it for
about 4 or 5 years?" Before everyone answered, I thought most cars were ticking
time bombs in the 100K range, but every poster seems to have a 200-400K story to
tell without as much as one rebuild.