Breakeven
Yesterday, I had my first near miss with Sweets’ SUV. As I was driving to work, the battery light came on. I thought, M’kay, I should probably get that checked out.
A moment later, the ABS light came on. I thought, Very weird, I definitely should get this checked out.
Next thing I know, the radio goes out and the digital clock dims. I thought, Uh oh, that can’t be good; am I going to be the person who breaks down on the highway causing ugly AM traffic?
And finally, all the lights on the dash began to dim. That’s when I thought, Time to turn around and IMMEDIATELY get this car to our mechanic!
Thankfully, this series of events happened all of a half mile from our home. Our mechanic is around the corner from where we live, so I dropped off the SUV, grabbed my purse, lunch and laptop bag out of the back seat. And marched home. Good thing I could work from home yesterday.
Turns out the alternator and the battery were shot. A repair job to the tune of over $4oo. When I called Sweets early in the morning, we agreed that so long as repairs were under $750, we’d move forward with repairing the truck. This time, it wasn’t a question. We revived his truck.
But, the question remains on the table. At what point do you stop putting money into a vehicle? In our case, this truck is 12 years old. It has 185,000 miles on it. It’s probably only worth a couple thousand dollars, at best, if we were to try to sell it. Repairs over $1,000 could be a down payment on a new vehicle. Multiple repairs at any price could add up to a down payment (or monthly payments) for a new vehicle.
At this point, we’re not yet ready to make that call. Overall, his truck has been really great. The things where we spend money are maintenance-related (oil changes, new windshield wipers, etc.) or wear-and-tear-related (new brakes, new battery, etc.). These costs, unfortunately, come with new vehicles and older models. It’s the cost of owning a car.
I think the answer will become more clear for us if and when we start having to repair more major things related to the transmission, the electrical system, the overall integrity of the car. The point when I’m no longer sure whether I’ll be able to make it to work without incident. That will be the time we’ll be ready to call it quits. But, for now, we are willing to put up with keeping his truck on the road.
What about you – what is your tolerance for vehicle repairs? At what point would you quit repairing and buy a new car?
September 10th, 2009 at 6:39 am
I am a lucky duck, nearly 5 years ago i had an old car that got to that point (more money to repair than it was worth) and i bit the bullet and replaced it with a brand new car. Now i get a replacement every 3 years and my repayments always stay the same. Plus you get great deals on servicing and things with a new car and breakdown assistance too just in case.
September 10th, 2009 at 6:53 am
I have no idea what our breakeven point would be. I recently had to replace the alternator and battery in my truck too. Wasn’t happy about it, but all things considered, I was more than willing to pay it. I love my truck.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:44 am
Our one car is a Dodge Caliber so it’s quite new, but I think that my walk away point would always be directly proportionate to the amount of money we could sell our vehicle for. I’m not too attached to cars so it’s easy for me to go “Time to sell!” and get a used vehicle that’s 3-5 years old that will hold out for some time on us.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:45 am
My husband is way quicker than I am about giving up on a car. He gets a new car every few years because he puts so many miles on his and is so hard on it…and wants something new and fun. I have had the same car (ugly mom van) for over 6 years and have no desire to replace it anytime soon. The other day I was actually thinking about what it would be like to take the kids to college in it. I’m sure that says things about our personalities too which is interesting to think about.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:29 am
My very first car was a money pit; it ran well for a few years and then it had all sorts of crazy problems with the computer, battery, engine, etc etc. I was in college and didn’t have a lot of money so I had to rely on my parents for a bit o’help and finally they told me that it just wasn’t worth the $700 bucks every other month. My dad traded it in for what it was worth and put it towards a new car of his own and I got a much more reliable car (Ford Taurus) I finally traded that one in two years ago for my lovely Honda Accord (literally, I love my car), when the Taurus was starting to gobble up money again.
I think that once I realize the car is really really old and that the maintenance payments are unusually high, I’m done. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep my Honda for the next five to seven years =)
I’ll cross my fingers that Sweets’ car continues to stay well under the $750 mark if anything else goes awry.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:32 am
About the same as you. When the costs get to the point that it would be cheaper to actually buy a new car rather than constantly repairing the old one, then it’s time to trade in.
Hope this one stays healthy just a bit longer though (unless you reaaaaly want a new car)!
September 10th, 2009 at 8:34 am
I agree with you completely. If it is regular maintenance stuff like battery, tires, tune up, thermostat (Do I sound like I KNOW about cars, because I don’t!) I’d fix it and move. Anything beyond that would be a down payment on a new car that that point.
September 10th, 2009 at 8:42 am
I had to replace my former car after I was hit and the damage was well over the value of the car. My current car is over two years old and even thought it is a good one, we are getting close to 30k which requires the reqular upkeep. I ws todl as long as you make sure you get your car checked out and the oil changed at around 3k-5k it should be okay.
We’ll see how long it is before we give up on the car. Hubs has dropped a few hints about getting a cross over or SUV but until the gas milages improve it is on the back burner.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:09 am
I had this same conversation with myself when the blazer was getting older. If I put as much money into repairing it in a year as I would have paid in car payments over the course of that same year, that was the deciding factor. And lo and behold? The year I got rid of it? That’s what happened.
But let me tell you. I sorely miss having an SUV. The next vehicle I get will be a hybrid SUV for certain. And I can’t wait.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:10 am
We generally keep to a seven year rule for cars (from new). Once that time passes, we start to look around for what replacement we’d like.
Me personally? The very first time a car breaks down on me is the very last time I drive it. Repair cost is irrelevant, reliability is everything!
Atm I have a 2005 Honda Accord Euro (Luxury) which I may be indecently in love with and will be sad when the seven years is up!
September 10th, 2009 at 9:19 am
Yeah, the ‘battery light’? Actually is the alternator light, and when it comes on you never have long to make it to a safe place. They really should cover that in driver ed, because you never know until it happens to you. (Although, with me it is the only thing I learned in my freshman english class in college, because it happened to my teacher one day.)
We are big fans of running a car until the wheels fall off. Gabe is pretty handy, so we push it for as long as we can.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:31 am
man at this point if it were me i’d get a new truck/car. hubs keeps his til they’re run into the ground.i get a new one every 5 years. mostly because i commute and usually drive the kids.
September 10th, 2009 at 9:46 am
That’s a tough one because owning a car and not having a monthly payment is about the greatest thing in the world! I paid off my car last summer and instead of paying monthly for a new car, I pay monthly for my college education.
BUT, my car is in relatively good shape (though it has over 100K miles on it). I am not sure how I will handle things when it starts falling apart on me.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Ugh. I am so not looking forward to this stage of car ownership. At this point our car is three years old and we’ve had it for eight months so we haven’t had to deal with these questions yet.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:18 am
We save up over the years to buy a car outright, so we must wait several years to replace cars. Which generally coincides with the time that the car to be replaced is starting to nickle and dime us to death. We are in a bit of a pickle right now though. It’s time to replace the sedan, but our larger vehicle (CRV)is not capable of towing anything very large and we also want to get a pop up camper. So we may be stuck with two large vehicles when really we’d rather stick with a sedan and a larger one. Plus I think Jason would like to get a bit of a nicer car for work image purposes. Never thought I’d agree with that concept, but I understand in his situation how it could be beneficial to his career. Uck, can’t believe I just said that.
September 10th, 2009 at 11:29 am
man, yesterday just wasn’t a good day for driving, was it? :-)
such a tough call on when to give up on a car! i think you’re probably right, though -- when it’s something major like a transmission (as opposed to something easily replace-able like a battery) then it’s time to do some evaluating.
my honda has about 125k miles on it, and the airbag light just came on.. i may be looking at MY first “oh shit how much is this car worth to me” moment :-P
September 10th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
It goes like this: 1) The car working fine. Fingers crossed, it’ll last for a few more years. 2) The car is breaking! We don’t have a choice -- have to fix it right away. We’re not ready to buy a car today. 3) This would be a perfect time to start researching a new car, but with all the money we just invested in the old one, it doesn’t seem like the right time. 4) Return to step one. Repeat.
September 10th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
I’m glad it wasn’t something more serious! Car trouble makes my stomach ache -- I know absolutely nothing about cars.
September 10th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
The clock in my car is broken. This, to me, makes it practically undriveable. My husband strongly disagrees.
September 10th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I drive cars until they die. That decision is easier than a decision that leads to a way harder decision: what the next car will be.
September 10th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
I gave up on my last car when I spent $1200 on the exhaust and something else wrong with it. I was pouring money into it and it only had 84,000 miles on it. I’m soooo glad I got rid of it b/c who knows what it would have done on our cross country drive!!
September 10th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
I had a 2002 Neon that I went through some water with — I put over $3000 into it — new engine, alternator, belts, etc. After two months and it being in and out of the shop I had to get rid of it. It was completely unreliable. Thankfully I was able to trade it in for more than it was worth at that point and bought the car I have now. I’m glad it was only the alternator and battery for your vehicle (and that you were able to safely get it to the garage).
September 10th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Well, as you known, since I moved to NYC I stopped owning a car, thus don’t have the perks that come with it, or the headaches. But before NYC I’ve always had a car and my take on cars, even though I do get emotionally attached to them, is that once they begin to get high maintenance, we need to part. It just seems too much stress to not know when they’ll fall apart on me, leaving me stranded. I rather be proactive and avoid it if I can.
September 11th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Glad to hear you made it safely. That sounds like some scary stuff!!
The only car I’ve ever owned (I got it like 2 weeks ago) is practically brand new bought for me by my parents so that I don’t have to worry about the car breaking down while I’m in college and they’re overseas. Especially considering my college-student salary I can’t afford to spend anything on repairs.