From a financial perspective, wondering when the best time is to replace your car/SUV?
I have a 10 year old Honda SUV with 148k miles & have been loving the payment-free life! Was planning to push off a new vehicle purchase as long as possible.
However, my partner says “there will be more and more expensive repairs” and that it makes more financial sense to get a new SUV sooner.
I’m generally following the Dave Ramsey avoid debt strategy & cannot right now pay cash for a brand new vehicle.
But if I wait, presumably $$ I could get from my old car would decline and price of replacement vehicle will inch up?
Would be so interested in others’ perspectives!
My partner not as adverse to debt as I am. But I always lost at Monopoly because I hated taking risks, LOL.
We wait until there is a repair bill that doesn’t make sense for the age/mileage, and then get rid of the vehicle. We’ve always been surprised by how much a dealer will give us even for a car that needs work.
The one thing we do as we inch closer is make sure we know what we want to buy next so if we need to make a quick decision we are ready to go.
We are a Honda family, right now two 2007 civics, a 2012 civic, 2014 accord, and a 2016 odyssey. Also have a 2020 Kia. We drive them into the ground, cars for kids (or similar organization) tows them away. We never buy new. I don’t want to jinx myself, but really mostly routine maintenance (one civic hadn’t had a/c in 2 years but it would cost more than the car is worth, it’s my 28 year olds and she doesn’t care, she has cash set aside for a replacement when it dies. The only car payment I ever had was junior year in college, from the bank of mom and dad. It was a red Mazda rx7, 2 seater, had to learn how to drive a stick, great for college because since I could only fit one passenger I was rarely asked to drive and give up my parking spot.
Could look up blue book value ahead of time. We have had many Hondas. They seem to last about 150-200,000. But I agree when the repair is too much, gotta make a decision. How long would it take to save money to get a new car that gives a $5000 trade in?
Our goal is to have a minimum 1 of 2 cars that we feel pretty comfortable taking multi hour trips with. Right now we are sort of getting to the limit with this with my car 10 years old and H’s 8ish. Both over 100K. But we also are doing less multi hour trips beyond 3 hours.
I put $2K - about the only $ I’ve ever put in my 2014 Subaru earlier this summer. It was sort of a “one thing let to another” situation at the repair shop and all repairs that made sense to do so our thought was “ok, pay this 2K out this time and no more big bucks going into it - if needed, time to replace it”.
First of all, I’ve always been a saver, so the only car that I had to take a loan for, was my first car. I borrowed about 5K from my mom, paid her back in 6 months. Drove that car about 10 yrs, over 100K, sold it for maybe 1K, bought the next one for cash.
I have this theory about cars, that if you buy new, and drive them for about 100K or 10 yrs, that after that time the cost of repairs annually would equal about 1/10th the cost of a new one, not to mention the inconvenience and uncertainty of dealing with repairs. So I tend to buy new, modest cars, not loaded, often the puller advertised model. I then drive it for about 100K, maybe a bit more, then sell it and buy a new car.
That being said, we have had a Toyota Sienna that we’ve driven over 200K, and redone the front end on, since I just hate to subject a new minivan to the abuse that we heap on the old one!
As I get older, and single, I am less willing to drive an old car. I want dependable, safe transportation, every time. That means driving a younger car.
I also drive a 2014 Honda with slightly lower mileage. The original plan was to keep it till it died, spouse has no interest in purchasing a new vehicle, but I’m feeling less sure about this. It’s an outside car it and turns out sea air and snowy winters are not great for some components . My main criteria is whether I can trust it to be reliable. Once that is in question I’m ready for something that makes me feel more secure, though figuring out a replacement is a chore.
I had a 2000 Volvo that I drove to 200,000 miles then sold to a friend. It was 13 years old when I sold it.
My last Volvo was 12 years old, but if you read my other thread, you know that volvo was getting ready to drop a third new engine into the car (the original, and replacement one…this would have been replacement two). Car had 126,000 miles on it. I would have driven it longer…except for the engine issue and its age.
DD has a 2012 camry she intends to drive until it dies. It has 160,000 miles on it now, and she hopes to get to over 200,000. she will.
So…we replace when we need to. Because we are a two car family, we are never in a pinch.
We’re also ones that drive 'em till they die and never buy new, mostly Hondas when we were younger, mostly Toyotas now. We’ve never had any problems with them or repairs that caused us to blanch, just proper maintenance and wear-n-tear until it’s time to move on. I’d say we average about 200-250K miles on our vehicles driving them 15-18 years before trade-in for whatever they might be worth. When we went to buy our current Highlander, we were driving an 18-year-old Ford Windstar. The salesman gently said, “I’m sorry, but I think $500 is the most we can do on a trade-in.” I said, “$500!!! Honey, the car is still worth something. We should probably hold off on a new car.” DH was not amused. Man, I miss that car.
On average, we keep our cars 15 years. 12 years is when I figure we’ve done pretty well with a vehicle and wouldn’t be angry if we had to get rid of it.
We’ve bought a mixture of old and new, but the most we’ve ever paid by far was $25K for our Crosstrek in 11/2020. My Hyundai Sonata is 12 years old and our spare is a 2003 Jeep Liberty. Most of the time we’ve had fewer repairs over the car’s lifetime with the ones we bought new
We tend to get rid of them when the repairs come more and more often. I would expect a car not to need any repairs for at least 7 years and would be mad if one did. Then $300 every 18-24 months seems reasonable for awhile. But if it starts needing to be in the shop multiple times a year then I start thinking about a new one. And I do also like to have one reliable car for out of town trips, so we try to stagger the purchases that way.
We just bought a new RAV 4 hybrid to replace my H’s 11 year old Honda Civic. It had about 120k miles on it. I had been suggesting we replace it for about the past year. In June it needed a repair that would cost about 3K so we decided to replace it. I think we were lucky that the car was still driveable without the repair so we were able to wait for the car we wanted. My car is a 10 year old Subaru Outback with 120k miles so I also wanted to replace my H’s car now so that we wouldn’t be replacing 2 cars at the same time. Our last 2 cars were used when we bought them but the RAV4 is new, we intend to keep it for a long time and it will become our travel car.
We hold ours a long time but usually by 100 to 110,00 miles we get a new one- what I don’t want is to drive a car I don’t feel safe in or fear will break down.
I’m not sure what the availability of new cars is at the moment but if there was a particular make/model I wanted I’d probably at least start to look into how easy it would be to get if I suddenly needed to replace my car quickly.
I do the same. It seems about 12 years. I drive a 2014 Honda Odyssey. So far, no major repairs needed. I have $95k on it. I might get more than 12 years out if it if I’m lucky.
One advantage of course to deferring the new car is that in X years when you do finally get the new car, it will be X years newer than if you purchase now.
My around-town car is a 2006 Odyssey (103K miles)…. we have no plans to replace it unless it gives us severe trouble. A few years ago we did replace the alternator.
My husband’s 2013 Audi A6 has about 110K miles. We did have a scare with a check engine light on last afternoon of our recent 4800 mile trip, about 200 miles from home (on desolate I70 in eastern CO) in 104 degrees. Autozone read the code… an issue with turbocharger. We had a friend help us reset the light, and it took more than a week for the light to come back. As my husband was backing it out of the garage to take to Audio oil change / service, the light went out again. We’re keeping an eye on it, not sure if we’d spend $3600 on a new turbocharger. My husband really loves the car… and it’s great for road trips…. but that’s a lot of money. No big trips planned, so no rush on deciding.
One option is for the Audi to become my around-town car if the Honda acts up. I’d miss having my “pickup truck” (I keep the seats out) and high seating though.
I am of the school of running them into the ground. With basic maintenance most cars will last a long time,the duty cycle on modern engines and drivetrains is easily 250k. I agree with others, if you are finding yourself replacing item after item of relatively big ticket items, then it could be time to dump the car. I will note there are some wearables, exhaust systems for example even though many of them are stainless steel, will eventually wear out, and if it involves the catalytic converter, it can be really expensive, like 5k. Cam belts can cost like 1200 and need to be replaced every 70k miles or so, things like shock eventually go, alternators can go.
These are expensive, but then think about the cost of a new car, even used, and that over their life they will need things replaced, the cost of depreciation (on a new car), interest, it is worth it. Having a mechanical background (gear head, not pro), modern cars made in the last 20 years will last the 250k miles and be reliable if you maintain them decently and again, unless they get to where they constantly need big repairs, I keep them.
I really appreciate all the input and insights. I’m happy to hear that I am not the only one who wants to run my car as long as possible (while still being safe).
All the different perspectives have been so, so helpful.
It will take me a while to save up for another vehicle (while leaving money in other accounts for different purposes).
I feel better having a plan - save up, but be prepared (via research and savings) to get a new vehicle (or young used one) if I’m faced with an extremely big repair.
Intrigued by the concept mentioned by a few here of a couple having an ‘around town’ car then a sturdy, reliable, bigger vehicle for longer trips. Partner has a large SUV already so I’ve been questioning the need for 2 since we have no kids at home.
My only concern is commuting 250 miles a week at 70 mph on an accident-prone highway. Not sure if smaller car would be as safe as SUV? I’ve looked at the smallest Honda SUV (HR-V) which seems promising (but still in SUV world…)
Wondered if anyone has experience with reliable, safe ‘commuting vehicle’? Thanks again!
We are a “drive 'em til they (almost) drop” family. When we feel like they are unreliable and/or we are to the point where the cost of a huge repair isn’t worth it.
We seem like the perfect people to buy new, but have been buying used for years now (we have a guy who gets us high quality (not high end) cars that are like 2-3 years old).
We have donated to the fire dept who uses them for “jaws of life” training or had our guy sell at auction (we got a $1000 one time!)
We usually pay cash, but during the pandemic, used car priced went up so much! So we ended up getting a smaller car. And shockingly, we got a new one. But the new model years were in and we got 0% financing on the older year. (I think they just wanted to get rid of it.)
We needed a commuter car for spouse (not a far commute) and in early 2022, got a 2021 Nissan Kicks. Out the door (taxes, tags, title, etc) for like $22k. It is more spacious than we imagined. Good gas milage. We got the low-end model which comes with all the safety features (blind spot, lane assist, etc.) and Apple Car Play. The only bad thing is the tiny console. We have ended up driving on a number of trips (just 2 of us, 4 would be tight) within a couple of hours.
I was actually shocked when DC looked at a new Subaru Crosstrek and the low end model didn’t come with blind spot warning!
Toyota Camry. Or Corolla. Both good choices. Reliable good transportation. You can get the trim package that suits you best.
DH had a Golf TDI which he used for commuting for a number of years. He loved that car.
We have also had Honda Accords which have been great for commuting, and a Subaru Legacy sedan (which they are stopping making). But the Impreza is an option for something smaller.
My “around town” car only gets about 2k miles/year. If you are doing a long commute, there is good reason to prioritize having a car that is safe and dependable…. where you feel confident in it in all weather conditions. That may mean keeping your current SUV, or it may mean getting new. It’s good to ponder it since being happy with your commute/job is what keeps you working and saving for retirement.
We bought one of the early HR-Vs (2016) and it’s been pretty reliable and is good for fuel efficiency while still able to carry plenty with the rear seats folded down. But try not to get the one with the smallest engine since that was designed for the very small Honda Fit and is significantly underpowered on the heavier HR-V which makes it impossible to drive at 70mph without a constantly overrevving engine (we got the higher end model instead after test driving both).
The only problem we had was with some of the door seals deteriorating and leaking water, not something we’ve encountered on other cars.
. My main criteria is whether I can trust it to be reliable. Once that is in question I’m ready for something that makes me feel more secure, though figuring out a replacement is a chore.
she will.