How to decide when car repairs > replacement?

[descovy]

Kind of stuck on this one.

We have an '03 Mazda minivan with 125,000mi. We have done "regular" maintenance, but nothing big has ever been replaced (a/c, trans, brakes, etc...)

It is now leaking oil. To repair it would be $1200 (mostly labor) KBB says my van is worth $2100, so it's a big *ouch*

We knew that within 1-2 years we would have to look at trading in. But we're trying to figure out if "the time is now."

On one hand, if we sink $1200 on the van, we don't know what will pop up next.

On the other hand, the oil leak is the only thing really wrong with it, and as long as we check the dipstick regularly and add our own, we could hobble along for maybe even another year?

Van wise, we would be looking for one around $20k, used, low miles, fairly new.

If you have been at this crossroads, when did you know it was time to turn it in? A wreck or engine failure is easy. But this seems a little "gray" to me.

 

[LJSquishy]

We are in a similar situation as far as trying to decide when to pull the plug on our older vehicle.

We ultimately decided that we would keep it until the repairs each year are close to what we would pay to finance a newer car. So, if we would finance a newer car at $300 per month, our current car repairs would need to total approximately $3,600 per year or more for it to make sense. Our car is not at that point yet so we are hanging on to it. It is a 2000 Nissan Sentra with 150,000 miles on it.

Last year we had to get a new catalytic converter, and already this year we had to put a new alternator in. In fact, I will be getting it back from the shop today. I am really trying to make it last another 3-5 years (I don't drive that much) but my more realistic husband says no way...we will see. We are desperately saving every penny for our next house so a car payment would throw a huge wrench in our plans!

Another gray area is also reliability. You have to determine if your current vehicle is reliable, which it sounds like it is for the most part. Mine is also reliable. I put a huge value on reliability, so if I didn't feel like I could depend on my car I wouldn't hesitate to get a newer vehicle. In addition, we also own a 2005 Subaru Legacy which is in perfect shape...so with the older car being our secondary car, we have a little more flexibility on when to replace it. My husband is the only income earner so if my car is in the shop I either just don't go anywhere or I drive him to work if I have an appointment somewhere.

 

[manning]

I've got a '93 town car with 196,000 miles on it. I got one that has bad valve stem seals since 85,000. When I start up from light it puffs blue smoke. Other than that runs like a charm. Just have to watch the oil level. Adding oil is cheap.

My first car was when I was 19, i'm in my late 60s and have bought 4 cars. All I can say is what I've saved in car purchases I'm enjoying a nice retirement.

As long as they are dependable, run em until they quit or super expensive to fix.

$1200, that's cheap compared to cost of a new one. The way they build them now you can get 200,000 miles or more out of it.

Way back when I was 19 you were lucky to get 80-100,000 miles. I hope I don't jinx this. Back then you changed the water pump somewhere around 40,000 mile or there about. I still have the original.

 

[mikehn]

Is it leaking oil or burning oil? If it is leaking oil, from where? I have a 2005 truck with 230k miles. Not ready to get rid of mine yet. Wear and tear is a factor when your car is that old, so you can be assured that repairs will be a regular thing going forward. In many cases, repair bills will still be cheaper than monthly car payments.

 

[mm1971]

I always approach it from a financial perspective. I bought both my vehicles used (2 years old off lease) and the cars I traded in had over 170K miles each. remember that a new car will most likely be between $3500-$4000/year in payments. If repairs are less than that per year it makes sense to keep your existing car. Of course we are human and emotion comes into it. What made my final decision was that I wanted something a little nicer and decided I would pay a little more to get it.

If the only issue is the oil and you can get it fixed for $1200, I would get it fixed and save money long term. If you have a dealer/mechanic you trust, have them do a full analysis of the vehicle. They can tell when major repairs/replacements normally need to be done. This should give you an idea of what the repair costs would be over the next few years and compare that to the new car.

For reference, we now have a 2006 Lexus and 2008 Odysee. Both have over 70K miles. Both should easily go at least 200K miles so we'll have no car payments for a long time.

 

[Sandy61]

We have a pickup truck that is an '02 with 140,000 miles. My husband and I have been discussing this very topic because we have just repaired it for $1000.

We know we would have to pay a lot of money to replace it ($40,000 new). It is a Ford Supercrew that is the only vehicle my 6'6" son fits in comfortably. We tow a camper with it and have a snow plow we put on to scoop the driveway. We also have 2 bed covers for it. We would have to buy new of all those things if we changed trucks. We love the pickup because we are always hauling something in it. It also has adjustable pedals that allows my 6"2" husband and me 5'2" to both drive it.

If a lot more goes wrong with it, I would consider it unreliable but for now it rarely breaks down.

I think I heard one time that you replace when it is costing you what a new one would in payments. For example if you spent $2400 in repairs on your old one, that would equal car payments of $200 a month for a newer car.

 

[Lewisc]

Talk to your mechanic. If he's slow he may work with you. I had a Camry which was gushing oil. He replaced some of the oil seals (my memory is just the front ones) and fixed at least 90% of the leak. He knew I wasn't going to pay the flat rate manual cost (considering the age of the car) and gave me a price he could live with.

 

[cvjw]

Where is it leaking oil from? My 2006 Toyota Sienna just started leaking a little oil. Our mechanic said it is coming from the seal on the power steering, and will cost $1800 to replace the seal. He said it is a very slow leak, and he would not fix it if it were his van. The leak is so slow that he can just refill the oil when he has the van in for service.

 

[danygirl]

DH was a master tech for years. We drive them until they die. His last car the engine literally seized up, he called me to come get him and we got a new to us used car to replace it. The car before that he drove to work in the am and didn;t bring it home, he had put it on the lift and found major repairs.

If your car reliably starts, I would fix it. thanks to cash for clunckers there are far fewer used cars out there now, and the prices are higher. Couple that with the decline of corporate lease vehicles (companies are holding them more years) and there are just not that many good used cars out there.

 

[riley2008]

Kind of stuck on this one.

We have an '03 Mazda minivan with 125,000mi. We have done "regular" maintenance, but nothing big has ever been replaced (a/c, trans, brakes, etc...)

It is now leaking oil. To repair it would be $1200 (mostly labor) KBB says my van is worth $2100, so it's a big *ouch*

We knew that within 1-2 years we would have to look at trading in. But we're trying to figure out if "the time is now."

On one hand, if we sink $1200 on the van, we don't know what will pop up next.

On the other hand, the oil leak is the only thing really wrong with it, and as long as we check the dipstick regularly and add our own, we could hobble along for maybe even another year?

Van wise, we would be looking for one around $20k, used, low miles, fairly new.

If you have been at this crossroads, when did you know it was time to turn it in? A wreck or engine failure is easy. But this seems a little "gray" to me.

I'm going to question what you call "regular" maintenance on a vehicle of 125,000 miles with nothing replaced - and you list brakes.

If you haven't replaced brakepads, timing belt, and water pump, yet, I'd likely be thinking you may have some serious costs ahead. OTOH- if you do include those as "regular" maintance and just mean you haven't replaced major parts, I'd get the thing fixed. That said, you are looking at a high mileage car now and should expect to put about that much annually in repairs and upkeep. (That's still a whole lot cheaper than a new-to-you car.)

(My limit on my old car 148,000 miles wasn't the final repair cost, but the fact no one could figure out what was wrong - occassionally just wouldn't start, but would 10-15 minutes later. [got all kinds of things replaced - for free because those things didn't fix the issue] I needed something reliable)

My current vehicle has 118,000 and overdue for timing belt and waterpump - scheduled first weekend of February. Still cheaper than a new car!

 

[tigger51276]

I had a similiar situation happen in Sept and it couldnt have been worse timing. I had some majors problems happen that was going to cost me $4000 to fix, I had an 05 Grand Caravan so it wasn't that old and I had not previously had any problems with it. Sadly, it was "cheaper" for me to buy a new car and make payments then it was to try to come up with $4k now and then who knows what in a few more months if something else went wrong. I was able to get an 08 or 09 Town and Country fully loaded for under $17k. I would say to look around and see if you can get a good deal on a used car.

 

[Mjtsmami]

Depends. The mechanic in me also questions the up to date on regular maintenance but no major things like brakes etc. At over 100k miles, there's some pretty big things hat should have been done by now, and if they weren't, I'd say start looking.

If you have a good relationship with your mechanic, ask him what he would do. Most good mechanics will be honest. The techs I know use KBB value when buying a car, but repairing a car we look at what condition the car is in, is the maintenance up to date, what else is getting ready to go etc.

If it was my car, I'd ask my tech if he thinks its worth it. If he does, then you see if there's a bit of wiggle room on the cost or a payment plan. If not and he said I can get by for awhile by just topping off the oil, then I'd buy my tie and start shopping.

 

[Pigeon]

There's no one magic answer. We tend to keep cars a very long time, but when I feel uncomfortable about the reliability, it's time. Bringing the car in to get serviced is a huge hassle for me. We have a fabulous mechanic, but he's not convenient and he doesn't have loaners. I need a car to get to work. If leaving the car to be fixed is getting to be a major pain, that factors into the equation.

 

[BridgetBordeaux]

Oil leaks................

Like you said, just check the level and top off as needed. Our 2002 vehicle with 225k miles is presently parked in the garage with a piece of cardboard under it to catch the drips.

Don't let a somewhat minor oil leak force you to prematurely spend 20k on something new.

Even if you spend 2000 dollars a year for maint. and repairs, you are coming out ahead over paying the upfront and annual expenses for a new car.

We have AAA as our "just in case something happens" plan.

Since we got the car, we have only had 2 let downs. One was caused by a battery going bad after only about 2 years, and the other involved some sort of engine piece that only cost about 175 dollars to fix.

We have also been doing all the usual maintenance on this car over the years and have put tires, brakes, etc on it as required.

BTW- our other vehicle is a 98 truck with about 120k on it. It is our creampuff!

 

[DawnM]

My husband does most of our repairs and if I didn't have him, I would be much more inclined to make sure i had a reliable vehicle at all times.

An oil leak wouldn't coax me to go car shopping, but I also would want to know what all is involved in that $1,000+ repair for an oil leak.

Dawn

 

[abcboys]

We are going thru this exact thing (sort of) with my van and I posted this same questions last year. My van is a 99 pontiac montana with 144,000 miles. I had originally planned on buying a van this past summer because last year it seems I had several repairs within a 6-12 month time frame. Total cost was probably same as yours but I kept thinking "do I really want to put more money into this junky old van?"

Having said that we have been a totally car payment free household for over 2 years and I DREAD the though of going back to a car payment. We continued to save the money for a car but we had to put a new roof on the house this summer and have had a few thousand in medical bills pop up in the past year, so we have very little saved up for a new car. Now....it has been over a year since I have had my van in the shop. Granted its falling apart in places, but it still runs, and don't feel scared driving it. $1200 is a lot of money and I'm not sure if I would sink that much into my van at this point but if you've had relatively few other repairs and feel safe driving it for another year or 2 I would do the repair.

 

[mrodgers]

I do my own car maintenance and repairs. I can't even imagine what would cost $1000 to fix an oil leak unless the rip-em-off valve is also being repaired.

I do my own maintenance so that a $500 brake job costs me $40 or a $1500 clutch replacement costs $100.

Someone mentioned $4000 for a repair. That sounds like transmission replacement. If I have to replace a transmission, then in my opinion, that transmission is junk and I will no longer trust that particular car or that model of car in the future. I won't buy another Ford Escape, their transmissions are garbage.

Some repairs I can't do myself though. I have 1 payment left on that Ford Escape.....

(Well, there is an image showing here in where I enter the text. It just doesn't show up...)

.... I don't have much of a choice now

 

[Halbleib1]

Most financial experts say if the cost of repair is 50% or more of what the car is worth than it is time for a new one and not worth fixing. As you would never recoup the money spent to repair it.

 

[jediranger3]

That is also what I have done in the past. If the repair cost is more than 50 percent of the worth it's time to move on.

 

[disney1990]

We have a 2004 Saturn Ion with over 150,000 miles and the clutch just went out. It has been a great car and has never given us any problems. We decided to spend $2200 to replace the clutch -- figure it is better than car payments.