when is it time to call time on car?

AdrianHi

Keep in mind purchase price is not the real cost of ownership. If the car you've bought is old enough to be depreciating by just a few hundred pounds a year in the long run your no worse off than paying out the same in repairs on the older car. You may even be better off.
I here some people saying clutches and brake discs are maintenance. Yes OK it is but it's maintenance you don't need to pay for on a car under around 80K miles so it is legitimate to include it as a cost and older car has but a younger one doesn't.

You can't assume a car with a higher purchase price is the more expensive car to own.

Miss_J

I can't believe I've just read this post now, a few hours after forking out £525 for my Daewoo to get through it's MOT. Bought the car last year, and so far have spent 1200 on it, which I know it's not worth but have needed to have a car and without money saved up was my only option. Now I'm seriously considering bailing out and getting a lease car through work, all servicing and insurance included for a monthly fee. Can't wait to be rid but praying it stays intact until I can replace it.

AdrianHi

Miss_J wrote: »

I can't believe I've just read this post now, a few hours after forking out £525 for my Daewoo to get through it's MOT. Bought the car last year, and so far have spent 1200 on it, which I know it's not worth but have needed to have a car and without money saved up was my only option. Now I'm seriously considering bailing out and getting a lease car through work, all servicing and insurance included for a monthly fee. Can't wait to be rid but praying it stays intact until I can replace it.

You can lease the cheaper versions of the smaller cars (e.g. Corsa) for around £150 a month. Interesting to compare that with £100 a month on repairs alone.
And in the game of working out the "real cost" of cars, no car lasts forever so the question of actually "owning it" is usually irrelevant - you never "own" a lease car.
What matters is how much you had to pay for the use of the car for the period you had it.

Inactive

Miss_J wrote: »

I can't believe I've just read this post now, a few hours after forking out £525 for my Daewoo to get through it's MOT. Bought the car last year, and so far have spent 1200 on it, which I know it's not worth but have needed to have a car and without money saved up was my only option. Now I'm seriously considering bailing out and getting a lease car through work, all servicing and insurance included for a monthly fee. Can't wait to be rid but praying it stays intact until I can replace it.

There are some downside to leasing.;), apart from never actually owning the car.

Badger_Lady

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

So far, touch wood, I have yet to take a car to a garage for any repair. I do realise that not everyone is an "engineer", so cannot make those savings. However I can't recall in a lifetimes motoring ever spending more than a few hundred quid in parts during a cars ownership, and I generally keep cars untill about 10 years old.

I've never had a car younger than 10 years old! And yet I've never had them fixed apart from the odd little thing at MOT time, plus some tyres and exhausts.

When a car is clearly on its last owner, I've continued to run them until they won't cost-effectively pass MOT any more... like the Toyota that needed a complete engine rebuild to restore its full power but still started and drove no problem and was only scrapped a year later when the whole exhaust rusted through.

Or the Fiesta that had a timing problem, so I just had to keep revving the engine / bump starting it on longer journeys, even using the manual choke at traffic lights to stop it stalling. That one kept me doing 400 miles a week for a good 6 months before I replaced it.

I just don't understand why you'd keep spending money on repairing a car that's safe and legal, even if 'quirky', and that will never raise in value in relation to the money you spend...

In short, run it into the ground, until it's completely unusable, then PX / scrap it for a new one

AdrianHi

Badger_Lady,
I guess if you get a kick and a bit of amusement out of running a car like that literally into the ground fair play and best of luck to you :rotfl:
I'm a bit more fussy, I want the car to work properly but I don't have a problem with it being 10+ years old - so long as it works proprerly and looks tidy.

cyclonebri1

I think you are wrong Adrian, but you are entitled to your "opinion". This is not a post about safety or style, merely keeping an older car operational.

More money is wasted on updating good old cars than ever should be. I have given examples of that and so has BL ??

AdrianHi

cyclonebri1 wrote: »

I think you are wrong Adrian, but you are entitled to your "opinion". This is not a post about safety or style, merely keeping an older car operational.

More money is wasted on updating good old cars than ever should be. I have given examples of that and so has BL ??

Horses for courses, depends on your situation. Do 15,000 to 20,000+ miles a year in a 10 year old 100,000+ mile car and see how practical it is. I have twice and had to throw the towel in. The car may still be economic to keep going for most but do you really want to be in the garage every other month (don't have time to do repairs myself)? For me a day off the road is a day not earning income by which point that old car is now absolutely more expensive "real cost over time" than a newer one.
If your annual mile age is low it makes a lot more sense to keep an older car going because fuel costs are less of an issue and the frequency of repairs / garage visits tend to be mileage related so don't come up that often.
I think you have to be careful with the message "old cars are cheaper" because it isn't always the case and the difference can be so small many will decide to spend a little extra for the added convenience of a younger vehicle.
Your always going to be able to come up with examples that are exceptions one way or the other.
Myself and others have spreadsheets showing little or no difference in total cost of ownership for similar cars in year 2, 3 or 4 of their lives compared to years 7 and 8. This is for people doing 14,000+ miles per year in those cars so by 7 years old they have 100,000+ on the clock.
As depreciation drops, additional maintenance and some other costs rise.