How long do you keep cars for?
Discussion
Chatting to a client this morning, he's just ordered a new Rav4 Hybrid - his 3rd Rav4 in 4 years. He has very good terms with his Toyota dealer so gets 2 year PCP deals but changes before the end of the contract.
Got me thinking though - my current mileage is only around 9k a year - a lot less than the 27k I was doing between 2011 and 2014. My current car is 9 years old and is only on 83k. Car currently drives great, so other than having something that looks and drives new, I've no real reason/justification to change right now and can't see myself having reason for a while as yet.
My Dad always used to look to replace his petrol engined cars at around 65-70k when I was younger, and my Father in law always buys new Nissan diesels now and looks to replace by the time they hit 50k.
For me, our family car is the wife's Toyota Verso, so mine does hardly any miles at weekend and through lack of kids is generally clean and tidy, and I've used my pedal powered bike the last 3 days of commuting. On that basis, I'm wondering if I buy my next car, a year or two old with a view to keeping until its say 10-12 yrs old and has done say 100-120k miles.
Do you set yourself a mileage limit/age where you need to start to look to replace?
Got me thinking though - my current mileage is only around 9k a year - a lot less than the 27k I was doing between 2011 and 2014. My current car is 9 years old and is only on 83k. Car currently drives great, so other than having something that looks and drives new, I've no real reason/justification to change right now and can't see myself having reason for a while as yet.
My Dad always used to look to replace his petrol engined cars at around 65-70k when I was younger, and my Father in law always buys new Nissan diesels now and looks to replace by the time they hit 50k.
For me, our family car is the wife's Toyota Verso, so mine does hardly any miles at weekend and through lack of kids is generally clean and tidy, and I've used my pedal powered bike the last 3 days of commuting. On that basis, I'm wondering if I buy my next car, a year or two old with a view to keeping until its say 10-12 yrs old and has done say 100-120k miles.
Do you set yourself a mileage limit/age where you need to start to look to replace?
Gary29 said:
When I'm bored usually, counting them up in my head, I've had the same number of cars as years I've been driving, so every 12 months on average for me.
Yes, boredom has a lot to do with it I guess.I had a SEAT Ibiza Cupra a few years back. Loved it and generally made me smile most days. Only reason I got shut was through getting a company car HOWEVER I had started to look at new cars too. Not through boredom - just because the cost of repairs was getting expensive. Not talking £3 bulbs here and there, stuff like clutches and belts etc. All stuff that starts to crop up after doing say 60k.
Cars, to folk who use sites like PH, are generally of interest though.
For example, I don't ever plan to replace say my fridge. If it lasts 25 years then great. The last fridge we had lasted 5 years, current one is 6 years old and going strong (in case you're interested.... if so you need to get out more!.....). Cars though are a bit different - they're something that people judge you by. That's possibly the only thing that pushes me driving a 9 year old Skoda Octavia. The engine is fine and does what I need it to do on my fairly restricted and congested commute. If only I could replace the body with something a bit sleeker/fresher!
I do recall buying my SEAT Ibiza, that I kept just under 4 years. I started using it and it was a hard ride after my Bora - to the point where long trips to the North East were starting to get tiresome in it. I toyed with chopping it in after 6 months due to the hard ride. Finances said no! Glad I kept it though.
For example, I don't ever plan to replace say my fridge. If it lasts 25 years then great. The last fridge we had lasted 5 years, current one is 6 years old and going strong (in case you're interested.... if so you need to get out more!.....). Cars though are a bit different - they're something that people judge you by. That's possibly the only thing that pushes me driving a 9 year old Skoda Octavia. The engine is fine and does what I need it to do on my fairly restricted and congested commute. If only I could replace the body with something a bit sleeker/fresher!
I do recall buying my SEAT Ibiza, that I kept just under 4 years. I started using it and it was a hard ride after my Bora - to the point where long trips to the North East were starting to get tiresome in it. I toyed with chopping it in after 6 months due to the hard ride. Finances said no! Glad I kept it though.
hawaza said:
I only ever really replace things when they are dead, don't perform their task correctly anymore or they just aren't financially viable anymore and the same goes for Cars really. Had my first car (rover 25) for a couple of years until i realised i didn't need it while at university and it was just draining my money. Current car is a Mazda Premacy which I've had over 5 years and around 80,000 miles (it had 78k ish on it when i brought it) and only looking to replace that now as has become un-viable financially.
Think it is a bit of a mix of becoming attached to things, if it ain't broke dont fix it and better the devil you know.
What you said exactly!Think it is a bit of a mix of becoming attached to things, if it ain't broke dont fix it and better the devil you know.
I bought my Skoda on 62k. Never thought I'd ever buy a 'new' (to me) on anything over say 30k, but just found the last few VW engine cars I've had so reliable that why not! I think I'd set my limit at around that 62k figure now as far as buying a car goes. Then again, buying a car at 80k would last me a couple of years before the magic 100k was reached.
I do think about my kids though. The oldest being 8 at the moment. He doesn't give a monkeys about cars right now but I don't want to be rocking up at high school picking him up in a what will then be a 14 year old car. Seem to recall a few schoolmates years ago cruely taking the mick out of a lad in our class who's parents had a C reg Cavalier with at least 4 different coloured body panels (this would've been circa 1996 ish).
Alex_225 said:
Personally I'm not one for PCP deals and chopping a car in every few years, hate the idea of never owning the vehicle.
Me too. Plus restricted mileage. I used to work with a guy who was so pleased to get a great monthly repayment on a Range Rover Evoque through a PCP deal. Problem was the mileage was so prohibitive, he could never use it other than commuting and end up buying a 2nd car to use for work so he could drive his Evoque at weekends. Then that low monthly repayment seemed quite a lot for a car he'd only use for 1/3 of the year.
funkyrobot said:
What an odd thing to say.
Do you think?I'm not looking for an argument but I just saw it similar to turning up in an out of date type of clothing/fashion? I'm no 'hipster' and really don't give that much of a toss about clothing and fashion, but I'm pretty sure if my parents would've turned up at school to pick me in say flares, I'd have been a bit embarrassed and teased by the other kids.
Snobbery or not - it's not how I wanted the thread to be. As a driver of a 9 year old Skoda, I'm pretty sure I can't be branded a badge snob.
As I said, the thought stemmed from speaking to a client who really regularly replaces his car and i wondered if i wasn't normal replacing around the 4 year mark.
The comment regarding turning up at school was purely based on thinking back to my high school days and seeing a fellow pupil in a battered old car and taking a bit of stick for it. On reflection - he had a car. Some of the other kids used to travel in on a bus (myself included on the homeward journey) and in theory those taking the mick could've either had worse/older etc, or no car at all!
I do believe it's a bit about priorities. As another poster said earlier about having an older Metro but going on nice holidays etc. For now, I'm sticking with mine and any spare money goes into either something similar, or towards our new house (materialistic maybe, but generally an appreciating asset and one that will improve family life).
As I said, the thought stemmed from speaking to a client who really regularly replaces his car and i wondered if i wasn't normal replacing around the 4 year mark.
The comment regarding turning up at school was purely based on thinking back to my high school days and seeing a fellow pupil in a battered old car and taking a bit of stick for it. On reflection - he had a car. Some of the other kids used to travel in on a bus (myself included on the homeward journey) and in theory those taking the mick could've either had worse/older etc, or no car at all!
I do believe it's a bit about priorities. As another poster said earlier about having an older Metro but going on nice holidays etc. For now, I'm sticking with mine and any spare money goes into either something similar, or towards our new house (materialistic maybe, but generally an appreciating asset and one that will improve family life).
One thing that's only been mentioned briefly on here as far as i've seen is warranty.
My Dad currently drives a Kia Ceed with the 7 year Kia warranty. Absolutely no intention of replacing it until the warranty is up. 62 plate currently on circa 50k miles. Will be interesting to see it in 3 years at 6 years old and 100k as to how much Kia may try to wriggle out of any work.
Likewise, the other half. Had her last car (Grand Scenic 1.6) from December 2008 until March 2015. She wasn't really bothered about replacing it either but it was costing more to keep it going every month. Fortunately she liked the Toyota Verso so replaced it with that, and happens to have a 5 year warranty so hopefully peace of mind until May 2019 when it's 5 yrs are up. Can't see us replacing before that especially as she only does circa 10k per year.
My Dad currently drives a Kia Ceed with the 7 year Kia warranty. Absolutely no intention of replacing it until the warranty is up. 62 plate currently on circa 50k miles. Will be interesting to see it in 3 years at 6 years old and 100k as to how much Kia may try to wriggle out of any work.
Likewise, the other half. Had her last car (Grand Scenic 1.6) from December 2008 until March 2015. She wasn't really bothered about replacing it either but it was costing more to keep it going every month. Fortunately she liked the Toyota Verso so replaced it with that, and happens to have a 5 year warranty so hopefully peace of mind until May 2019 when it's 5 yrs are up. Can't see us replacing before that especially as she only does circa 10k per year.
Edited by sider on Tuesday 16th February 22:43
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