Drive your car to death, save $31,000

 
Comments?
It seems to me that driving a car to 225,000 miles or buying a new one
every
year are two extremes? Maybe there is an optimum mileage/age for
upgrade?

If you are DIY type, I can see how taking a car to 200K miles and
beyond
is not an issue...


quote
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Drive your car to death, save $31,000

By keeping your car for 200,000 miles or more, you can save the money
of buying a new car. Plus: Cars that can outlast all the rest.
August 31 2007: 1:53 PM EDT


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- By keeping your car for 15 years, or
225,000 miles of driving, you could save nearly $31,000, according to
Consumer Reports magazine. That's compared to the cost of buying an
identical model every five years, which is roughly the rate at which
most car owners trade in their vehicles.

In its annual national auto survey, the magazine found 6,769 readers
who had logged more than 200,000 miles on their cars. Their cars
included a 1990 Lexus LS400 with 332,000 miles and a 1994 Ford Ranger
pick-up that had gone 488,000 miles.


Consumer Reports calls the Honda Civic a "Good bet" to make it to
200,000 miles.


Calculating the costs involved in buying a new Honda Civic EX every
five years for 15 years - including depreciation, taxes, fees and
insurance - the magazine estimated it would cost $20,500 more than it
would have cost to simply maintain one car for the same period.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/30/autos/cr_drive_200k/index.htm?section=money_topstories

 

Thats basically what I do, the last one lasted 30+ years and only
passed its useby date because I was stupid enough to not do anything
about a known leaking windscreen until I got significant floor corrosion that
wasnt economic to repair, or more strictly I couldnt be bothered to do that.

The new one should last for the rest of my life unless some fool wipes it out
on me and the insurance that only costs me $100 will pay for a replacement.


You can get more extreme than that, keep it forever
and replace whatever needs replacing when it fails.


Nope, there will always been a tradeoff between the hassle of fixing
what needs fixing and not having anything break and need fixing.


Yeah, I only had a couple of quite minor things to replace apart
from the stuff that wears out like tires,  battery, brake pads etc.


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miles.


http://money.cnn.com/2007/08/30/autos/cr_drive_200k/index.htm?section=money_topstories

 

You never save money by trading payments for repair costs.  Even
spending $1200 a year repair costs on a truck is cheaper than paying
$6000 a year in payments or more.  Cost isn't a valid reason to trade;
too many breakdowns or parts being unavailable are two good ones.

 

My last car, a 79 Chev Monza, had gotten to the point that I was spending as
much per month in repairs as a new car payment, so I traded it in.
No to mention the cost of having to deal with the whole thing, time off from
work, rental cars, the aggravation, the undependability, etc.

 
onestatusquo@yahoo.com> wrote:

And, if you consistently run over the limit on AAA tows.