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Fix my car or get a new one??

Ok, so I've got a bit of rust starting to show on my car (near 2 of the wheel wells).  I bought it new in 2002 (it's an 03).  I've got about 195000kms on it and I've never really had problems other than regular maintenance.  I think I've put in about $2000 in repairs over the last 13 years.  

It's now worth about $3000, according to a quick search on kijiji and what other people are asking.  Rust repairs are estimating about $1500 (unless they find a lot more underneath, but they'll tell me before they start to fix it and charge me more).  

I love my car and it's running great.  Do I pay to fix it, and potentially have to do this again in 5 years or so, or do I bite the bullet, sell it and get a new car??  Car payments on what I would want won't kill me, but I also like not having a car payment.  Until this came up, I had no real thoughts on selling.  I also only drive on occasion, since I walk to work most days.  

Re: Fix my car or get a new one??

  • AprilH81AprilH81 member
    2500 Comments 500 Love Its Third Anniversary 5 Answers
    edited May 2015
    Since you don't drive that much and until now you weren't thinking of getting a new car I would probably make the repairs and keep your old car until it dies for good.  That being said, with 195,000 miles on it things are probably going to start breaking more often so I would keep a healthy savings account for either a new (or new-to-you) car or the repairs.
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  • julieanne912julieanne912 member
    1000 Comments 500 Love Its Fourth Anniversary First Answer
    edited May 2015
    I agree that you should just keep it til it dies since you don't drive often.  If you had a long commute or used your car for road trips, then I'd say get rid of it.  I know I have a nice car (and a nice car payment too :-P), but I spend A LOT of time in my car and it's our main car whenever we go anywhere that doesn't require FI's truck.  It's a 2013 and I have almost 60k miles on it to give you an idea.  But when I lived in Chicago I was perfectly happy with my 1997 Saturn beater car, since I basically just used it to go to the store on weekends. 
    Married 9.12.15
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  • Yeah, I'm a 5-7 min walk to work, so I tend to not take it there.  It's just as long to drive.  I do use it on nights when I have practice (30 min) or for groceries/appts.  We take DH's car for road trips, cos he usually drives anyway.  Plus he has climate control.  :D

  • kvrunskvruns member
    Tenth Anniversary 5000 Comments 500 Love Its First Answer
    Keep it. And is the rest thing something that has to be dealt with or is it just looks more than anything?
  • erinlin25erinlin25 member
    500 Love Its 1000 Comments Third Anniversary First Answer
    edited May 2015
    well maintained cars can last a long time.  We have customers with cars from the 90s with over 300k miles on them and still actually run well, and look decent.  It all comes down to do you want a car payment if you go new (or finance a used car); or pay to maintain your current car?  Either way there will always be maintenance; even "new" cars will have things come up. Since you like your car and its still running well I'd keep it and pay to maintain it--and when you do decide to sell it a well maintained car will sell for a higher price compared to one that will need a lot of work. 
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    Anniversary
  • Ok, so I've got a bit of rust starting to show on my car (near 2 of the wheel wells).  I bought it new in 2002 (it's an 03).  I've got about 195000kms on it and I've never really had problems other than regular maintenance.  I think I've put in about $2000 in repairs over the last 13 years.  


    It's now worth about $3000, according to a quick search on kijiji and what other people are asking.  Rust repairs are estimating about $1500 (unless they find a lot more underneath, but they'll tell me before they start to fix it and charge me more).  

    I love my car and it's running great.  Do I pay to fix it, and potentially have to do this again in 5 years or so, or do I bite the bullet, sell it and get a new car??  Car payments on what I would want won't kill me, but I also like not having a car payment.  Until this came up, I had no real thoughts on selling.  I also only drive on occasion, since I walk to work most days.  
    hahaha, I get a new car every 5 years, so I had to chuckle when you mentioned this.  But I drive a little over 20k miles a year.  I don't want to have to deal with fixing things or breakdowns, so I usually trade in around the 100k mark.

    If I were you though, I'd keep it.  195k kilometers is about 120k miles.  Not bad, especially when you said you usually walk, not drive, for your commute.
  • kvruns said:

    Keep it. And is the rest thing something that has to be dealt with or is it just looks more than anything?


    At the moment, the rust is pretty small, but it will of course start to eat away, and eventually my car will just fall apart.  We use a lot of salt on the roads here in the winter, and it's often a wet slushy mess too.  The appraiser said he accidentally put his finger through a rust spot on the last car he checked out.  I'm not there yet, but if I don't deal with it, I will be eventually.  
    JoanE2012 said:

    hahaha, I get a new car every 5 years, so I had to chuckle when you mentioned this.  But I drive a little over 20k miles a year.  I don't want to have to deal with fixing things or breakdowns, so I usually trade in around the 100k mark.

    If I were you though, I'd keep it.  195k kilometers is about 120k miles.  Not bad, especially when you said you usually walk, not drive, for your commute.
    I walk now, but drove a lot for the first 8 years I had it.  About 25 000kms/year, commuting to a different school.  Now I'm down to about 8 000kms.  :)

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