<p>Thanks guys. My mom bought the one she replaced mine with through Costco. My problem will be that I’ll want to do some test driving, which usually means interaction with salespeople. Even if that interaction is “thanks for the test drive, please stop chasing me into the parking lot” :)</p>
<p>I am in awe of all of you with high mileage cars. Every time we try to hold onto a car past 100K miles, we seem to have all sorts of expensive repairs (over $3K over the next 10K miles or so). Neither my H nor I know a blessed thing about car repairs. We take our cars to an excellent mechanic and I don’t think he’s taking advantage of our lack of car knowledge. </p>
<p>We get scared when the expenses start mounting up, so we trade the car in. I drive at least 20K miles/year and I need a reliable car. I’d love to hang onto my Lexus (now 90K miles), but I’m afraid of the maintenance costs.</p>
<p>So, all of you with reliable high mileage cars…what should I expect in maintenance and repairs for an older car?</p>
<p>Our S tried Costco & Hertz. He was interested and even tried to buy a Volvo from Hertz but the A/C was emitting a smell that was making him ill, so he had to back out of the deal. He was ready to buy a new Mazda but co-incidentally inherited a car from his aunt the weekend before he was going to pick up his new Mazda, seriously! What are the odds?</p>
<p>The two cars I purchased, I was able to mostly circumvent dealing with salespeople. The first one I bought, I test drove a few different brands and models before finding one I really liked. I then went on-line & printed out exactly how much I would have to pay to purchase it from Oregon & shipped to HI (they have no sales tax). I took it into the dealer and asked them to match it or I would buy it in Oregon. They hemmed & hawed and I asked to speak with the manager who had authority to make me a deal because I preferred to buy in our state rather than Oregon. The dealer came close to the price & I purchased from them. (They were the only dealers of that brand & model of car in our state.)</p>
<p>The only other car I bought new was a Toyota van. I talked with someone who did fleet sales and he offered to sell me a van for a fleet price with the features I wanted and the color & model I wanted. It was again no haggle, no hassle. </p>
<p>The other vehicles we have owned have all been 2nd-hand, around blue book prices or less (sometimes free from relatives). The older, higher mileage vehicles do require somewhat more maintenance, but they cost of repairing them and keeping them in good running order is MUCH lower than how much car payments would run.</p>
<p>We have regular honest conversations with the mechanics about whether the vehicles are worth repairing and continuing to use. As long as we & they agree it’s worth keeping them running, we do. Whenever there is a major repair bill (4 figures), we have these conversations. </p>
<p>All the vehicles we own have airbags, anti-lock brakes, power door locks and air conditioning. At the time they were built, they were all considered among the safest models available. </p>
<p>We have no great desire to own brand new cars more often than we do, though one of these days, we MAY buy an electric or hybrid car and put in a charging station (my dream), or perhaps a solar car when they’re available (Hawaii certainly has the sun for it).</p>
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<p>Most toyota products have a predictable mean-time-to-failure on their components. Usually if you find a message board that specializes in your model, you can reliably predict the things that need to be done. Certain models can expect to require, for instance, new starter contacts at around 100,000 miles.</p>
<p>To gain this knowledge, you just need to seek out the proper “enthusiast” message board, and usually the FAQ section will give you a very good “birds eye view” of the maintenance issues of your model.</p>
<p>I drive a 10 year old Infiniti with 113,000 miles on it, and it only recently has been giving me a bit of stress. The transmission was acting up and I was very nervous about the prospect of it needing a new one, but luckily it just needed a flush. Knock on wood the car is in great shape, and I really hope to keep it going for a long time! We have really come to appreciate not having car payments, especially with college tuition! Even my husband, who always leased his cars has come around…he loved getting a new luxury car every couple of years, but now appreciates his 8 year old car. </p>
<p>Mansfield, the issues I have had with the Infiniti have been basic wear and tear stuff like replacing the starter (that was the biggest thing), belts, hoses, brakes (luckily they have been fine for a long time). I have a very trustworthy local mechanic and I bring it to him at the slightest odd noise. etc. I really think that’s the key. Baby the car and you will head a lot of problems off at the pass. My sister drives a Lexus and has over 100,000 miles on it and so far so good. Does your car have any issues right now? I know that the Lexus dealers here very often have great deals for trade-ins of cars like yours that are in great condition.</p>
<p>The timing belt often goes at about 100,000 miles, and it is a pricey repair on many models.</p>
<p>I just want all of you who are envious of our Volvo medals to know that my husband was in the army for many years, so he likes getting those medals. And USAA has a great buying service, thumper.</p>
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<ul>
<li>Rubber boots on suspension parts.</li>
<li>Rubber parts in general as they dry out from age (including tires if low mileage).</li>
<li>Timing belts, if equipped.</li>
<li>Automatic transmission, if equipped.</li>
<li>Manual transmission clutch lining, if equipped (wears out sooner with lots of city driving).</li>
<li>Brake pads (wears out sooner with lots of city driving).</li>
<li>Batteries every few years.</li>
<li>Spark plugs, if equipped.</li>
<li>Struts that hold up trunk/hatch get weaker or non-functional.</li>
</ul>
<p>As others have said, check forums relating to your particular make and model of car to find out what are common failure items on it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good advice. The repairs mentioned are things we’ve had done. It just seems that everything goes at once. It gets expensive and rather than thinking “oh good, we’ve fixed everything and we should be set for awhile”, we get afraid of recurring high repair bills and just go and get another car (and another car payment). I will check for some Lexus forums.</p>
<p>With a 16 year old car, I’m also afraid of recurring high repair bills. The dealership I bring the car to for service always seems to find something wrong (this has been a pattern with them for years), so I’m never quite sure if the repair is really necessary. I found an independent shop that I trusted more, but they charged more for parts.</p>
<p>Thumper, I drive a 1996 Volvo 850 (the precursor to your car, I believe). I’m also not thrilled with the new Volvos or their price.</p>
<p>“I’m also not thrilled with the new Volvos or their price.”</p>
<p>What is WRONG with you people??? SPEND, SPEND, SPEND! If you don’t have the cash just BORROW, BORROW, BORROW! Credit cards, retirement account, HELOC … it doesn’t matter where the money comes from. You may have to defer retirement a few years, but you’ll sure look good cruising the interstate in your new ride!</p>
<p>On a less sarcastic note, the Audi dealer where I purchased my last used car told me that I’m a dying breed … persons who actually purchase higher-end vehicles. He said 90% of his business was leasing new cars … with a 9,000 miles/year limit.</p>
<p>I do my own maintenance work mostly, so regular repairs (on the Audi) aren’t a concern for me. But to friends, I recommend cars from either side of the Sea of Japan.</p>
<p>Older cars have higher maintenance costs, sure. But they have no car payments and lower insurance and registration costs. The big risk is that an older car could need a repair at an inconvenient time. We take the car in to our long-term trusted mechanic at the first shake, rattle or roll 
as well as for all routine maintenance. That helps. And we both have relatively short commutes/access to public transport/ability to work from home in the event of an unexpected two-day repair job.</p>
<p>To me a car is a tool. All that I care about is that it’s safe and affordable. </p>
<p>Both my DH and I drive 2007 Hyundai vehicles, which were purchased new… late in the year. His Azera has 130K miles and my Veracruz has 122K. All we have done to them is change the oil, rotate and replace (once to date) the tires, and replace the brakes. They have been extremely reliable for us.</p>
<p>When they do decide to die, we plan to replace them with certified pre-owned vehicles with low miles - less than 30K. I’ll gladly let someone else take the depreciation hit, next go around.</p>
<p>To MaryOC’s requirements for a car being safe and affordable, I’ll add comfortable. These days, affordable and comfortable seem to be incompatible.</p>
<p>Older cars are more subject to repair shop fraud.</p>
<p>I brought my car in for a maintenance two weeks ago. Then I had a tire leak last week so I brought it to my tire place. I went shopping while they worked on it. They called me up and said that the flat was fixed (nail in the tire) but I needed a new tie rod and that they could do it for me (along with an alignment) fairly quickly. I was suspicious as the first place would have told me if there were any front end issues so I told them that I’d bring it to my regular sharp. They said that they could do it cheaper and right now but I said no.</p>
<p>I dropped my car off early this morning to do the tie rod. They called me back a few hours later and they said that they had two technicians look at the front-end and they road-tested it. They found no problems. I picked up the car an hour ago and found that they didn’t charge for looking at the car. I’m trying to decide whether I should file a complaint with the tire place (national well-known reputable chain) or with the Attorney General. I have been using this tire place since 1990 so I suspect that it’s a single-person issue. The guy at my regular place said that this can happen at any dealership or repair-shop. You can have one person doing this sort of thing to make their numbers look good in a shop that is otherwise honest.</p>
<p>I think that my car at 250K miles may be more of a target for this sort of fraud compared to something with 15K miles on it.</p>
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<p>Car companies are very good today at squeezing dollars out of people for additional creature comforts. I started noticing this about five years ago with what they did with trim levels and equipment levels. Some of these features may actually be very inexpensive or free to implement but very pricey to the customer.</p>
<p>When I bought my car, I had two options on equipment level. I have allergies so I would have liked the HEPA air filtration system. It was only available on the high-end equipment level which was $8K more than the base model. I didn’t feel like spending $8K so that I could breathe better. Four years later, the service guy told me that they could pop a HEPA filter in the car if I wanted it. Apparently, there’s an empty space for the HEPA filter in the ventilation system. They just had to put one in. These filters cost $10-$30 online.</p>
<p>I’ve learned from Sears bad experiences NEVER to trust anyone who performs a service on my car to be honest about any other work that “needs” to be done. Sears would inevitably find a lot of things that my car needed. I’d have them write up a complete list & take the list & car to my mechanic, who would go over the car & say that ALL of the items on the list were NOT needed.</p>
<p>I like Costco for my tires & my regular mechanics for the rest of the work. I have one mechanic who works on our two Volvos and another who works on our Toyota (any Japanese or American car).</p>
<p>Our Volvo mechanic says we have one of the last good Volvos available (2006 S40)–he would NOT buy or recommend any of the more recent Volvos, as their quality is not what it used to be. Personally, I am not a fan of Volvo, so find it ironic that our family owns two previously owned Volvos. At least we love our mechanic, who keeps them running well, but the parts ARE expensive and there are very few places you can get good work done on them. Replacing a key for the 2006 Volvo is a $350-$450 expense!</p>
<p>What car do you have that can just allow you to “pop” in a HEPA filter? We’d love to do that with all our cars too! We have LOTS of allergies and none of our cars have that option, that we know of. Thanks!</p>
<p>We are a buy and hold family:</p>
<p>2004 Pilot - 160,000</p>
<p>1999 Camry - 126,000</p>
<p>
That’s true and is what I alluded to in an earlier post suggesting a tranny fluid/filter change but not get talked into ancillary work while doing so. </p>
<p>I do most of the work on my cars including some classics I own so I’m very familiar with car mechanics. The thing is, once a car gets to a certain age (although it doesn’t have to be the advanced age of the cars of many of us posting here), there’ll be wear on components. Mechanic ‘A’ might leverage that to try to convince the owner to replace it with a new component. Mechanic ‘B’ might truly believe the part is somewhat worn and therefore it’s best to replace it with a new part, and mechanic ‘C’ might have enough experience and integrity to realize that although the part is halfway through its life it still has a long way to go and therefore it’s best to put it on a ‘watch list’ to continue to check and only replace it when it really needs to be replaced. The difficulty if relying on others is to find that mechanic ‘C’.</p>
<p>A tie rod end should be pretty straightforward since a worn one will exhibit noticeable ‘slop’ in the joint or a deteriorated/torn rubber boot. It should be demonstrable.</p>
<p>I had a shop (tire shop I believe - not a national chain though) also call out tie rod ends once but this was not long after I put brand new tie rod ends on the car since I replaced all of the front end steering components at once so I told them ‘no - please give my car back’ and ended up having them do no work at all, even an alignment. They were clearly trying to rip me off. </p>
<p>I think it’s disgusting that a person in a position of trust and power would try to take advantage of people but I suppose it happens all too frequently in a number of vocations.</p>