When do you stop spending on car repairs?

When do you stop spending on car repairs?

Author
Discussion

Jamescrs

Original Poster:

4,449 posts

64 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
As per the title.

When do people decide enough is enough and instead of repairing a car replace it? Is there any rhyme or reason to it? Dompeople look at it as a percentage of the cars value?

I'm asking having spent near a grand on repairs this year with another bill to come on a car worth circa 8k.
The car is a 11 plate Volvo so nothing special or unique.


snoopy25

1,858 posts

119 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all

To be fair unless its a significant bill of say £3 or £4k if the car was £8k I would be seriously considering getting rid of it

RDMcG

19,093 posts

206 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
Depends on the cost and nature of the repair.

I have a 12 year old Cayenne V8 that is in great mechanical condition and has 280,000km on it.

I do not bother with any cosmetic fixes. Paint is scratched, lots of parking rash and dents and so on, but it is dealer-serviced and feels like it can do another 100,000km. Thus I will continued to pay for maintenance and repairs as long as the car is likely to run for another few years.

if there is a catastrophic failure then it will be scrapped I expect.

DavidY

4,458 posts

283 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
I look at it as to what the car is worth to me as opposed to the actual cars value.

I'm a high mileage driver so bills come with the territory, and as long as the bills over a given period are significantly less than the repayments would be on a replacement vehicle, then I'm happy to foot them. I also have a 100,000 mile rule, and allow a car one roadside breakdown per 100k miles, any more than that then its sold/traded in - I need reliability, my current 12 plate Volvo has one roadside breakdown so far (DPF failure at 194K miles which put it into limp mode), so its currently got two credits in hand (currently on 209k miles)

Pica-Pica

13,620 posts

83 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
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I was prepared to keep bolting things onto my E36, but at 149k miles and 19 years, and rust ever-creeping in, I realised there could be imminent failure, or a breakdown (I was travelling 700 miles round-trip weekly, to see my fast-fading mother) so I got shot, and bought new. Now for the next 10+ years....

Mikee19

591 posts

95 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
Depends entirely on the car / your situation.

If you're on a tight budget keep it, better the devil you know. Don't swap it for something where you end up in the same situation in a year or two.

Or

If you can foresee many more big bills, don't plan to keep it that long anyway and or if you have the funds, something newer that you can keep for the long term will be better than running it for another year and throwing more money at it and then changing.

Pericoloso

44,044 posts

162 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
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My car is worth significantly less than the OP's 8K car but I spent over 1K last year having the gearbox replaced.

I won't be able to find another same as mine for less than 4K ,so keep repairing ,for now.

It's done 153000 miles and still going well.

bloomen

6,845 posts

158 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
If it's a banger I know well, fundamentally sound, with plenty of life otherwise left in it and an easily solvable problem I'd spend not too far off what it was worth provided it dealt with that problem for good. Otherwise I could spend the same on another car with many more problems.

If I was something more saleable and had a decent trade in value I'd get rid if something major was looming.

mike9009

6,917 posts

242 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
I sometimes think better the devil you know, so I have spent near to a cars value keeping it on the road. I haven't owned a car from this decade so they are all of a 'certain' value anyway.

I do occasionally think about changing to something about three years old or so - but these can throw expensive issues too.

I will tackle simple stuff myself, always keep my cars well serviced so don't mind spending a little to keep them going.

I have mates who change their cars when they need disks, pads and tyres - bonkers in my opinion..


Mike

Chris944_S2

1,912 posts

222 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
Depends on the sentimental attachment to the car. I don’t look into the value of the object in itself but if I want to keep pampering it or just keep it running.

So far I’ve only ever managed to pamper cars, I think the only time I’ve skimped on maintenance/repairs was getting the hydraulic control module of the auto box of a Passat replaced. The box wasn’t locking and the car had a lot of miles already so figured I would risk it until the box failed or something. It survived several years of ownership like that and I eventually sold it (and disclosed the fault to the buyer). To this day I still feel guilty for that poor car.

samoht

5,633 posts

145 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
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I think the question is not so much the value per se, but what else could you be spending that money on? If you can think of another car, used or new, that would cost the same or less overall average monthly budget, that you'd rather have, then it's time to change.

If the other cars would be just as spendy, or you like them less, then keep paying out for repairs on what you have.

I've spent many multiples of the purchase price on repairs for my RX-7. But my alternatives would be, another RX-7 that would likely be just as bad, or a Porsche which I don't really want for subjective reasons (and might need a £10k engine rebuild itself), or something either a lot slower, a lot less practical, or bigger/heavier and worse handling. So I keep spending.


Ste372

626 posts

86 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
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We bought a new kia 7 years ago. Just came out of manufactures warranty and is currently on 103k miles. Apart from warranty work it's had service items and consumables brakes, tyres etc....

I'll be carrying on servicing with main dealer parts and touch wood I'd reckon another 100k is easily achievable but its the missus car and the kids are in it. If it leaves the kids and her stranded at the side of the road with a big repair bill. It'll be gone and another new kia, hyundai or toyota will replace it with another 5-7 warrantied running period.

I dont mind running around in the cheaper cars out of warranty and doing the running repairs but can't be arsed with the arse ache from the missus when hers needs fettling

Grrbang

724 posts

70 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
Unless yours is a lemon or behind on loads of minor services, the next used one (of a similar type and value) will cost you about as much to maintain and fix any undisclosed issues. That's what I've found.

I would consider selling if rust is spreading and it looks like it will be picked up next MOT.

If the engine or gear box has a known limited life, or a particular service item costs an obscene amount, I would also take that into account.

littlebasher

3,767 posts

170 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
A friend of mine pumps silly amounts of cash into his car (IMO)

2005 petrol Mondeo (worth say, £400)

So far this year he's spent at least £500, in the last few year he's spent nearly £1K a year to keep it on the road.

I'd be out the minute it cost me more than it was worth !

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 15th December 2019
quotequote all
Got rid of the Scirocco in October. Was worth approx £3000, rear shocks needed replacing at serious cost (£1200+). It had also developed a running fault, which had a certain part needed changing, would have been £800+. Also the weird tyre wear (3 sets of fronts to every set of rear) meant all four would be due replacement, and that would have been £500. Nice as it was, getting rid was a no-brainer. As it happened I had to replace one tyre due to an unrepairable puncture the day before it was collected. A lovely Arrowspeed ditchfinder took its place beside and opposite the Rainsport 3s.

Still it went back, no liability, and it sold at auction, I’d love to know where it went, and for how much.

Rich Boy Spanner

1,291 posts

129 months

Monday 16th December 2019
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It's not (to me) really about the cost of a repair versus the value of the car, but the cost to replace it. Unless of course the current car is a dog which is a different matter.

Gerradi

1,522 posts

119 months

Monday 16th December 2019
quotequote all
Its a dilema most face at one time.
My Wifes car/Estate always seem to have "something " wrong, at the moment I am suspecting a wheel bearing, no big deal but it has been one thing after another but mechanically its spot on.
Then you have to think the Insurance costs & tax will be approximately the value of the car...But as someone has said , cars of this age (2006) its acase of better the devil you know, she likes the car as its comfortable & doting about she gets about 35 -7 mpg ....but look at all the fixes ,springs , control arms ,DPf its a dilema indeed

I'm trying to get her intereste ina Volvo V60 but most are autos & she likes manuals ??

Dave Hedgehog

14,541 posts

203 months

Monday 16th December 2019
quotequote all
when the cost of repair is about 50% of its value

part ex it against a demo

rinse and repeat

Truckosaurus

11,183 posts

283 months

Monday 16th December 2019
quotequote all
littlebasher said:
A friend of mine pumps silly amounts of cash into his car (IMO)

2005 petrol Mondeo (worth say, £400)

So far this year he's spent at least £500, in the last few year he's spent nearly £1K a year to keep it on the road.

I'd be out the minute it cost me more than it was worth !
So £2k to buy and run a car for 2 years? Seems a bargain TBH.

It will cost money to run any car, you are either going to have to save or finance a couple of hundred quid a month on get you in a new/reliable car or spend a similar amount keeping a cheap/worthless car going.

Drezza

1,415 posts

53 months

Monday 16th December 2019
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My car (2007 Skoda Fabia Vrs) is only worth about £1400 with no issues with the mileage it has (140k)...

The head gasket started to go about 1k miles ago, It's left me stranded twice when it blew the coolant hoses off but I managed to get it home both times.

Everyone I spoke to told me to get rid as the head gasket would cost £500 to fix. But that to me seemed stupid since If I wanted to replace it it would cost £1400 and come with the risk of unknown issues, so to me spending £500 on a car worth £1400 was worth it.