Do you drive a car until the wheels fall off or trade it in before they do?

[TAX GUY]

I don't like buying new anymore. My wife's previous vehicles have been new and I have always bought 2-3 years old. We drive them until they approach 100k miles, then trade. Buying "previously enjoyed" and driving them for 3-4 years seems to work for us. My wife drives much further than I do so she upgrades more often.

 

[Lilliputian]

We replace my car before it starts to break down. Not necessarily before it needs one repair, but before it's going to start breaking down without some type of warning. I have 6 children, 3 of whom are in car seats (plus one in a booster). I'd have to call several of my friends to come pick us up if our car broke down. We don't fit in a taxi together.

 

[ckay87]

I've always been proud to be a "til the wheels fall off" person. But we are right now at the point where, if we wanted to do one of our drives to Disney, we couldn't. Simply because ALL of our cars' wheels are about to fall off right now. Ideally, we would have staggered old and new vehicles. lol

 

[YoYoAurora]

... I want a small SUV/crossover with 4 wheel drive, manual locks, manual windows, cruise control, and a manual transmission. Why is that so hard to find? ETA: Oh and A/C. Gotta have A/C.

Good luck on finding one with manual transmission! My 2002 Kia Sportage is manual transmission, but it didn't come with cruise control. You should see the looks I get when people realize it's a manual shift car. Most of my friends can't drive a stick shift. I wish my next car could be manual, but given the size I need, it's just not happening. I'll have to drive DH's car to enjoy driving a stick after I find my new car. :-(

 

[Turn the Page]

Good luck on finding one with manual transmission! My 2002 Kia Sportage is manual transmission, but it didn't come with cruise control. You should see the looks I get when people realize it's a manual shift car. Most of my friends can't drive a stick shift. I wish my next car could be manual, but given the size I need, it's just not happening. I'll have to drive DH's car to enjoy driving a stick after I find my new car. :-(

My Patriot actually has a manual transmission. It took me forever to find one. I know you can still get Jeep's with manuals and sports cars but really, as much as I would love tooling around town in a V8 Dodge Charger it is just not a good family car.

And yes, I too enjoy the looks. When I test drove the Patriot the salesman at the dealership said he was really impressed and apparently a lot of testosterone infused, muscle bound manly 20-something guys come in wanting to test drive cars with manual transmissions and claim they can drive them when they really can't and end up killing it and grinding the gears the whole time.

 

[MomofKatie]

My Patriot actually has a manual transmission. It took me forever to find one. I know you can still get Jeep's with manuals and sports cars but really, as much as I would love tooling around town in a V8 Dodge Charger it is just not a good family car.

And yes, I too enjoy the looks. When I test drove the Patriot the salesman at the dealership said he was really impressed and apparently a lot of testosterone infused, muscle bound manly 20-something guys come in wanting to test drive cars with manual transmissions and claim they can drive them when they really can't and end up killing it and grinding the gears the whole time.

I love manual transmission cars and would always have one if I could. My mom and dad had nothing but straight shift cars, and that is what I learned to drive on (my dad taught me how to do all kinds of cool manual transmission tricks). Unfortunately, DH doesn't like driving a manual, especially in rush hour traffic, and he gets the new cars in the family. The manual I drive now will probably be our last.

 

[ReneeA]

We are a drive them until the wheels fall of family. My DH's car is a 2001 Chrysler Voyager with 185k miles on it, he's in construction, and drives it to work. He drives an old Ford work truck there with over 250k miles on that, and is always dragging stuff to and from home and work so I'd be mad if he was putting dirty equipment in a new vehicle. He's one off those that loves his cars, treats them well, and has a hard time parting when the time comes...which is good on the pocketbook. His last few cars lasted forever - a Chevy Lumina that he traded in with 285k miles on it and a Buick Riviera with 400k miles on it. He loved them and teared up when they left.

I'm driving a 2012 Dodge Journey with 45k miles on it. It'll be paid off shortly. I like new cars but hate payments, so hopefully we can get DH's can through a couple more years so we can go awhile with no payments.

 

[Squirlz]

All four of our cars have manual transmissions.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I've always been proud to be a "til the wheels fall off" person. But we are right now at the point where, if we wanted to do one of our drives to Disney, we couldn't. Simply because ALL of our cars' wheels are about to fall off right now. Ideally, we would have staggered old and new vehicles. lol

That is one thing I do try to watch. I don't want to find myself with 3 of them dying all at the same time. My truck is 13 years old & DW's car (the main "family" car) is 8 years old. We also have a 1 year old compact, but DD will be driving soon. Because the truck is rock solid & not used all the time, we figure it to be good for another decade. DW's car is at about 105,000 miles & should be good for another 100,000. But, I think we're going to replace it when it gets to about 150k (about 10k before the next tire swap).

 

[minkydog]

We drive ours to death. Right now there is a 1998 Jeep Wrangler (98,000mi), a 2000 Ford Ranger(140,000mi), and a 1998 Ford Explorer (170,000mi) sitting in my driveway.

However, we changed it up a little last year. We traded our big honkin' 2005 Ford F250 last May for a 2014 Prius. Instead of driving a Beast that sucks up gas like it's water (13mpg) we're cruising in our little gas-saver at 50mpg. This is the first new car that I've had since 1977 and I am LOVING IT!

**I recently saw statistics about Prius owners keeping their cars past 200,000 mile, so yeah, that will totally be me.

 

[StitchesGr8Fan]

Once a car starts having reliability problems it's gone. I have a long commute, live where the winters are brutal, and a large part of my commute is in rural areas where there aren't a lot of cars. I have anxiety around being trapped without a working vehicle or phone, so I chose to spend my money on those things. Could I get used/cheaper cars and keep them longer? Sure. But I'm very budget-conscious with the rest of my life and so cars and phones are my splurge. That said, I will keep cars for a long time as long as they are reliable. I had my Jeep for years after it was paid off and only got rid of it because the transmission was going bad.

 

[livie1205]

I keep mine till about 80-90 k on them , but to put that in perspective that is a long time for me . I have a 2013 Nissan rogue I got with 0 miles and only have 15k on it now. I don't put a lot of miles on a car. I also get the extended bumper to bumper warranties that go for 7 yrs 75k . When a car starts to cost tons of money to fix its time to trade it in for us.

 

[manning]

HOWEVER, my car is now 12 years old and has over 160,000 miles on it. So, we keep having the "trade it in or keep it for a while longer" conversation.

.

Only 12 years old and 160,000 mile. That's a youngster. I have one that has over 200,000 mile and only 22 years old. Will get rid of it when it becomes unreliable.

 

[goofyernmost]

What I've found about older vehicles...

• new cars depreciate.... how frequently do you want to buy a new car in your life? Once an old car depreciates, it won't depreciate again.

I had purchased new cars for a couple or three cycles. My last car (the Cadillac I mentioned) was a little over two years old when I bought it. It had 26K miles on it with a bumper to bumper warranty that went to 5 years or 100,000 miles. As I said, it had all the bells and whistles, had been kept beautifully. I bought it for $23K. The retail price on it when new (2005) was $56K. That is one gigantic chunk of depreciation for just 2.5 years. Convinced me that I would never again buy a new one. I'll let someone else take that hit and I will take it off their hands in a flash when they tire of it.

 

[bookgirl]

I drive my cars until they cost more in maintenance than a new/er car would cost me in payments, or until the hassle of it being in the shop interfers with my life/work/days off.

I choose other, but I could have put in the second answer as I had many times bought disposable cars before I got my degree and a career.

Pay a few hundred, drive it till it's falling apart, take it to the junk yard and sell it for a few hundred as parts, then start all over again.

 

[tvguy]

I don't think it's the age as much as the mileage. DW's van (that we're trying to replace) is an 2001 and has 287k miles on it. It doesn't make sense to put $1500 worth of repairs into that.

Doesn't make sense if you plan on getting rid of it no. But if you plan on keeping it is is much much cheaper than buying new spread over the additional miles service you will get. Fleet users routinely do repairs on high mileage vehicles. The companies my wife and work for run fleets of Ford E-350 vans, and neither company would even blink at replacing and engine or a transmission in a van with 300,000+ miles on it because a $2,000 rebuilt transmission will get us another couple hundred thousand miles out of a van. A new one, not counting cost of installing our specialized equipment, will run $40,000 plus. My company just put a transmission in a 2003 van with 350,000 miles on it because they hope to get at least another 100,000 miles and 3 years out of it.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I'd like to be part of the "drive it into the ground" camp. I guess I was with my previous car. It wasn't going to pass inspection because of rust. Thanks, New England winters. It was a 14 year old Explorer with 172,000 miles on it.

However, I will be getting rid of my current car as soon as I decide what to replace it with. It's a 2011 Escape, (with just under 97,000 miles on it...no grass growing under the wheels in my driveway!), and the extended warranty had paid for itself a year ago. 95% of the time when I walk into Ford, I don't even need to tell them my name. They recognize me. In fact, when I do manage to go a few months without paying the service department a visit, they comment on how long it's been since I've been there. The warranty is up at the end of August or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first. I'm not keeping it a day past that.

I'm sincerely hoping that I make a better choice for my next car, which may be what is making this decision so difficult! I'd like to go back to not buying cars every 4 years...

 

[Tinijocaro]

Our 2001 Honda Odessey has 180,000 miles on it. We've been without a car payment for 5ish years. As long as the repairs arent' costing more than what a car payment would be, we will keep repairing it. Just spent 1,200.00 to repair it so we have to get through three months without another repair for it to have been worth it. For me, I'm ok not having the latest and shiniest-I'd rather have more money freed up for other things.

Mousehockey-I'm also in the "what was that noise, what's gonna happen next" phase. My ds calls me Chicken Little cause every time there is the slightest issue, I text him that the car is just about dead and we need to start shopping around"

 

[sam_gordon]

Doesn't make sense if you plan on getting rid of it no. But if you plan on keeping it is is much much cheaper than buying new spread over the additional miles service you will get. Fleet users routinely do repairs on high mileage vehicles. The companies my wife and work for run fleets of Ford E-350 vans, and neither company would even blink at replacing and engine or a transmission in a van with 300,000+ miles on it because a $2,000 rebuilt transmission will get us another couple hundred thousand miles out of a van. A new one, not counting cost of installing our specialized equipment, will run $40,000 plus. My company just put a transmission in a 2003 van with 350,000 miles on it because they hope to get at least another 100,000 miles and 3 years out of it.

Sure, $1500 is much cheaper than new. BUT, that $1500 is just to fix the current major issue, not the multiple minor issues, nor the ones that are expected to happen in the next 6 months to a year. And why do you have to compare to a new one? We won't get a new van (well, it will be new to us).

 

[tvguy]

Sure, $1500 is much cheaper than new. BUT, that $1500 is just to fix the current major issue, not the multiple minor issues, nor the ones that are expected to happen in the next 6 months to a year. And why do you have to compare to a new one? We won't get a new van (well, it will be new to us).

Just saying, many fleets operate this way, fix not replace because the cost per mile driven is lower. I went through the debate last year with my Suburban, before the transmission went out. New Suburban about $55,000, decent used one, about $36,000. Even on the used one I'd lose more in depreciation in the first year than a new engine and transmission would cost, not counting the $3,000 sales tax on the used one.

Transmission shop had 3 DHL delivery vans in getting new trannies, all 3 had over 500,000 miles on them. They run them 7 years no matter how many miles they have on them because it is more cost effective.