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Keep & repair OR sell and buy new/newer?

Kroze

Kroze

Diamond Member
Just wanted some opinion whether I should keep and continued to repair my car or get rid of it and buy a new/newer car.

I bought the 99 Maxima 7 months ago and so far between the maintenance & repair cost, it costed more than the car's worth. The dilema is that since I've pretty much replaced most of what need to be replace on a car with 124k miles, I'm pretty much set for another 100k.

The car currently run & looks like it's brand new. Very smooth and have plenty of power. However since it is an old car, you'll never know for sure what else could go wrong.

Here's basically what I've done for maintenance and repair since I bought the car:

Minor work
- Oil, Coolant, Transmission fluids replaced.
- PCV valve & Spark plugs replaced
- Fuel & Air filter replaced
- Seafoamed the car.

Major work done
- Alternator replaced
- Radiator replaced
- Steering rack replaced
- Wheel hub & bearing replaced
- All brakes and rotors replaced.
- 4 brand new tires (65k miles guarantee)
- All new bushings (ball joint, sway bar, lower control arm)
- All shocks & struts replaced.

As you can see, that's a lot of major work and I'm pretty much set for a very long time. However, you'll never know what else could pop up in the near future. Should I shell out more money to repair if something else come up in the future or just call it quit and get a new car?

The only issue with the car as of right now is oil collecting near the oil pan. Which I suspect the rear main seal is seeping. That's pretty much it. It's not leaking but seeping.
 
I would cut your losses and sell. I only say that because I have been where you are. I once bought a Thunderbird SC and just kept dumping money into it.....ECU, head gaskets, new motor (like 3 months after head gaskets), new blower, hood, door, brake master cylinder, slave cylinder.....on and on. I kept thinking that "this will be the last repair, I just know it"
 
DaTT said:
I would cut your losses and sell. I only say that because I have been where you are. I once bought a Thunderbird SC and just kept dumping money into it.....ECU, head gaskets, new motor (like 3 months after head gaskets), new blower, hood, door, brake master cylinder, slave cylinder.....on and on. I kept thinking that "this will be the last repair, I just know it"
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It just doesn't feel right after dumping all that work and money into the car. The car is running perfect right now. I keep telling myself that, hey since I've put so much work and money into it, just fix this minor thing and it'll be fine. :biggrin:
 
Kroze said:
It just doesn't feel right after dumping all that work and money into the car. The car is running perfect right now. I keep telling myself that, hey since I've put so much work and money into it, just fix this minor thing and it'll be fine. :biggrin:
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lol, thats where the never ending story begins....I dumped a small fortune into my T-Bird, then took it to the junk yard.
 
I say drive it till it dies. My dad was in the same spot as you and decided to tough it out. For the past 10 years he's been driving a 1992 Toyota Camry wagon and it's got 550,000 km on it. Car was bought for cash, he saved a shit ton of money, and it's still going strong lol.
 
You pay to own a car. You will pay in repairs, or you will pay in depreciation, loan interest (maybe), and higher insurance rates. You've put a lot of money into this car, the only way to benefit from that investment is to drive it. If you sell it, you lose that investment.

I say keep it.
 
If you have already done that much I say keep it and drive it until it dies or at least there is a major problem that does not make economic sense to fix. My dad gave me his 1993 Taurus SHO with 104K on it when he wanted something new. Over the course of the next 8 years and about $1000 max worth of repairs and several sets of tires I parked it at 227K miles still running, yet very tired. I would say that was one cheap ride.
 
I'd say keep it. If you want to figure it out mathematically, then estimate what you would sell your car for and what you would buy a replacement vehicle for. You'll likely come up with a figure that's several thousand dollars. Even if something awful happened like the transmission going out, you're talking $1,500 and not $6,000 (just guessing here.

FWIW, I'm planning to put about $700 in parts and lots of labor into a 1992 Mercury Cougar. It's got a solid engine and transmission at 130k miles, but it needs a lot of suspension and steering work. However, I'd probably have to spend $4,000 just to get a car that'll be reliable enough to last another 70k miles, and that's not worth it to me.
 
Kroze said:
However since it is an old car, you'll never know for sure what else could go wrong.
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And the same could be said for any other used car you buy....you will never know for sure if it will break or not. Even brand new stuff breaks now and again.


So, the real question is are you willing to eat the expense of what you've put into the current vehicle when you get rid of it. Doing maintenance on an older vehicle, or any vehicle for that matter, doesn't make the vehicle worth more, despite what some may say. It's just maintenance and that costs.


I'd just drive the thing until it dies, unless you're completely bored with it and can't stand to drive it one more inch.
 
Keep it. Why put in all that work just to let someone else reap the benefit?

Also, are you going to get your money back out of those repairs in resale value?
 
Keep it. If you are willing to drive it for another 100K miles, it is very unlikely you will spend more money over those 100K miles on the car then you would on a new car with all that comes along with the new car (depreciation, insurance costs, possible loan interest). If the car runs well...go with it.
 
Keep it
A guy I worked with put over 700k miles on a Corolla even swapped the engine once
You've done the work, your happy with it
 
Well...I got bad news.

Just as when I thought everything is done and over with, the car now shifts pretty rough/abrupt. Going from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd it's not smooth but quick and abrupt. Sometimes I hear a clunk for both upshift and downshift.

I don't know what could it be? transmission or torque converter?

Yes: Transmission fluid was replaced not too long ago
Yes: There's enough fluid in there (though i made the mistake of overfilling it over the "Max" line)
 
Despite the transmission problems, I'd still likely keep it even if the transmission has to be rebuilt. At that mileage/year, you will still likely get >100k miles more out of it.
 
Well I found the fixed the problem, it was a $52 sensor.

The car drive and shift perfectly now. I freaking love it.
 
You owe us to tell exactly which sensor fixed your transmission.

By the way, those Maxima's routinely run 200K+ with normal maintenance and few consumables such as starter and alternator (and MAF and rear caliper and front axles and ignition coils; OK it is a long list but nothing really out of ordinary)

- Vikas
 
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