Regardless of how all the more you ardency your machine, there comes a interval to state good-bye.
There is a tipping mark: a allotment when it is another expensive to locate your decrepit machine than to collapse and get a latest one. Whether you're not paying interest, that tipping point can pass without remark. The corollary is high-priced big repairs, costing you banknote choice spent on a modern vehicle with a faraway get-up-and-go ahead of it.
Cost of Repairs
Scarce community get a realistic notion of what crucial repairs to their antiquated vehicles de facto valuation. Calculate what you've spent over the persist year, then what you've spent in the endure six months, to repair your ancient automobile. Provided you annex anticipated inevitable repairs, autograph that down besides. Whether the reward appears to be rising, it may be bout for a modern van. Provided anticipated repairs are added costly than the expenditure of the vehivle, it may also be replacement time.
Your Financial Situation
Often, the biggest portion of your car payment is the financing. If you have a sizable down payment or a good financing deal through your bank, and your old car is starting to become a money pit, you should start looking around. Compare the monthly cost of a new car, including the extra money you'd shop for insurance, to what you are paying to repair your old car now. Based strictly on repair costs, Austin Davis of Trust My Mechanic.com suggests buying a new car when your annual repair bill is about Ten percent of your preferred new car's cost.
One Strategy
If your old car is not in imminent danger of falling apart, your best bet might be keeping and maintaining it while saving money toward the cost of a new car. The closer you are to paying cash when buying a new car, the less you'll be paying toward interest and other loan fees.In this case, a realistic cost comparison takes into consideration lost time at work and alternate transportation costs too as the cost to repair the car. Safety issues with your older car will also take priority over all cost considerations.
Other Considerations
The decision to repair your old car may not be logical at all. Some people are emotionally attached to old cars, and others simply repair them as a point of pride so they can brag about how many miles the old Chevy has on it. If this is the case, you might consider purchasing a second, inexpensive vehicle that you can drive when your older car proves unreliable.
Illogical considerations can be just as big a factor in the decision to sell the old car, too. Even if you don't worry about reliability, repairs on older cars may just be too much of a hassle to deal with them any longer. Appearance may be an important factor in your decision besides; most new vehicles look better than the older vehicles they are replacing. These considerations are not unimportant, but it is important that you are honest with yourself if your decision is not based on dollars and cents.
