Both ShawWife and I work from home and our cars get relatively light use and we generally keep them until they die. ShawWife has a Acura MDX that is 2012, I believe, with maybe 120K miles. I have a 2014 BMW with almost 100K miles.
My decision rule has been to imagine that I was amortizing the car over 10 years. As long as the car remains reliable, if the repair costs are less than 1/10 of the cost of a replacement, we keep the old car. How do you make that choice? Do you have a better decision rule (Iām clearly ignoring the time value of money?)
I think the replacement cost for ShawWife is probably $70K and for my car maybe $100K (it was $60K when I bought it). Weād probably both opt for plug-in hybrids as most of our drives are local and could be done just on electric but we drive to Canada, NYC, and Florida.
We just had to do a repair of a gas line leak on ShawWifeās car ā about $5K all in. Normally, we would say, āOK, until repair costs go up, it is still below the $7K estimated cost and we keep the car.ā
But, in light of tariffs, should we be reevaluating? I have heard that BMW prices will go up but more like 4% than 25%.
I donāt own a car any more, but my hassle tolerance is very low. If have to constantly take a car in for a little repair here and there, it would be deal breaker for me. Itās not the cost, but the hassle of bringing the car in, figure out if the cost the right, did they actually fixt it, and then have to go pick it up. It is why I used to get a new car every 3-5 years. I also think newer cars have better safety features.
If you are thinking about buying a new car I would get it today. 
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I think if youāre considering that you might be car shopping in the next 1-3 years, it would make sense to do it now.
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This! Our local Subaru dealership had record breaking sales on Saturday. Their lot isā¦empty. People getting their new cars now instead of waiting.
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Iād determine the expected combined car payments for both new vehicles and put that money in a high interest savings account monthly until your current cars kick the bucket. Youāre likely to get another 3 years out of each car. Then, when the time comes, buy pre-owned.
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I would say that you should buy a car when you are ready to buy a car.
Many brands have extensive inventories - some a year worth of supply. Others will be tighter - or certain models - like Toyota Hybrids.
In the end, we donāt know what will happen - will tariffs happen, will they be short lived, or anything else.
We also know prices are so high - in many cases the OEMs are going to eat any increases. They donāt have a choice.
To me, Iām buying when Iām ready.
Does it make sense to buy a year or two ahead of schedule because of potentiallyl a few thousand dollar price hike?
Personally, Iād say no.
I donāt want to be forced.
Dealers are purposely running pre-tarfiff sales.
Why shouldnāt they?
It was quarter end and I know for a fact how much ātrunkā money the manufacturers have out there - so dealers have gotten very very aggressive.
To each their own - but a panic purchase seems unnecessary to me.
If I were to buy a year from now and the cost was up, then ok - but at least I bought on my own terms.
And thereās always substitutes.
How much confidence do you have in the source of this prediction ?
Recently, I suggested that a family member purchase a new BMW now due to the expected price increase.
If a car evidences a lack of reliability or any safety concern, I replace it. Your priorities may differ, but safety & reliability are our priorities.
P.S. BMW is considering CKD (complete knock-down into components) assembly in the US (or elsewhere such as in India) if it will significantly reduce the tariff percentage.
Recently read a brief piece on BMWs imported into the US and stripping of the EU VAT. Not sure how this will work under the current administration.
This made me laugh because son sent the below link a few days ago with the comment, āGlad I had finally followed your advice in December and didnāt put this off any longer.ā
He did have to wait the listed 60-70 days for delivery (car was in production when reserved December 30). But the part I liked best is I donāt think heās ever thanked us for nagging before!
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/dude-wheres-my-car-toyota-buyers-face-long-waits-amid-hybrid-boom-2025-03-31/
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The luxuries are more likely to eat costs initially. BMW has already said they plan to do so on cars produced through May 1st built in Mexico.
They donāt have a choice - the world is priced out of the market. With markets falling and jobs being lost, the potential market size is smaller.
They will likely extend that - and for new years (MY26), will likely build ācheaperā or less equipped cars - assuming tariffs are even there for an extended period (which is an unknown).
We usually give up our old vehicles when they have to be towed away, they truly just die, around age 18 or so (we currently have two 2007ās in our fleet). Mostly Hondas, that we buy pre-owned with cash. Iām very practical with cars, we mostly own Hondas so really just regular maintenance. We have a very trustworthy mechanic 5 minutes away.
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Iām reading this with interest. Our family has one vehicle, a 2016 Corolla. I need it to get to work. It has about 80K miles on it. Iād really like to wait a couple more years before getting a new car.
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A 2016 Corolla with 80k miles is a basically new car!
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Cheaper option mixes on existing models may be easy to do (although that will squeeze automaker profits since many of the expensive options do not seem to be that expensive at the automaker level), but cheaper entire models may take a few years to appear if they were not already designed for the US market.
Check out the country where each auto manufacturer assembles their hybrid models. This may help to understand the effect of the proposed tariffs under the current administration.
DH was starting to lookā¦but he really loves his current car. It was having some oil loss issues, but otherwise is in excellent condition. For $8500, Volvo had an engine rebuild including all parts and labor, and things like the timing belt and a few other related to the engine things.
You canāt buy even a decent used car for $8500.
This engine comes with a lifetime warranty as long as we own the car. We figure that buys us about 5 yearsā¦at least.
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We like to buy (with cash) what we wantā¦admittedly with nicer choices as weāve gotten older, more savings. But we donāt drive as much as some families, and we keep our cars a long time. I just switched from a 2006 Odyssey (still running fine, the financially sound optionā¦. sold it to somebody who really needs a car.). Got a a new Lexus NX 350h (hybrid, not plug in). We had to wait but yayā¦ beat the tariffs. There is some learning curve with the new electronics, but the extra safety and conveniece features are lovely. All cars now have backup camera, but the panasonic option for ātop viewā is lovely too.
In your case @shawbridge, it sounds like you probably have enough savings to follow your heart. (Though dang on the new tariff factors!). Good luck with the decision process.
My criteria for when to get a new car sound a lot like yours, although we generally get less expensive cars (more like a Prius or a Forester or a Civic).
The last time that I switched cars I did so a bit earlier than normal. One motivation was the improved safety features on new cars. I have found the new safety features to be quite valuable. Adaptive cruise control and a very good backup camera are two things that I like a lot.
Having my car and my wifeās car fail at the same time was something that we wanted to avoid. The last time that I got a new car put us on pretty much āout of phaseā renewal schedules, so that my current car should be about half way through its life when her car needs to be replaced.
We too have been tempted by plug in hybrids, in my case because a lot of my driving is very local, but some is long distance. However, the last time that I looked at this the extra cost of the plug in hybrid would significantly exceed the amount that I would save on gasoline costs over the entire lifetime of the car.
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lol those are the cars we buy!
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LOL! I bought my FJ Cruiser with 92,000 miles on it 7 years ago.
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By cheaper, I simply mean less equipped.
Cheaper - as in more entry models - is already being planned by some of the luxuries.
But I meant - less equipment on the models which indeed will cause a lower profit per unit retailed. However, the throughput will be most important.
I suspect, this wonāt last long because no matter how you look at it, tariffs are inflationary and the results in the press wonāt be pretty - and that matters here too.
Thereās already been mention of ānegotiationsā - that means settlement.
Companies arenāt going to spend billions re-homing to the US based on here today, changed tomorrow.
Yes, companies are building here now - but thatās not tariff related and the componentry is still crossing borders, in some cases multiple times.