Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
I think you would have better luck finding a well maintained used Caravan for a decent price than a well maintained Odyssey or Sienna.
Many owners of Hondas and Toyotas unfortunately view them as "maintenance free" so they just drive them until they start having issues then sell them. The ones who maintain them know they are sought after and demand a premium price.
Yep. I've ruled out Honda and Toyota (despite really wanting to stay all Toyota, I have all the tools I need already!) on price. Heck, I'm tempted to do the typical thing: run my two Camry's to 200k with as little work and then "dump them" for the next person to deal with all the nickle and dime stuff. Have to see what I do when they need big repairs.
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: supton
Why would I get rid of a car just because repair cost exceeds value? I get the idea of not dumping repair after repair into a car. But let's just pretend for a moment: buy an otherwise well maintained vehicle for pennies on the dollar (under a grand let's say), put in a $2k transmission and get 100k out of it. Sounds rather cheap to me.
Cause the rest of the mechanicals have that old mileage/age/whatever. You're making a big assumption that a rebuild transmission would go another 100k. So you now spent $3k on, say an 18 year old vehicle with, what, 150k on it? The engine is 150k and may not have had the best maintenance. The rest of the vehicle is 150k so that could mean lots of suspension parts or lots of rust depending on where you are. All $$$ on a car that's old enough to vote.
Would be much better to take that $3k as a downpayment on something a little newer or even buy multiple under $1k cars and drive them until the first big repair and then dump them. That's my thinking - I'd rather not dump thousands into an old car to keep it limping along.
A rebuild should go just as long as the original, otherwise it was not well done.
I spent $3k on my 17 year old Camry, between purchase and repairs. 2yr and 44k later I'd say I'm doing ok. Why can't I repeat that? When my VW was 8 or 9 years old & had 250k on the clock I dropped something like $3k one summer into it and got another 60k out of it (turbo and clutch). Cheap money as they say.
I get your point, but I don't see why it's not doable. Maybe not with a Caravan, they seem to be sketchy with age, but you get the idea.
I think you would have better luck finding a well maintained used Caravan for a decent price than a well maintained Odyssey or Sienna.
Many owners of Hondas and Toyotas unfortunately view them as "maintenance free" so they just drive them until they start having issues then sell them. The ones who maintain them know they are sought after and demand a premium price.
Yep. I've ruled out Honda and Toyota (despite really wanting to stay all Toyota, I have all the tools I need already!) on price. Heck, I'm tempted to do the typical thing: run my two Camry's to 200k with as little work and then "dump them" for the next person to deal with all the nickle and dime stuff. Have to see what I do when they need big repairs.
Originally Posted By: itguy08
Originally Posted By: supton
Why would I get rid of a car just because repair cost exceeds value? I get the idea of not dumping repair after repair into a car. But let's just pretend for a moment: buy an otherwise well maintained vehicle for pennies on the dollar (under a grand let's say), put in a $2k transmission and get 100k out of it. Sounds rather cheap to me.
Cause the rest of the mechanicals have that old mileage/age/whatever. You're making a big assumption that a rebuild transmission would go another 100k. So you now spent $3k on, say an 18 year old vehicle with, what, 150k on it? The engine is 150k and may not have had the best maintenance. The rest of the vehicle is 150k so that could mean lots of suspension parts or lots of rust depending on where you are. All $$$ on a car that's old enough to vote.
Would be much better to take that $3k as a downpayment on something a little newer or even buy multiple under $1k cars and drive them until the first big repair and then dump them. That's my thinking - I'd rather not dump thousands into an old car to keep it limping along.
A rebuild should go just as long as the original, otherwise it was not well done.
I spent $3k on my 17 year old Camry, between purchase and repairs. 2yr and 44k later I'd say I'm doing ok. Why can't I repeat that? When my VW was 8 or 9 years old & had 250k on the clock I dropped something like $3k one summer into it and got another 60k out of it (turbo and clutch). Cheap money as they say.
I get your point, but I don't see why it's not doable. Maybe not with a Caravan, they seem to be sketchy with age, but you get the idea.
