When to give up on repairs

[Kaido]

I would say this is sound advice...however something to consider is a $3000 transmission worth it in a $500 rust bucket car? Probably not. How about a $3000 tranny in a $3000 car? Hmm. Maybe? Depends

There is definitely a grey area. If your vehicle is rather sound and well maintained, I don’t think keepin it repaired will be a stupid decision...ever

As an owner of a car I’ve had for 16 years...I will tell you it’s darn near impossible to stop the tide of never ending repairs. Gaskets, rubber, and steel only last so long and their are ungodly amounts of it in your vehicle. Fix the transmission? Great. Next month it’s the intake gasket. Next month it’s the water pump. Next month your door trim falls apart.


If you are OK driving an old car and keeping it well operated, that’s good, just don’t expect it to be as reliable as a 1-4 year old car. Get some rental car coverage on your insurance for peace of mind.

$3000 here or there is not the end of the world. Most of your repairs will be sub $500 anyway. So just keep track of it and make sure you aren’t going crazy putting money into it. I dumped like 6000 in my truck the last two years and it’s only worth 8000.

What are 24 months of $500 car payments? See not so crazy

Yeah. I had a really nice Volvo for awhile, which I bought used for $4k (2001 model, it was $40k new). It was business-owned & maintained prior to me buying it, so it was in mint condition & fully maintained. Eventually the transmission started going out (quit going in reverse & start slipping through automatic gear changes really bad). A used tranny was $4.8k & I had only paid four for the car. Granted, it was a very nice car originally & was extremely well-maintained, so I could have kept it going, but I also had full access to the 12 years of historical records from the initial purchase, which worked out to an average of $3,000 a year in maintenance & a whopping $6,000 for the year prior to me picking it up. I was willing to put in the money to continue driving it, as it was a nice machine, but it was very expensive to own & operate, and I knew that it would only get worse over time...and it's not like it was a Ferrari or anything that would at least hold it's value & be really cool, you know? Traded that puppy in for a Kia Soul. No regrets

 

[Raizinman]

If you do regular fluid changes and take care of it; it will last a very long time. I expect it to go to another 400,000 miles. Why shouldn't it?

 

[Raincity]

If you do regular fluid changes and take care of it; it will last a very long time. I expect it to go to another 400,000 miles. Why shouldn't it?

I changed out tranny fluid every other oil change and look were it got me. Between the defective torq converters Honda was using and Densu radiators leaking anti freeze into the tranny cooler. Its a miracle that your pilot is still running.

 

[madoka]

Did you hit the Honda lottery. Heard of many Pilots, Ridgelines and Oddesys having their trannies go between 100K to 200K miles.

The highest mileage Pilot on Autotrader is 396K miles on a 2003 and the next one after that is 300K. Crazy how many miles he accumulated on his.

 

[madoka]

I would say this is sound advice...however something to consider is a $3000 transmission worth it in a $500 rust bucket car? Probably not.

I'm on my FOURTH transmission and I have 400K miles, so each one lasts me about 100K. Each time it comes to pay for a new one, I think how much a new car payment would be in comparison and decide to do it. Plus an old car is cheaper to insure and register. I also don't have to worry about door dings or vandals or minor damage.

 

[mindless1]

$3500 is going to get you a high mileage Pilot in this area.

Yes but you negate the value of the repair. That (if done well and with a warranty), means it's one less thing to be concerned about for a while.

Right now my oldest vehicle is a 20 year old SUV, and there are multiple things on it that are new enough that it is doubtful they'll ever fail again within the viable lifespan of the vehicle. I feel this is where many people get it wrong claiming "it's nickle and diming me", without recognizing that the repair costs ("IF" you DIY enough of them) are far lower than the cost of switching to something else. A good repair will last as long as the original part, which on an '05 means another 13 years! That nickle and diming is far lower than the depreciation, let alone insurance on top of that, to replace it with something new(er) enough that you feel those are distant issues.

I spend far less every year to repair my older vehicles than the amount my newer ones depreciate by, just from aging with no repairs needed.

Similarly, yes you can find vehicles around that price, which are inching towards needing repairs that you're over and done with for a few tens of thousands of miles if not more.

It is unquestionably cheaper in the long run to repair what you have if you make wise choices and DIY much of that. It is going to result in a little less reliable vehicle, but the doomsday notion some people paint about being stuck often is just not the reality I've seen.

We're not talking about a 25 year old domestic here, an '05 Pilot is a different animal that just has the known transmission weakness.

BUT, if you are going to pay someone else for labor to fix every little thing, then it might be time to consider replacing it. Being at the mercy of someone else for repairs that jack up prices for both parts and labor, is not where anyone wants to be.

 

[Yuriman]

Yeesh, some real horror stories here. I can't imagine paying $2,000 per year in maintenance - I paid $3,000 for my car at ~150k miles and in the intervening ~100k miles I've owned it, I replaced one wheel bearing ($150 to have a shop do it), a clutch master cylinder ($60 on RockAuto), a 12v battery (~$100 from Honda, 10 year warranty), and put on four new OEM tires (~$250). Before oil changes it works out to around $100 per year in maintenance. It takes 2.6 quarts of oil and I can reach the drain plug by reaching down behind the engine, so they take ~15 minutes and cost about $20.

 

[Midwayman]

I always figure when you're buying an older used car, you're buying someone else's problem that they didn't think was worth the cost to repair. What is the hidden gotcha if you decline to repair and just move on? I mean most people in your situation would do the minimum to get it sellable able dump it before a big repair bill hits. For me personally that line has a lot to do with the hassle of repairs. I mean we can all draw a line financially, but if I'm having to take it to the mechanic or spending time rolling around in the garage every couple of weeks I'm just going to want to ditch the car out of frustration. For your situation trading for a car of a similar age is just a gamble. You'll eat some cost on the exchange most likely and have to pay taxes as well. Who knows if the new one won't have the same problem or worse in just a few thousand miles.

If you sell your car you might put that transmission money into buying an otherall newer car. Instead of another $5k car get a $8500k car that will be more reliable overall.

 

[Raincity]

Going to continue to do repairs and drive it until the axles fall off or I am sick of looking at the vehicle. Finally found a mechanic that knows Hondas well. He is estimating $ 1800 shipped for a rebuilt that he knows is updated and rebuilt right out of the LA area and another $600 for the labor.

 

[who?]

It's foolishness to spend a lot more on repairs than the insurance will pay on a total loss if some moron runs into you.

 

[mindless1]

It's foolishness to spend a lot more on repairs than the insurance will pay on a total loss if some moron runs into you.

That's up to the person buying the insurance.

If you want to insure a vehicle for more than bluebook, you can do that. Usually the agent will want a list of improvements and modifications so they know why, and for example if you've turned it into a race car you can expect the rate to shoot up.

I wouldn't necessarily call it foolish to only insure for the book value and in this case we're not talking about more for the repair than that. A lot of people won't insure a vehicle once it dips down to ~$2500 or so, instead accepting the loss. If you insure it for $5K and put $2500 into a repair, you are still accepting a $2500 loss.

On the other hand, suppose you buy a new car instead. Just driving it off the lot you probably lost $2500 (approx 10% of value) even if nobody runs into you.

 

[repoman0]

I think rust is going to be the death of my current car. It's an 04 and has spots starting on the bottom of both rear door jambs, one of the rear fenders, and the bottom of one door. The car has a 6 speed manual that's still smooth and the BMW M54 is actually quite reliable so I don't expect any actual big ticket repairs beyond rust. Only 104k miles but it lived in upstate NY until I bought it and brought to Mass last year (not really any better)

I would go ahead with almost any mechanical repair on this car if the body was solid, but not sure I can justify endlessly chasing rust. I just need it to last a few to five-ish more years until I can buy a viable long range electric.

 

[BurnItDwn]

When I had my chrysler 300m, I gave up on it after a year of constant electrical problems. (battery, starter, power cable, alternator, battery again) all right around 100k miles.
I sold the car dirt cheap for trade in value to a friend of a friend because I couldnt trust it to start.
They drove it for 50,000 more miles and never had an issue other than 1 rim needing replacement.

I should have kept that car since the engine and transmission were great.


So, my current car, 2008 Subaru, I decided to Keep after fixing the head gasket problem at 115k. Now the car has 135k and runs great. I will keep it until I have enough cash to replace it with what I want. And even then, I might keep it as a backup/winter beater.

 

[HarryLui]

When I park a car for more than 6 months and not drive it, it means it is time to sell it.

 

[mindless1]

^ Even your toy convertibles? I suppose that depends on what climate you live in, how long winter is.

 

[frozentundra123456]

My car (95 Maxima) is worth about $500 and I routinely spend $2000 a year in repairs to keep her running. That's still cheaper than the annual registration fee on a McLaren.

You must live in a climate without salt on the roads in winter. I live in Minnesota, and pretty much any car from before 2000 is borderline unsafe to drive due to rust on the underbody (frame, suspension, etc.) Although newer cars are much better in that regard (no real problems with my 2005 civic), rust is usually the ultimate killer of cars in this area, and a safety issue as well. For instance, I had a Plymouth Voyager from the late 90s and the strut towers actually rusted all the way through, and the only thing holding the spring/strut/tire assembly in place was that it was resting against the metal under the windshield.

BTW, 95 Maximas and Camrys were outstanding cars for their era.

 

[mindless1]

^ Yeah that seems about right, unibody cars do become unsafe at a certain point though it can be delayed if the underbody is coated with goop, need not be a professional undercoating, just about any greasy muck will be better than bare metal, so long as it doesn't get on the rotors or pads.

I don't see how someone can spend $2K a year on repairs though, unless every little thing is done by a shop and some things didn't really need to be done, unless that's just an average that varies a lot and includes an engine and tranny, and it's driven >15K mi per year.

DIY can make more difference than some realize. For example I did all my hard and soft brake lines on a vehicle for ~$150. Uncle has similar vehicle and paid a shop over $1K to do his.

 

[JCH13]

It's foolishness to spend a lot more on repairs than the insurance will pay on a total loss if some moron runs into you.

I strongly disagree with this. Most notably because insurance forms will have a spot 'recent work' where you can recoup the value of recent repairs in the case of an accident.

OP - From a purely financial standpoint the right answer is almost always 'drive it into the ground.' That is to say until there are major structural issues that require the chassis be replaced, the safety systems no longer work, or other problems that exceed a large portion of the TCO of a new vehicle. Recall that the cost of the new vehicle isn't the payments, but rather the depreciation/added insurance/added registration/sales tax/etc. Often times spending $2k/year on repairs is less of a financial loss than the depreciation on the new version of a comparable car. For example, my wife was getting antsy about buying a new Civic to replace her current one because it has needed some repair work in past few months. However, we looked at the TCO of a new Civic and...

Shit, $4k in depreciation, $400 delta in insurance, around $250 delta in registration for us in the first year, an average of $2k/year in depreciation... well, that covers a LOT of repairs to keep her Civic going. So, we are fixing and keeping it.