Comments on: When do you throw in the towel on an old car?

By: Bigqueue

Bigqueue — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 23:26:00 +0000

My rule of thumb for cars is that they will cost me about $2500 per year...no matter what.

If I'm paying it off, I may not be repairing it, but the payments are in that range.

Once paid off, I generally start doing regular maintiance and the costs are in that range. (Ok..so now maybe that is closer to $3000....but you get the point)

So normal repairs are fine to me so long as they don't come so fast and furious that I begin to get over that rate of expense....once that happens, or the car becomes too unreliable that I don't trust that it will always get me to home or work....then it is time to go.

That is my simple metric. To me a car is but a tool, and so tools do require calibration and repair at times...that is normal and to be expected.

By: One Frugal Girl

One Frugal Girl — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:52:00 +0000

I should have clarified my reasons for selling the Civic in my posting. I am 6’1” and have recently had surgery which has left me in a great deal of pain. Due to the pain, driving the Civic, a tiny car, especially for someone 6’1” became more and more unbearable. I sold the car for $9500. I had purchased it for $16,000 six years earlier. The money from the Civic went directly into the bank where it sits and earns interest. My hope was that I could buy the Olds for $900 and not spend a lot of money fixing it up. In the mean time I could save enough money to buy a ‘slightly used’ mid-sized sedan that would be more comfortable to drive. Sometimes financial decisions involve more than just money.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 08:40:00 +0000

I don’t understand how it’s frugal to sell a low-mileage car with an excellent reputation and great gas milage, like a civic, and get a giant gas-guzzling ready to fall apart unreliable monster that is going to cost you money.