Is it time to sell my 96 civic?

I currenly have a 96 civic EX in good condition. It currenly has 99,000
miles on it and I am told that once it hits 100k the value will drop
dramatically. I have had no problems at all with the car. Original clutch,
had the timing belt replaced, have a new battery, some brake pads. It has
been a great car. Not being very educated on cars(sorry), how long can I
expect my car to run before it starts needing expensive maintenance? I
realize this will be a guess. Thankyou.

 

my 95 is at 316k km's, haven't put a part on it in over a year (then was a
cv joint, cost about 150 dollar cdn) you have a long ways to go yet, do the
regular maintance and take care of it and it will take care of you

 

Go to http://www.edmunds.com or http://www.kbb.com and check the market
value of your car at, say, 99 k, 120 k and 150 k miles and see if the
drop is as dramatic as you've been told. Regardless, payments on a new
car is going to be way higher than the monthly drop in value on your
existing car. Unless you WANT a new car I'd just keep the '96.

 

Just think how much a new one would cost.
You can do a lot of fixing for just a small fraction of that.

 

My advice is (if you can afford it) to trade it in on a newer (or new)
civic EX. I once kept a car beyond 100,000 miles and started having
various minor problems related to parts that stopped working. I traded it
in before it developed problems with tranny or engine. Of course, the
decision is up to you since you know more about your financial situation
than we do.

 

Considering the good condition that your car is in, I wouldn't even so much
as *think* about selling or trading it. If the vehicle had not been produced
by Honda, I'd probably say plan on selling it soon. But when you're dealing
with products from the Honda, Toyota, and in many cases, the Nissan family,
you should be able to get no less than 160,000 miles out of it without
extensive repair costs. There are certainly exceptions to this rule. It
really all depends on how well a vehicle is maintained.

Most brand new cars plummet in value the minute you drive them off of the
dealer's lot. Expect the same for the first three years of ownership too.
It's amazing how bad their values drop! Hondas and Toyotas sure seem to hold
their value better than Fords and GMs from what I've seen. So I wouldn't be
as concerned over how much my current vehicle's value is going to drop as
much as I would be over how much a *brand new* vehicle's value would drop
over the course of the first three years of ownership. That's the killer.
You've already taken the depreciation hits. At least I think so. After a
while the depreciation levels off. The only way to truly get your money out
of a vehicle is to purchase it and drive it until you simply cannot stand it
any longer. Drive it until the wheels nearly fall of it.

Based on what you've told us, I would keep that Civic and drive it until it
absolutely cannot be driven another mile. ;-)

J. Perry

 

Thanks. I think I will keep it. It has not had any problems at all(knock on
wood). So maybe I got a gem off the assembly line

 

I will drive it into dirt if I were you. Will it make a dramatic
difference from 99,998 miles to 10,005 miles? Probably not. This is not
the price of store merchandise.

Certainly, after 100K most cars will start to have minor problems from
time to time. Honda is no exception, but it may last a good 200K+ miles
and the problems are still MINOR. Other cars may get something we call
it "major".

If you are financially sound either way, one critical question is that
if you are concerned about the nuisance of minor problems and/or being
stranded occassionally? If the answer if yes, get a new Honda by all
means. The money you save does not worth the mental torture from
breakdowns, and this is not a vintage car that will APPRECIATE as time
goes by.

If you are like some rednecks, when their cars broke down on the
freeway, they just abandon them on the roadside, and come back after a
couple of days, jack up the car and fix it on the spot, then just keep
it.

An AAA membership may bail you out, even though basic membership is
basically useless, you have to get the plus.

 

not true about the "atleast 160000" i have a 91 honda civic dx and it has
almost 300,000 miles on it with the only Major engine repair was an igniter
for $80 other than that it runs like brand new cant even tell its on when
its idle.

 

Believe so. I have seen 220K miles.

 

I agree with J. Perry-- Honda's are renowned for their longevity; drive it
till it DROPS!
About a year ago we sold off two domestics we had: a 1999 Plymouth Voyager &
a 1998 Chevrolet Metro. And boy- did we ever take a hit on depreciation! Not
as bad on the Metro, but brutal on the Voyager- yikes!
We then purchased a new Odyssey & Civic, because we wanted some motoring
confidence going forward, some sense of security that we wouldn't be forking
out for repairs here & there (we have 4 kids so we also wanted budgetary
security). We've had many Hondas over the years, and I don't know why we
ever went away from them! I suppose we were enticed by the "value" of a
domestic- which really is no value at all.
Keep it!
-chris