A Sensible Proposal for Sub-forums: Who is proud of their old cars?

[BonzaiDuck]

"New" cars fall under a drive-train warranty. "New" car owners get into a panic over every scratch and ding of a crowded parking lot, because the option of selling it or trading it in looms large among possibilities. "New" car owners pay full-comprehensive insurance: to do otherwise is a risk they would choke on if it materialized. New cars likely haven't passed a threshold of "first bolt-on engine part that went south" -- like alternator, radiator, or hopefully timing belt replacement to avoid even a chance of disaster.

New car owners likely think of their next-car possibilities as a trade-in for another new car. New car owners don't like sitting in the repair-shop customer lounge. They have more trouble enduring an expensive repair on an aging car. It becomes a decision-point that can propel them for that trade-in. More new car owners have less confidence in repair-shop honesty, than new-car owners who have more.

Used car owners more likely have had to extrapolate their own extension to the 100,000 mile schedule of maintenance and repair in the workshop manual. My car only has 1,000 miles on it if you only consider the entire suspension system. It has 27,000 miles on it if you then consider the water-pump and alternator or radiator, but that's 27,000 miles over 12 years. It has 60,000 miles if you throw in the transmission for 15 years. It has 186,000 when you consider the engine, body parts, wiring harness, etc.

Used car owners eventually removed full-comprehensive from their insurance policy, looking at their next accident fault as a loss of mostly the use of the car, calculating that they've already squeezed out enough miles that they can cover that materialized risk of totaling the car out of pocket, and still begin the search for replacement. Meaningful risk materializes as a new-car investment of $30K, in an accident you caused yourself that totals the car with no full-comprehensive coverage.

Used car owners obsess over "cents-per-mile". New car owners obsess over technological improvement, wearing the latest fashion, performance, and other factors. Used car owners wick their Willie over how an old car seems to run better than it did when new.

The used car buff will look at his car and say "wasn't I clever to do this and that?" A do-it-yourself body-and-paint repair is good for an orgasm here or there when some other observer fails to see it. You pat yourself on the back when a half-hour's worth of elbow-grease to remove a fender-bender paint-transfer leaves the bumper unblemished and shiny.

Gerle is Chief-master-veteran Guru of used-cars. I'd pay him just for a second-opinion before I choose to pursue buying another used car as my "new" car. A good used car has to have most-fortunate prospects.

It's like George C. Scott says to Paul Newman in "The Hustler": "It's my MON-EYY, ED-dieee!! My MON-EYY! Give me my MON_EY, Eddie! I want my MON-EYYY!!"

 

[scannall]

My daily driver is a 2002 Buick Park Avenue. Looks perfect inside and out. Everything works fine. All it's had is the manufacturer suggested maintenance. No major issues ever. It's a very big car, but gets 24 mpg in town. 30-32 mpg on the freeway. Unless something major goes wrong, I don't see a need to replace it.

 

[Kaido]

It would have to be a reasonable, if nonetheless arbitrary, threshold.

In "car-financing", a six-year loan is fairly common. But a six-year-old vehicle is not "New".

Mileage could be another determinate. Some new cars come with 100,000 mile drive-train warranties. We might set the threshold at 90K.

Eh, my brother works in sales & drives an average of 80k miles a year (~250 miles per workday, 5 to 6 days a week). So at around 14 months, he hits 100k miles on whatever car he's driving at the moment, even if it's still pretty "new".

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Eh, my brother works in sales & drives an average of 80k miles a year (~250 miles per workday, 5 to 6 days a week). So at around 14 months, he hits 100k miles on whatever car he's driving at the moment, even if it's still pretty "new".

"Per workday". Subject to the imperatives of a personal, income-focused budget,

Let me ask you this. In 3 years, he'd put 240,000 miles on a single vehicle. When he replaces these vehicles, does he buy/trade-in-for a new one? Or does he purchase pre-owned?

Maybe his sales organization reimburses him per miles traveled in actual work. That still figures in to a "personal income-focused budget", because it's income -- he can try and minimize how much is eroded by his car-purchase decisions.

I calculated that the second owner of my Trooper had bought it from Avis/Hertz/Enterprise, who had bought it off the new-car sales lot as an orphan left-over of the actual model-year sales inventory. It had 24,200 miles on it when the second owner -- a dealership employee -- bought it. It had 95,000 miles on it when I bought it. During that 95,000 miles and the 7 years including one year sitting on the dealer's lot -- then owned by rentacar and dealership-guy respectively, the car lost $20,500 of it's value. That loss would've been $21,000 more or less, if I had been able to detect the damage repaired to the front bumper -- never caught by the Carfax radar. The damage was repaired by one or the other owners -- and equally likely for either, given their business and work-life. [I checked Carfax in 2002 before I sealed the deal.]

I'd be interested in your brother's new-car/used-car strategy. I think average commuter mileage is about 12,000/year. The "dealership-guy" and his family loved their SUV excursions -- their annual mileage was 18,500. My Trooper won't rack up more than 3,000 miles between annual oil-changes -- I had to nix my annual 4-wheelin' and national park trips to take care of my old moms and disabled brother -- both retired, of course.

Personally, I'm salivating over an emerald-green-metallic Forester as a new-car option. But I shudder to think of what good the outlay will do me if I only drive 3,000 miles/annum. And the Trooper has a 5,000 lb. tow-weight limit. Sooner or later, I will praise that feature. Unless I'm too old myself.