When do you stop spending on car repairs?
Discussion
For me, it's when my faith in the reliability goes vs value of the car. For comparison example, if clutch went with a £400 repair cost on a car only worth £1,000 but other than that always starts and no other issues, definitely change the clutch and carry on. If the clutch went on a car that has thrown up a load of other minor issues and has refused to start a couple of times that year but still with a £1,000 value, I'd think about replacing it.
Rich Boy Spanner said:
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.
This ^ I only pay for the parts cost as its my occupation repairing cars however , spent twice as much on my daily hack in 4 years as I did on my previous daily over 8 years , German Vs French but my little Citroen ZX Volcane TD was insanely reliable in over 150k miles of my use 
and I knew what BMW reliability was likely to be 
I do like the car as a package though and I'm at 180k RDMcG said:
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.
I'm the same with my slightly older Merc, except a couple of years ago the dealer made it pretty clear they didn't want to see it anymore!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.
The car is effectively worthless and I think of repair costs in terms of monthly leasing charges - so for my car £750 to get it through MOT is a couple of months payments.
In the process of spending £2,5k on my 3 series after the crankshaft snapped!
It's worth about £4,5k as a private sale, £6k to replace from a dealer, and not very much in its current state. So makes financial sense to repair. Though I had already started to keep my eyes open for the next car as my commute has changed. It has been one of my favourite cars to date.
It's worth about £4,5k as a private sale, £6k to replace from a dealer, and not very much in its current state. So makes financial sense to repair. Though I had already started to keep my eyes open for the next car as my commute has changed. It has been one of my favourite cars to date.
Recently had this sort of debate when my mrs' 1 series had a turbo fault. It's a 15 year old car, with 132,000 miles.
We didnt have money to buy another car that we could trust would be safe for her (she keeps well on top of maintenance on her car, and understands regular oil changes are for the better than going with BMW's 15,000 mile recommended interval etc etc).
So we decided to replace the turbo. I always knew this day would come knowing that others with this engine (120d for this interested) suffer turbo failure as well, so it really wasnt something too bad. I almost consider the turbo a replacment item in a way, albeit one I expect to last longer than 100,000 miles. Anyway, it's done and shes happy and I'm happy.
But if the car develops a transission fault (auto, expensiiiivvvveee) or a cam chain rattle or starts drinking oil at a rate or has major chassis corrosion, then that's it. That sort of major invasive work where the labour is likely to cost more than the parts - forget about it.
We didnt have money to buy another car that we could trust would be safe for her (she keeps well on top of maintenance on her car, and understands regular oil changes are for the better than going with BMW's 15,000 mile recommended interval etc etc).
So we decided to replace the turbo. I always knew this day would come knowing that others with this engine (120d for this interested) suffer turbo failure as well, so it really wasnt something too bad. I almost consider the turbo a replacment item in a way, albeit one I expect to last longer than 100,000 miles. Anyway, it's done and shes happy and I'm happy.
But if the car develops a transission fault (auto, expensiiiivvvveee) or a cam chain rattle or starts drinking oil at a rate or has major chassis corrosion, then that's it. That sort of major invasive work where the labour is likely to cost more than the parts - forget about it.
Truckosaurus said:
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.
That was what I was thinking. A friend sold his older car this year worrying about future bills and 'bought' a car on PCP for about £350 a month. Of course, he gets a new car out of it but also a guaranteed bill of £350 a month!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.
I'm sure this is hugely dependent on the emotional attachment and the duties expected of the vehicle. Persisting with an ailing car doesn't make sense, unless it's due to necessity - but cold-hearted logic is often overpowered by other factors.
I have a 1992 Ford F150 truck that I have spent a disproportionate amount of money on (relative to it's actual value), but I suspect I will continue to do so, not because it makes sense to - but because I like it, so I want to.
I bought it for $2750 five years ago. Since then I've indulged it with a re-paint ($1800), re-upholstery ($800) transmission re-build ($2000) new transfer case ($1400) shocks ($1500) motor mounts ($150) alternator/serp belt/tensioner ($200) Rear Main Seal oil leak ($300) air pump/EGR/MAP/TPS/IAC sensors/Distributor/coil ($300) and an oil change every 6 months.
I suspect that if I was lucky and wanted/needed to sell it, I'd probably get around $5000 for it. The numbers just don't add up to make fiscal sense - but my motivation to keep it going isn't dictated by fiscal sense either.
I have a 1992 Ford F150 truck that I have spent a disproportionate amount of money on (relative to it's actual value), but I suspect I will continue to do so, not because it makes sense to - but because I like it, so I want to.
I bought it for $2750 five years ago. Since then I've indulged it with a re-paint ($1800), re-upholstery ($800) transmission re-build ($2000) new transfer case ($1400) shocks ($1500) motor mounts ($150) alternator/serp belt/tensioner ($200) Rear Main Seal oil leak ($300) air pump/EGR/MAP/TPS/IAC sensors/Distributor/coil ($300) and an oil change every 6 months.
I suspect that if I was lucky and wanted/needed to sell it, I'd probably get around $5000 for it. The numbers just don't add up to make fiscal sense - but my motivation to keep it going isn't dictated by fiscal sense either.
jackofall84 said:
For me, it's when my faith in the reliability goes vs value of the car. For comparison example, if clutch went with a £400 repair cost on a car only worth £1,000 but other than that always starts and no other issues, definitely change the clutch and carry on. If the clutch went on a car that has thrown up a load of other minor issues and has refused to start a couple of times that year but still with a £1,000 value, I'd think about replacing it.
Yea this is a good point. I mentioned my wifes BMW 1 series in my other post; she;s had a lot of work done on it over the years, but each time it's been "problem ---> there's the cause ---> here's the fix ----> carry on". Contrast that to her previous car (a mark 4 golf auto) which developed a very hard to diagnose transmission issue (auto), we sold it on because she couldnt trust it any longer (incidentally that;s when we got the BMW). Jamescrs said:
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.
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.
I don't!
See the quarter century old Disco that I fitted a 6 litre LS to, the 30 year old MX-5 that I turbcharged to 300bhp or the half century old GT6 that I've never been brave enough to add up the parts bills on!
I had an E39 530i sport manual, a car I really enjoyed driving. Bought at 93k, driven to 127k.Had various bills during its time, new clutch and flywheel @ £900 at my local BMW guru, new tyres, brakes and serviced by myself and BMW guru.
The final straw was subframe rust, 2k estimate to get through mot.
Sold as parts/repair, saddest day carwise of my life..so far.. really miss Mavis 🙂
The final straw was subframe rust, 2k estimate to get through mot.
Sold as parts/repair, saddest day carwise of my life..so far.. really miss Mavis 🙂
For me it would be when it has a fault which the garage is unable to fix easily. That could be because it was annoying and intermittent, or because it takes more than a few days for replacement parts to arrive.
A £1000 bill on the OPs Volvo could be nothing more than a major service which coincided with needing discs/pads and tyres, particularly if a main dealer is used.
Any brand new car will cost at least £3000 in depreciation in year 1, and a used car is always a lottery.
It's amazing how many people replace a car because it needs a few consumables at the same time. They pay for that work, then trade it in "before it costs more money" a few months later. Having a nice new set of brake discs won't make any impact to the trade-in value so may as well get the money's worth.
We did the opposite with my wife's 12 year old 150000 mile car a few years back. It was traded in with about 2 weeks left on the MOT, a broken spring, nearly bald tyres, wafer thin brake discs and an engine management light on. The dealer unsurprisingly gave us £200 for it.
Expecting it to be headed straight for the scrap yard, I was quite annoyed when I checked on thr MOT website and saw that the new owner had got it through the MOT and it was used for another 3 years and 50k miles!
A £1000 bill on the OPs Volvo could be nothing more than a major service which coincided with needing discs/pads and tyres, particularly if a main dealer is used.
Any brand new car will cost at least £3000 in depreciation in year 1, and a used car is always a lottery.
It's amazing how many people replace a car because it needs a few consumables at the same time. They pay for that work, then trade it in "before it costs more money" a few months later. Having a nice new set of brake discs won't make any impact to the trade-in value so may as well get the money's worth.
We did the opposite with my wife's 12 year old 150000 mile car a few years back. It was traded in with about 2 weeks left on the MOT, a broken spring, nearly bald tyres, wafer thin brake discs and an engine management light on. The dealer unsurprisingly gave us £200 for it.
Expecting it to be headed straight for the scrap yard, I was quite annoyed when I checked on thr MOT website and saw that the new owner had got it through the MOT and it was used for another 3 years and 50k miles!
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff