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How often do you change your car?

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  • datostar
    datostar Posts: 1,288 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Peugeot 309 bought new 1987: Renault Megane Mk1 2.0 RXE new 1976: Renault Megane Mk3 VVTi 1.6 10 months old, . 2011 to date still going well.  Note: 3 French cars since 1987 - only one major expense - new Aircon Compressor on the Mk1 Megane.
  • Aim to get 10 years. Start saving for the next car as soon as the last one is purchased - and this is based on 10 years. So far replaced at 9 years and 14 years.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 27 October 2020 at 9:22PM
    So a 1976 Megane has air con?
  • Stubod
    Stubod Posts: 2,569 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    20 cars in 42 years, average time owned is 3.5 years, longest owned 17 years, shortest 1 yr...
    Total cost to me of to date of buying (/ depreciation) £55k. Lowest deprecation £12/month, highest depreciation £200 / month......
    (...you can't beat a good spreadsheet......) 
    .."It's everybody's fault but mine...."
  • So a 1976 Megane has air con?
    Yes.  It comes with a free arm workout as you wind the window up and down...

    Seriously though, I doubt there was such a car as a Megane in 1976, I believe they were in numbers back then
  • seatbeltnoob
    seatbeltnoob Posts: 1,367 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 28 October 2020 at 12:25AM
    I have a 2002 golf, bought it in 2011 and still have it. Bought it at 97K miles and it is on 170K right now. Had loads of work done in the last year. I did it as they came up and looking at it - maybe it was best to scrap it and buy another car, But now I'm fully commited to it. Done in the last year.
    Clutch, timing belt, 4 struts, oxygen sensors (expensive in this car), wishbone bushes, arb bushes.
    To do list: brakes, more bushes and driveshaft.
    Currently doing 1K a month in mileage doing amazon delivery, so it's really the best possible vehicle to be putting this sort of mileage and wear & tear in.
  • seatbeltnoob
    seatbeltnoob Posts: 1,367 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 28 October 2020 at 12:28AM
    Zellah said:
    I always buy brand new (cash) and try to get at least 10 years usage before sending them to the scrap heap. 

    I'll give you the scrappage fee, just give me your 10 year old car in future.
    My brother bought a honda accord that was absolutely mint, 12 years old, 1 owner from new, service book had honda dealer service stamps all the way til he sold it. I looked at the service book and texted my brothers to just pay the asking price, this is good.
    The car was mint outside and in, no damage. no noise, everything works brilliantly, AC is freezing, all tyres match. A steal for £1560
  • Around 7 to 10 years. Tend to buy larger engined cars where they don't break much of sweat. Oil change every year or 10k miles whichever is sooner regardless of these long service intervals. Currently a BMW 330D estate 15 years old and pretty much still looks like it did from the showroom. Sticking with it until electric is more common and the technology settles. Might be old fashinoned but not a fan of the modern small capacity high output engines. They drive fine and are frugal but not sure about the longterm reliability of them. Seems to be the last gasps of the combustion engine before we all move to electric or until they find that is terrible for the planet too much like my diesel turned out to be.
  • vacheron
    vacheron Posts: 2,171 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    I always buy used (generally 2-3 years old), or ex-demos and keep them anywhere between 4-10 years. We don't tend to put huge miles on them either, usually between 3-6 thousand per year. 

    Once I get a feeling that I should change one of our cars, I start looking. They have subtle ways of telling you that they are getting on a bit and expensive bills may be round the corner! 
    I would never sell a car that was running well just because it reached a certain age, to me that is selling a good car to potentially buy someone else's problem.
    • The rich buy assets.
    • The poor only have expenses.
    • The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets.
    Robert T. Kiyosaki
  • DD265
    DD265 Posts: 2,223 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Homepage Hero Name Dropper
    First two cars were 3/4 years each (they were ~13yo when I got them), then one on finance for 3 years, then I kept the previous one for almost 3 years, unfortunately having to change it to meet the requirements of my car allowance (which I didn't have when I bought it).

    I've had the current 5yo car since January, which, if it remains our only car, will have to go in January 2025 (car allowance again). If we wind up needing a second car, the plan is to lease something new which could be used to meet my car allowance terms and we can keep the current car until it dies. Of course they might remove the age restriction from the car allowance (or I change job or whatever) in which case it's moot.
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