How long do you keep your cars?

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So, over the past year, there was a bit of shifting around in my garage as far as vehicle ownership is concerned. I kept my 1990 F150, I got rid of the 1998 Chevy Cavalier that I had with 359,833 miles on it and purchased a 2013 Elantra.

Next, I bought a 2003 Ford Focus ZX3 (Manual Trans) as a daily driver, which leads me to this thread.

The Focus is fuel efficient (31mpg avg), which provides a clear benefit over driving my truck daily and I don't care in the least bit about depreciating value, which is a benefit over driving my Elantra daily. Also, the Focus has power options, which my old '98 Chevy Cavalier did not have.

Upon purchasing the Focus, I did quite a bit of work to it with regards to replacing old parts such as sensors, alternator, starter, coil pack, battery, battery cables, wiring connectors, etc. and a number of repairs on the engine such as the timing belt and removing/cleaning the intake manifold and lots of other stuff. You name it, I've probably either cleaned it, flushed it, replaced it or at least inspected it. I did this over the span of a year. I kept the old parts as spares in case I need to use them for some odd reason.

Now, the Focus runs absolutely great and I did all of this for the intent of making the car as reliable as possible for at least the next 10 years. I've taken it on road trips up to 5 hours one way and it didn't blink an eye. I plan on driving it even further distances in 2015.

I recently had an issue with the sunroof (which I have yet to fix) and in looking around at sunroof parts, I noticed that there were some parts that have been discontinued by Ford. I'll eventually get the sunroof fixed, but that led me to the question........

What factor(s) would make me get rid of a car in the future?

Do I have a predetermined length of ownership? Lack of available replacement parts? Do I simply tire of it? Mileage/age deteriorating more parts than what I care to replace at once? Better vehicles available at the time? For some people, they may be forced to get rid of vehicles when their familial status changes.

For my '98 Cavalier, I had a list of reasons, but eventually, I just felt that it was time to move on as I had owned it for 15 years and my wants in a car had changed over the years.

I like my '90 F150 a lot, but the thought of a 2004 or newer King Ranch F150 has started to creep into my mind for a quite a few reasons.

Aside from all of my rambling, what factors make YOU get rid of a car? I'm just asking out of curiosity.
 
Rust-of the unrepairable (usually unibody) variety. Or some catastrophic mechanical failure that costs more than the vehicle is worth, or totaled in an accident. That's pretty much it.
 
we typically bought used (
For new cars: I typically drive them until 15+ yrs or something becomes prohibitively costly to repair (e.g. my mazda suffered from paint peeling over 30%+ of the car, so I had no choice but to sell it).

All the automobiles we released back into the public using craigslists, etc. are in mechanically-sound condition (shocks/struts replaced and still functionally safe; engine no oil burning at all, pass local emissions tests, suspension revised once already, etc.)

Q.
 
PM bcardinal, he is a ford/mazda parts person
my personal history getting rid of cars:
'97 chrysler concorde: deceased by "soccer mom" Honda Pilot
'95 mercury mystique: let go because we needed just one car at the time
'95 hyundai accent: too small, too unreliable
'04 hyundai elantra: possible reliability issues, but mostly got tired of it after 7 years
 
Originally Posted By: qdeezie
Aside from all of my rambling, what factors make YOU get rid of a car? I'm just asking out of curiosity.

When it starts to nickle and dime me to death, it's typically the time to let it go for me. My goal is not to have steady monthly payments on a car, but if something constantly breaks, it starts to feel very much like monthly payments. Last month I spent $300+ to fix a water leak. This month I'm spending $500+ to get a window regulator replaced and some other stuff. Not liking this one bit. I hope this pattern does not continue. This car is barely driven.

Similarly, we dumped my wife's 6-year-old MB recently because the extended warranty was up and we've gone through some major repairs while it was still under warranty. I was afraid issues would continue to pop up and then I'd have to foot the massive bill myself.
 
I drove an $800 saturn 11 years then sold it for $500.

When it was time for me to let it go it had rust starting in the "tin" of the rear door sills. (Car was still structurally sound.)

The driver's window regulator slipped off track and I had to help align the window to close it the final inch.

The radio randomly switched to preset 3 if I slam-shifted into 2nd. I just made preset 3 my favorite.

The driver's seat was a different color from a different car as the foam was worn out on the original. It had 241k miles.

The exhaust was a series of patches, though it held. Flanges rotted out so straight pipe went in, which hinders future repairability.

Tires were used, and three different brands. One rim was alloy, the rest steel.

The spring for the rear wiper wore out, so it just sticks out and waves, not clearing the glass.

I put up with all this but when the clutch or synchro for 1st gear wore out and I could only snick it into gear when rolling 2 mph, I said enough was enough.

The car was good to me, I re-ringed the motor at 175k and did all the struts at the same time. It got a donor subframe with less rust, all new front-end. The AC worked until I sold it. It was a classical case of fix what's needed, but don't blink to get something newer when "X" happens.
 
12 years and the itch starts. No matter how good the car, it seems. Our current car, a 2002 Lincoln with 135,000 miles, we keep talking about getting rid of it. But its such a good car. runs Great, we had it since new and it always had every service done religiously. No payments are so nice. I kept my 1994 Dodge Ram till 2006 when I bought a new Dodge Ram 2500. Again I serviced religiously and the 2006 has a lifetime warranty, so if I ever keep one forever it will be that one. None of the cars we traded -really needed to go. I think the 1994 had 127,000 on it and still ran great. I just wanted four doors and bigger truck for towing. We will probably hand the Lincoln off to our soon to be driving teenage daughter and buy my wife a new car or just give my wife the Dodge, since I don't drive much, due to I have a company truck and when I do go anywhere, its with my wife. Financially its stupid to buy a new car. I haven't had a car payment on the truck since 2010 and the Lincoln since 2006. The best investment is just proper maintenance. Still doesn't do much for the itch though.
 
The last car I got rid of had a blown engine. That was in 1995. I bought a new car (Ford Escort)and am still driving it today. Rust will eventually get it, but if the engine blows I might junk it then.
 
Well lets see, my 1988 E0-150 is still in service and I have no intentions of replacing it, selling it, or disposing of it. I'd say based on its condition it can easily go another 15+ years maybe more, if no one robs or totals it. I plan on doing the same with my 08 Liberty. If the next new vehicle I buy is in service as long as my 88 E-150 it will probably out live me.
 
Generally speaking for used cars, I'm looking at $1k of ownership cost per year. So a $4k car, I would aim at keeping for four years. More if I had to do an expensive repair. Now, this is my initial goal when car shopping, I know the car will not depreciate to $0 over the four years, but to me it is a good guide line.
Basically, I look at the price and ask myself "the car is X dollars, am I going to keep it for X amount of years, or is the car going to make it the X amount of years before needing major repairs?" If the answer is no, I move on.
 
Seems to be about 10 years for me and then I evaluate do I really like this car when it comes to a repair over $500.
 
I purchased my current daily driver new in 1984 Civic wagon for cash, no car payments. It's 30 years old and has never let me down. I have no plans to ever sell it or even retire it. I've owned other cars during that period and many more before. Some cars are transportation and other are a hobby or entertainment and some are a pox.

As an example, in that same year I purchased an 84 Audi 4000 Quattro for my wife. It was a great driving car but otherwise a rolling disaster. It ate water pumps and the alignment problems ate tires no matter what Audi did to remedy the problem. The 5 cylinder engine had a recall for carbon build up in the 5000 but they refused to cover the 5 cylinder engine in the 4000 Quattro. The electrical system was trash and the problems were a nightmare. When I went to sell the car the Audi 5000 was besieged with claims of unintended acceleration. Audi's response was that owners were stupid and could stuff it before they would dignify the problem with a response. I had to almost give away the car just to get rid of it. To this day the though of ever owning an Audi makes my skin crawl.

Some cars are keepers and some cars are not.
 
We are careful with out cars, so damage doesnt really come into play, unless someone hits it. Rust can be a factor, but newer cars from mid-90s on dont seem to have the same issues.

So we keep our cars a long time. Until a lot of things break so they start to look shabby (paint always looks good, but other stuff starts to get the aged look). Right now Im in a crux because all our cars are decent other than my 91 BMW DD (rust), but we want/need a minivan. I have enough cars already. So now what? Im not keen on taking hits on value when they are all very usable. I own them and full coverage isnt that much money.
 
10 years is a good span. Seems like ones needs likely changes around that time. And up here rust is ever present, as is age related repairs.

I try not to blink when I get hit with a $1k repair. Or higher. One summer I dropped $3k (at least) on my car. I've driven 2yrs/50k since then so was it foolish? I don't think so, not since I could probably eek out even another year.

Then again I bought a nearly new vehicle recently so as to milk the most life out of this car... so net sum zero on my part.
 
Hello:

Based on the build date, January 2003, come this January 2015 my BMW will be 12 years old. I special ordered it from the factory (no sunroof) and took possession in February 2003.

As you can see in the pictures (taken April 2014) it's completely used up and needs replacement. Terrible after only 84K miles. Simply terrible!

Scott :)











 
That's a great looking car!

Those of us who live in states where they salt the roads know that your car would be toast after two winters of salt...
 
If I like a vehicle, it's a LTR. Such as my Camaro. It's fun to drive, gets good fuel economy, is good looking, all the controls fit me very well, doesn't give me that claustrophobic feeling that a 5th-Gen Camaro does, and has the major advantage of being paid for. It has 220k miles, has been driven hard, but also maintained hard. The rear differential has been rebuilt 4 times, and is now a custom design using heavy duty outboard axle bearings. The transmission was rebuilt and the clutch replaced last year. The engine still runs strong but is starting to burn oil. I am currently going through my third round of underbody rust-proofing, to keep the advancing cancer of 12 Michigan winters from rendering it useless. If I lose the engine, I'd happily put in something newer and more powerful. If the underbody rusts through, I'd go find someone to put in a new floopan, provided the job could be done for a reasonable cost. About the only thing that would make me get rid of it is if the electrical system starts giving a lot of random problems.
 
Originally Posted By: Astro14
That's a great looking car!

Those of us who live in states where they salt the roads know that your car would be toast after two winters of salt...

Plus the OP only takes it out when it's not raining, which is probably 99.9% of the time in Cali anyway.
smile.gif
 
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