When do you give up on a car?

[kdonnel]

I have a 2006 Honda Accord 4 cyl with 180,000 miles that has been very reliable. It was my main car for years, then my daughter, and now my son.

Recently the air conditioner has had to be repaired and sadly is broken again and the airbag light came on yesterday.

Dr. Youtube Google was able to tell me how to use a paperclip of all things to read the airbag code. The code is a 5-3 which either means the 12v battery is low or that the SRS module needs to be replaced. Checking the battery with my volt ohm meter shows it at 12.47 volts which is slightly below the 12.6 that Dr. Youtube Google says is the point at which a battery might be having issues. The SRS module is a $400-$500 part plus installation. There is the chance they can get one from a junkyard but needs to come from a non crashed junk car.

The A/C was recharged in the past month with refrigerant and dye so maybe this time they will be able to find the leak. Two years ago it was leaking at the schrader valve, maybe I will be so lucky again? Both my wife and I drove cars for years that had no A/C so I know it is a miserable experience for my son. Especially on days like yesterday that were hot, sticky, and rainy.

I am just not sure how much money I want to pour into a car I have owned for almost 17 years with 180,000 miles.

The plan was to replace the car in 2 years when my wife's car is paid off. I am not sure if that is feasible at this point. Buying a new car is a pain right now with the supply chain issues. The dealers really have the advantage and know it.

 

[Praying Colonel]

I tend to run vehicles into the ground and hate buying a new vehicle. Thankfully DW is there to balance me out and give me perspective on when I need to let go.

Our general rule of thumb is when it cost at least as much to repair as the vehicle value, we move on.

 

[sheilafri]

I understand your pain and frustration. We tend to replace when the more important systems begin to fail on a regular basis. We just replaced a 16 year old car. It had low miles but the AC went out twice in two years and rats had chewed up multiple wires under the hood. Given that it wasn’t worth much, we weren’t willing to pay for the repairs or diagnoses. We are not at all handy so pay for repairs. Fortunately, I had ordered a new car months before so we had a replacement lined up.

 

[kymom99]

Take into consideration safety for your son who drives it. We had an old 2001 Buick my son drove for college. He was happy with it and it had been taken care of over the years. We had hoped it would last until his senior year. We had a few things that we fixed. The AC went out and we recharged it a couple times but it didn’t last. ABS light came on. That was a sensor in the wheel. One by one the window motors went out. But at the beginning of his junior year things just got to be too much. Various dash lights were coming on and then the straw that broke the camels back….he was getting ready to come home from school and he said the floor of the car was full of water. It had rained but he had not been out in it and yes, he said the windows were all closed. He bailed the water out with a shoe and drove the 2 hours home. We spent the weekend shopping for a car.

The good part, we donated the car to a non profit and got a $1400 tax write off.

 

[MillauFr]

Usually I would say dump the car but the prices of new/used cars has changed the equation a bit.

 

[Mysterian]

Ug, that reminds me of a 2005 Pathfinder I had. Sensors and everything else dying or going off, after about 15 years. Mine was even stalling constantly, and due to the misleading nature of the codes I was given, I shelled out the $400+ for the SRS module before isolating the issue: a $25 Crankshaft sensor fixed the problem. Basically the moment you mentioned "2006", I would have said replace it.

(Edit: Had to replace the horn, gas tank, and radiator as well, all within 1-2 years. And I had far less miles than 180,000 miles)

I understand the supply chain issues, but there may come a day when your car may require a chip that also hinges on supply chain issues. Or imagine having to face up to a really pricey engine/transmission repair. I would chance trying to get a new vehicle one way or another, before circumstances force the decision.

 

[firefly_ris]

I'm still repairing an 18 year old minivan. Just replaced the thermostat last month. I have a hard time dropping tons of money into depreciating assets, and I heavily avoid car payments, not to mention prices for new and used vehicles are completely insane. I do have a 'line' at this point, I won't replace the transmission or do a head gasket repair, but most other stuff has been a green light to repair. There are a few items I've chosen to let go -- I replaced the motor in the rear wiper about 30k ago and it's acting weird again, decided just to not have a rear wiper. On the plus side, parts for it are on the cheaper side and what we can't do ourselves we have a very fair labor price in a mechanic who does side work for a low hourly rate. We think we'll probably replace it within a year, but I'm in no hurry.

 

[pigletto]

Our engine seized on our 2015 Sorento and it was going to cost us over 10k to have a new short block engine put in. That was multiple quotes. It had high mileage so we decided to buy.

I can’t stress enough how hard it is to buy right now and how much you will be overpaying on a used vehicle. Delivery times are insane. All that is on the lots are the highest trim package and that’s great if that’s what you want but I’m not paying 10k more for it. Just a quick example, I got an email from the Toyota dealer Friday.. would I like a 2020 Corolla with 20,000 km’s on it? Price before freight and 13% tax was $29,900. Nope.

I am firmly in the repair what you have and wait for this madness to settle down camp. Now is not a time I wanted more debt. We were stuck. YMMV.

One other thought.. go see the delivery times on what you would be buying if buying new. You might be waiting longer than you expect for it to come in. Some wait times were over a year around here.

 

[Sinder]

180K on a Honda, I'd pay the $500 and keep it for another 100K miles especially now.

 

[robinb]

I would not keep a 2006 car for a child because of all the safety features on cars in the last 5 or so years. It wouldn't matter how much it cost. My DD totaled her mid-2000's car a couple years ago. She was physically fine, but I was not going to put her in another car without modern safety features. We eventually bought her a 2016 Outback with Eye-sight and other safety features. She loves it (although not at the gas pump now).

 

[mjkacmom]

If you plan to buy new, I’d start looking and order since it could take 6+ months to get. We own three 2007 civics and a 2007 odyssey, next decent used car we come across, we are buying (missed a couple of great opportunities of friends’ deceased relatives who just wanted an easy sale, now I know to say sorry for your loss, are you selling the deceased vehicle?).

 

[Southernmiss]

Does your son drive the car a distance to college or for work?

We ride cars until they die. We had a 2001 Accord that was running great that we traded in 2020 as our daughter drove it and was going 5 hours away to college. We didn't want it to start having issues or have an accident while she was on the road. For around town, it was still a great car. We put her in dh's 2014 Corolla and he got a new to us car.

This year, one son's 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe had over 230,000 miles and started to nickel and dime us. So we traded it on a 2019 Buick Encore.

I have a 2008 Toyota Sienna that has 187,000 miles. Runs great for me around town. But we are looking to potentially trade it later this year if the prices and market improves. In the meantime, I am looking a couple times a week to see if something appeals to me in the way of price and what I want.

I think that's the route I would go. If he's driving around town, I'd begin to look at what's out there. If he drives a distance, then I would be more serious about finding something sooner rather than later.

 

[kdonnel]

Does your son drive the car a distance to college or for work?

College is only 45 minutes away. At school he probably only drives 30 miles a week. Then 90 miles round trip when he comes home for some weekends.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Just replaced my beloved Subaru. to OP - did you recently replace the timing belt? Those are typically on a 75-100K mile schedule. If you didn't do it around 150K, you probably need to do it now. If the timing belt fails, believe me, you will know it's time to replace the car!
Reason I bring up the timing belt is that is a very expensive fix and you probably don't want to put that kind of money into it. I had the catalytic converter go out in a Nissan I really liked and that did it - it was prohibitively expensive to fix so we were done. The water pump was leaking on my Subie and you have to remove (might as well replace) the timing belt to get to the water pump. We were done.
All that said, new cars are very expensive and very hard to find right now. We bought a Honda CRV Hybrid TOURING. Wanted all of that but the TOURING trim - BUT, Honda isn't even building the lower priced trim models right now. Not only that, but Honda at least didn't price it above MSRP. Just about everyone is. Hyundai quoted us $6500 OVER MSRP and the car wouldn't even be available until the end of July. That's INSANE! The problem is the computer chips - the factory in Taiwan that makes them is WAY behind, and the chips that cars take are of an older type that they don't even use in regular computers anymore.
All that is putting pressure on used car sales now so those are harder to find and WAY more expensive than they should be right now too.
SOOO...maybe you do put the money into DS car? I know that's what my DF would have done (in fact we would have torn the thing apart and done the repairs ourselves).
OP, good luck. It's a crazy world right now when it comes to cars.

 

[mikehn]

I am so in this boat. Nearly 250k miles. I got all kinds of engine codes that arent easy or cheap to take care of. Im driving on borrowed time for sure. I have this feeling we'll be seeing many more disabled vehicles on our roadways in the near future. Tow truck shortage is on deck next.

 

[tvguy]

My car replacement decisions have always been based on when our needs changed, not on cost of repairs.

We bought a new 2020 Toyota Camry Hybrid to replace my wife's 20 year old Mercury Mountaineer that we bought new with 150,000 miles on it because we wanted a run around car in retirement that was smaller and got great gas mileage. We get about 50 mpg overall, but have gotten as high as 56 mpg, much better than the 18-20 the Mountaineer got.

We bought a new 2018 Ford Flex as our long trip retirement car. It replaced a 31 year old Chevy Suburban that we bought new. We no longer needed a 9 passenger vehicle that got 9 mpg, and a 7 passenger vehicle that gets 26 mpg is a better option.

For the past 36 years we have always had at least one spare car. I had a 2007 Taurus as my commuter car. It only had 110,000 miles on it, but when I retired last year I no longer needed a commuter car, so I sold it.

I had all the repair paperwork for the 31 years I had the Suburban. It cost me a hair over $10,000 in repairs over 31 years, so much cheaper to fix than replace. The issue I was starting to face was some Suburban specific parts were getting harder to find. The tailgate power window regulator went out. It took 10 days to get a replacement.

My 1965 Mustang I don't count. That's my fun car.

 

[tvguy]

Our general rule of thumb is when it cost at least as much to repair as the vehicle value, we move on.

As I posted I kept my Suburban 31 years. I think the last 3 sets of tires cost more than the truck was worth. But I never consider vehicle value in repair decisions. I only consider how many more miles that repair will get me.

 

[RamblingMad]

I had my last vehicle for 12 years. And I was getting bored with it. And I started having issues with it, so I got rid of it. That was in 2018. And I really like having Apple Carplay now. I use it for all my road trips. Took one last weekend.

My current vehicle I have had for almost 4 years, but I have barely any miles on it due to the lockdown. I would really like a pickup for pulling a camper, but I want a good hybrid pickup before changing. That's what I'm holding out for. Give me a hybrid Tacoma. I don't want to deal with parking the Tundra.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Would you pay the amount of money it is going to repair to buy the car? If yes, then repair.

 

[Cadiewampus]

My wife drives a 2002 F150 that has over 275k miles on it. Had transmission rebuilt once but that is really about it. She loves that truck. She said she wouldn't mind a new vehicle but sure doesn't want a car payment. We never really consider vehicle value in repair decisions either. We consider how much the repair cost versus a new car payment.