At what point do you call it a day

longwalks1

Our Audi A4 is a 2003 model, we’ve owned it for 11 years now, it owes us nothing and aside from the occasional sensor/switch needing replacing (£50 a time aporox), it’s had a new clutch and DMF 2 years ago (which cost £1,000), it’s been pretty much trouble free. We only do between 3k and 5k a year in it. Few more things need doing now, I’d of thought £400-£500 max, at what point do you decide it’s too old to keep going?

dont want to get tied up with a £300 a month car for 3 years only to give it back at the end of it, so will be looking to buy outright when we do upgrade

AdrianC

It's never "too old".
It might be too knackered, but yours doesn't sound it.

facade

If it isn't rusty, and it doesn't rain in (cars that are damp inside grow mould which is unhealthy) it is worth spending £500-£600 average a year on it. If you bought someone else's cast-off for £500 you might get a year out of it, and if you pcp a car for £300 pcm you spend that £600 in 2 months to borrow a car that probably isn't that much better than yours.

Jonesya

I wouldn't go changing cars in the middle of a global pandemic, its non-essential and to get a good deal you need to shop around, which you cannot do at the moment.

If it needs fixing to keep it road worthy, I'd do that and reevaluate in 12 months time.

noclaf

Op I am in the same boat you, had my shed 10 years (16 yr old focus), looks bit tatty now on bodywork and alloys but mechanically ok and flew through its MOT last yr. I had it serviced in Jan and so far touch wood .all good.
I was literally about to start looking for a new car (cash buyer aswell) then Covid dropped on us like a bombshell...so as suggested above I think the best thing is to wait this out though we have little choice really. No monthly PCP/lease payments, shedding at its finest! A number of my friends are on expensive monthly leases in all sorts of German metal..nice cars but I'd rather be driving my banger than have expensive monthly car commitments right now. I say that whilst accepting my banger is more likely to throw an issue than the newer lease cars!  

tacpot12

If you are only spending £300 per year, I would keep it. Once you start having to spend £500 every year, I think the balance switches to it making more sense to spend £2K to £3K on something that only needs £300 per year spending on it.

Stubod

The biggest car of car ownership is usually depreciation, the newer the car the higher the cost. Until I started getting "newer" cars I assumed depreciation of about £1k per year, so assuming your car is reliable, (a key feature) and not worth a lot I would happily spend up to 5 or 6 hundred pounds a year on maintaining it, but again the key thing is reliability.

AdrianC

tacpot12 said:

If you are only spending £300 per year, I would keep it. Once you start having to spend £500 every year, I think the balance switches to it making more sense to spend £2K to £3K on something that only needs £300 per year spending on it.

Spending £3k to save £200/yr is not exactly a great RoI.

fred246

I am guessing it is diesel. I have the same engine. It has only needed a clutch and DMF in the last 16 years apart from regular oil changes. You end up nervous because nothing ever seems to go wrong.

motorguy

I would stick with it.  £400-500 to get on top of maintenance again sounds like a cheap years motoring.

I' strongly advise you do the little jobs as they come along, rather than let them build up.  I got a friend of mine an exceptionally good but high miles 406 for £400 some years ago.  He didnt bother with ongoing maintenance and left it all until it was due MOT - it needed 4 tyres, a couple of discs and pads and an exhaust by then and he was advised - stupidly - by his mechanic that it wasnt worth spending the money on, so he scrapped the car.

Scrapit

britishboy said:

Our Audi A4 is a 2003 model, we’ve owned it for 11 years now, it owes us nothing and aside from the occasional sensor/switch needing replacing (£50 a time aporox), it’s had a new clutch and DMF 2 years ago (which cost £1,000), it’s been pretty much trouble free. We only do between 3k and 5k a year in it. Few more things need doing now, I’d of thought £400-£500 max, at what point do you decide it’s too old to keep going?

dont want to get tied up with a £300 a month car for 3 years only to give it back at the end of it, so will be looking to buy outright when we do upgrade

If it ain't broke don't fix it. 400 quid a year to keep it running, I bet you pay around that figure to insure it and not claim.