Doing repairs worth more than the car..do you?

[addyguy]

I'm just curious how many folks out there do extensive repairs to a car/truck, even when the cost of the repair easily exceeds the value of the vehicle.

I bought my first car, a 1985 Buick Skyhawk, when it was 10 years old, for $1200. Drove it for two years, and put over $4k of repirs into it to keep it running. When I got rid of the car, and realized how much I'd 'wasted' on it, it really buggered me up, and now I have real problems fixing older cars, the minute the repairs will total more than the value of the car.

I'm facing the situation of having to do this with my Cavalier, it needs major repairs, but I have no credit/cash to replace it, so I am going to have to fix it, even tho it might be worth $800-$1200 right now, and needs way more than that in repairs.

I know I'm not the only one, that a lot of folks have to do this, so share with some stories of putting a good amount of $$$ into a car hardly worth it's steel....

 

[d00df00d]

It doesn't matter to me if the repair is worth more than the car. What matters is whether the repair is worth more than a comparable and working replacement car.

 

[sasilverbullet]

"value of a car" to me is not just what the blue book says it's worth. The question I ask myself is, "Can I reliably drive the car when I'm done?" If yes, then to me the car is worth $20K that I would spend to buy a new one.

 

[mongo161]

Sometimes you have to do what you can to have transportation. The economy is not great, people are out of work or working when they can so trying to keep their existing vehicles running is important.

Not everyone can go out and buy a used or new car, especially if they are not gainfully employed and would have trouble making payments. Getting credit could also be another issue that would prevent people from getting rid of their "fix or repair daily" vehicles. I have been in that position before and it's not fun. All you can do is keep things up and running until times get better.

 

[Burt]

My advice is to take the estimated cost of repairs plus the salvage value and see if you can find a reliable car for that price. Most available cars will probably have some issues or risk that they shortly will have problems, but I think you may be able to find well maintained cars and/or some foolish person that just put a bunch of money into repairs and now wants to sell.

If you have time to go through this process, then at least you will be able to make a better informed decision.

 

[440Magnum]

Measuring the cost of repair against the monetary value of the car is ridiculous. You should measure the cost of repairs to a car against what it would cost to buy a replacement vehicle. That cost is virtually always significantly higher than the current value of your existing car, especially when you factor in the time and hassle of searching for a car, evaluating it to see if it is as advertised or has hidden problems, etc.

 

[tig1]

Sometimes it is a good idea to repair a car even though the repair may be more than the book value of the vehicle. Sometimes not. If the boby is very good, but you need a tranny rebuild, then rebuild it.

 

[javacontour]

There is an argument for making that measurement. If you do $4K in repairs to a $1200 car and some driver hits your $1200 car, you are not going to get $4K from their insurance company.

I'm assuming the owner of a $1200 car has liability only coverage, but the other driver is on the hook for the loss of your car if they are at fault, and they are on the hook for $1200, not $4k.

So there is that risk and it does play into some peoples decision making.

 

[Cristobal]

Sometimes it is better to repair the old car as you know what you have, than to buy another car and deal with uncertainty.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: d00df00d
It doesn't matter to me if the repair is worth more than the car. What matters is whether the repair is worth more than a comparable and working replacement car.

Right - it's worth what it costs to replace it. I'm not a fan of putting good money after bad, but $4k on a 1200 car isn't the whole picture. If it's rusted and going to need another $3k of work afterwards to make a reliable vehicle, well that 8200 total spent could have been a car that needed less repairs...

But keep in mind also that chances are the mainstream $8k car also would likely need some repairs, though likely less. A car of any make that stickers at say 25k will have some major life taken from it by the time it is worth $8k.

So this really is a case of situation-specific considerations plus how savvy/comfortable you are with repairs.

 

[Food Scientist]

My philosphy for example is if the repairs are 1000 bucks and the car is only worth say 1000 and new or used car payments are 250/month, then I have to decide whether or not the car will run another 4 months (1000 repair bill/250 car payment). If I think the car will run another 4 months after the repair is made, then I break even and any time after that I am better off without the payments. I had an old Powerstroke that I was repairing until one of the fuel lines cracked under the cylinder head and was leaking diesel in the water jacket. Estimated repair cost was 3500 and it would cost me 4500 for a rebuilt engine plus another 1000 to do an engine swap(300k miles on original engine). I retired my pickup and bought a Mustang instead figuring that at the end of the day I still would have a worn out truck.

 

[BigBird57]

Our family struggled with this as well. My dad gave us a "94 Blazer. We have put over $3000 in this truck. We drove it for two years. I have put 4 fuel pumps on this truck. I have tried several brands with a failure every 6 mos. Two of these breakdowns were very inconvenant. We have a 2011 Malibu. Case closed.

 

[SLCraig]

I never have to worry about doing repairs on my cars worth more than the car as virtually nothing costs more than a few hundred.
New clutch = $150 and some new fluid, did the work myself. That whole chestnut.

And I do love a new clutch.

 

[eljefino]

I came pretty close to putting a transmission in a 19 year old cutlass ciera, worth $700 on a good day. Previous owner forgot to mention it started slipping above 1st gear, silly me, I test drove it up and down the driveway.

I would have paid the money for another trans as it was a florida car and had no rust, but I would have had no luck convincing anyone else it's a creampuff. And the utility of the car was important; I had to put this thing together for a BIL who was suddenly and unceremoneously walking. Gresham's law has a used car section that hurts above average condition car sales.

Lucky a $10 modulator and some new filter and fluid fixed 'er right up. But I was seriously looking at what year trannies would have fit.

It may be important to pause and maybe look at the shopping competition; used cars around here are expensive and in pretty lousy shape right now.

 

[TomYoung]

What are the "major repairs" that this 2002 Cavalier requires? Has the car been well-maintained?

Are any of the repairs withing your grasp?

In general, I am in favor of repairing cars, but even with the best cars, if you are going to drive super-high mileage, you should back that up with a maintenance plan.

If a car like this has been properly maintained, you should not really been looking at major repairs at this mileage. If you are looking at major repairs, then it's probably only a matter of time until your next major repair. I would be careful.

 

[bmwjohn]

Who, how, and where you do repairs does make a big difference. Do it yourself with Rock Auto parts is quite different than new parts and service at dealer. Front brakes on my Dakota complete - $325 DIY vs $1k at Midas, for example. Try ads on Craigs List for driveway repairs. Be sure you get the parts. Haggle, esp. if mechanic uses flat rate manual, which presupposes each part of a complex repair is a seperate project, thus costing more $$$.And, as said, the real value of car is value getting you to work reliably, not what someone gives you for it.

 

[IndyIan]

I did the headgasket, water pump, timing belt, tensioner, on the Neon 3 years ago... If I recall it was something like $1200...
I guess $1500 would've bought my car before the headgasket went but probably not one in the same condition. No major repairs since then so I guess I did the right thing.
If you've got some time you could watch the papers and kijiji for a mint oldish car owned by a senior that has died and their kids are selling. You could probably find a like new Sunfire type car for $2000.

 

[mechanicx]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Measuring the cost of repair against the monetary value of the car is ridiculous. You should measure the cost of repairs to a car against what it would cost to buy a replacement vehicle. That cost is virtually always significantly higher than the current value of your existing car, especially when you factor in the time and hassle of searching for a car, evaluating it to see if it is as advertised or has hidden problems, etc.




I agree. Also you have to consider the condition of your car and not just its book value. If the body, powertrain etc is solid and the car will be in good running condition after the repairs, then the book value of your existing car has less meaning. You would have to ask, what would it cost to replace the vehicle with one in as good as shape. That usually costs quiet a bit more than the current car's book value.

I'm curious what all is wrong with a cavalier to need $4000 in repairs? Unless you are paying a shop to do the work, you could replace the powertrain for that or the complete suspension and brake system and then some.

 

[javacontour]

I don't think he's saying the Cavalier needs 4K in repairs. He told the story about a car he bought for $1200 that took $4k in repairs over the course of two years and how that makes it difficult for him to want to put money into another old car.

I could be reading the OP wrong, but that's the message I got out of it.

 

[tonycarguy]

I don't even wait for the repair bills to exceed the value of the car. I get rid of the car BEFORE that day arrives, even if it means potentially selling the car prematurely.

So far I've always sold my cars before I got any major repair bills. The exception was my first car, which blew a gasket while I still owned it. I deemed it not worth fixing so I sold the car for $200.