How long do you keep your cars?

[crazydoglady]

Just curious - how often do you get a new car? Do you drive it till it is falling apart, a certain mileage, certain age? (Assuming you don't need to upgrade to a larger sized vehicle for an increase in family size or similar reasoning)

[FLA]

I tend to keep them until the repairs outweigh the value, except I crashed a Prius (would've definitely driven that til it died) and had to buy a new car after 2 yrs. Even though I had two kids and two dogs and drove around with work supplies, I got a hatchback Accent and it's been plenty big. Plus, the insurance paid for it. Never again will I even consider more car than I need and the Prius, while lovely, cost more than for what I need a car. I tend to pay them off within 2 yrs and I start saving for the next one, once I've paid off the current one.

[97guns]

usually within 5 years, i can recoup around half of what i paid for it. i might go with a lease for my next car, its actually cheaper if you turn your cars over every 3-5 years

[kork13]

5+ years is always the intention, and 10 years would be awesome. My first car was for 4 years until I moved overseas. Overseas, I got an old used car for the 2 years I was there, and resold it. My current car is 4 years old, and I've had every intention of keeping it for at least 8-10 years.....and then I got married...so my family is slowly growing, so my little 2-door Golf TDI won't last me probably more than another year. But that timeline is also driven by the VW diesel scandal--I'll be selling it back when I can in order to get a slightly larger vehicle that can accommodate a couple kids.

[DaveInPgh]

My last vehicle I kept 8 years. It was a minivan I purchased when we were starting our family. It came in handy when we were shopped at flea markets, estate sales, thrift shops, etc. However, we stopped after having one child and it just wasn't practical once we stopped filling it with items to resell. We downsized to a small SUV in 2012 that will be paid off early next year.

I must admit that I have doubts I will keep it long after it is paid off. We bought it right before our child started playing sports. It is a great vehicle but the rear door for that model/year opens out instead of up. Having the door lift up provides you with a place to sit and stay dry when it is raining. And yes, the rain typically starts right when the game is about to start then manages to let up after the game is over and you are already drenched.

Would it be the best move financially to buy a newer model that has what I am looking for? Nope. I might end up doing it anyway.

[GoodSteward]

I get the bug to upgrade or get a lower mileage vehicle at times, but I keep going back to the idea that if I do that right now I'll have more payments, which I despise. I plan to drive these two Toyotas I have until the engines blows up.

I think the idea of "needing" a newer car to avoid issues can be overrated and an excuse to just have a newer car. If you research and make sure you get a model that has a higher resell value, and higher JD power drive train and mechanical rating you should be good to go even without it being newer. It's funny what can suddenly change our mind about a car that makes us go from frugal savers to frugal spenders. One day you want to drive it until the dies, and the next it is old and we really need a safer, or smaller, or bigger car. 1st World Problems. lol

Just for dave

[Tabs]

Have a Corolla that is still puttering along after 17 years. Hoping the newer Prius lasts that long as well.

[greenskeeper]

Just curious - how often do you get a new car? Do you drive it till it is falling apart, a certain mileage, certain age? (Assuming you don't need to upgrade to a larger sized vehicle for an increase in family size or similar reasoning)

I've never bought a "brand new" vehicle. I let the first sucker take the big depreciation hit in the first couple of years. Newest vehicle I've ever bought was already 5 years old.

Current vehicles are circa 1997 and 1999, no signs of slowing down except the 97 has some rust issues (body panels) that I am addressing one at a time.

The last vehicle I had to retire was due to rust on the unibody and the cost to repair would have been 5x the value of the car.

[disneysteve]

I bought my current car, a 2006 Camry, in August 2012. I plan to keep it 6-8 more years.

I bought my last car, a 1998 Camry, in September 1998 used with 11K miles. I kept it for 14 years until buying my current car.

The car before that was a 1991 Camry. I only had that one for 7 years but at my old job I was doing a lot more driving so it got up there in mileage a lot faster.

[scfr]

My husband & I are in our 50's and between the two of us we have "disposed" of a total of 4 cars. (And have purchased 6, 3 used and 3 new.) These were the circumstances leading up to the "disposals":

1. DH moved from overseas to the USA - sold car to friend
2. Car badly damaged in accident, repairs would have cost a lot more than it was worth - traded in at dealership
3. Opportunity presented itself to get a screaming deal on a used car, so we sold our by-then junker old car (if my memory is correct, for about $400) and "traded up."
4. Sold 1 car in preparation for a long-distance move (brought only 1 car with us).

Our current cars are 6 and 17 years old. The KBB on the 17-year-old car is $500. It will be replaced when it requires a repair that is more than it is worth. We'd like our next vehicle to be an electric one, but we want to wait until the ranges are longer. The manufacturers keep making improvements. If we needed to, we would share one car for awhile until electric cars have improved enough.

When the 6 year old car dies, we probably won't replace it. By then we'll hopefully be retired and will be ready to scale back to sharing one car.

[DaveInPgh]

One day you want to drive it until the dies, and the next it is old and we really need a safer, or smaller, or bigger car.

I agree with the point you are making, and me wanting a rear door that lifts up instead of opening out is definitely a 1st world problem.

That being said, some of the safety features on the newer models grab my attention and I don't view that as just an excuse.

[GoodSteward]

I agree with the point you are making, and me wanting a rear door that lifts up instead of opening out is definitely a 1st world problem.

That being said, some of the safety features on the newer models grab my attention and I don't view that as just an excuse.

There are legitimate purposes for wanting a bigger, or safer, or even smaller car, but I noticed people often use that as the reason to get a stupid-expensive car or just a bigger, nicer one that doesn't really make any sense at all to their situation. Especially when they are trying to justify a lease or brand new car purchase on a 7 year term to make the payments more bearable because they can't afford it.

[GoodSteward]

Some people lease to avoid worrying with car repairs. This is for you, good people.

[disneysteve]

That being said, some of the safety features on the newer models grab my attention and I don't view that as just an excuse.

I think some of the new features are appealing, but I wouldn't replace a perfectly good vehicle to get them.

I also think a lot of newer features are outrageously annoying. For example, my rear view mirror has that auto-dim feature which I find downright dangerous as it greatly reduces visibility in low light situations. The first thing I do after I start the car is turn that off.

Another dangerous "benefit" is how all the door locks automatically unlock when you park the car. Really? Have they never heard of car-jacking? We had the dealer turn that off in both of our cars. I'll unlock just my door when I'm ready to get out. I'm not opening all 4 doors.

And I hate how newer cars have removed key entry on the passenger door and trunk making you totally dependent on the key fob to enter the vehicle.

[GoodSteward]

I think some of the new features are appealing, but I wouldn't replace a perfectly good vehicle to get them.

I also think a lot of newer features are outrageously annoying. For example, my rear view mirror has that auto-dim feature which I find downright dangerous as it greatly reduces visibility in low light situations. The first thing I do after I start the car is turn that off.

Another dangerous "benefit" is how all the door locks automatically unlock when you park the car. Really? Have they never heard of car-jacking? We had the dealer turn that off in both of our cars. I'll unlock just my door when I'm ready to get out. I'm not opening all 4 doors.

And I hate how newer cars have removed key entry on the passenger door and trunk making you totally dependent on the key fob to enter the vehicle.

I also don't like how everything is going push button start. They are more expensive to deal with.