I was totally lol-ing at the trading in a car at 60k miles post, and even gave the side eye to the comment about the original plan of waiting 2-3 more years before getting another car. My initial reaction was why the heck would you even need a new car in 2-3 years (the car would still be under 100k miles and a Honda would likely still run great), but then I realized I might not be the norm.
How long (both years and mileage) do you typically drive a car?
I drive a 7 year old Acura with no plans to replace it soon. It has a little over 100,000 miles, and I have no doubt that if I take care of it I'll get it to 300,000. I might trade it in 2-3 years for an SUV so I can have more space when we have more kids, but admit that this is a want and not a need. It's also only something I'll do if we are in a great financial situation (which to me is at least one year in an e-fund and the income that a car payment doesn't make much of a difference in our budget).
DH drives a 13 year old Mazda sedan. I can't remember the mileage, but I think it's nearing 200,000. It's on it's last leg, I think. The transmission is starting to go out and it can take a long time to get it to start when it's cold. We plan to replace it in the next six months.
Both our cars have over 100,000mi on them. One is a '99 and one is a '95 (which, oddly, has the lower mileage). We are just now in the process of replacing one. Yep, one. Cost of repairs is becoming comparable to what a down payment + few months of payments would've been.
Post by CallingAllAngels on Oct 31, 2012 21:58:46 GMT -5
I drive a 2007 RAV4 with 100k miles on it. The plan is to get a new car in 2017, and I'll probably get antsy once it gets closer to 200k miles. It is our only car besides H's company car and I almost always have the kids with me, so I would prefer not to have a beater.
My Nissan seranis 8 years old with 84,000 miles on it. We'll replace it nex fall, only because I am demanding something with all wheel drive after years of driving in the snow without it. The next vehicle we purchase I anticipate driving for 10 years, at least.
H's Toyota truck is 10 years old, with 140,000 miles on it. We'll replace it in the next 4-5 years, only because it won't work with 2 car seats on the jump seat.
We buy quality vehicles and drive them into the ground, or until they no longer fit our needs.
Post by milkrations on Oct 31, 2012 22:04:18 GMT -5
My Mazda is 8 years old with 130k miles on it. I have no plans to replace it anytime soon. I am 33 and it is the second car I have ever had. My previous car was totaled in an accident when it had 120k miles on it. I would have kept that one longer if I could have.
DH currently drives a 16yo Civic with a ton of miles on it. We bought my Fit in '09 when my 10yo Civic (with 231K miles) just wasn't cutting it any more. We ditched our Subaru this year with 170K miles because it had become a nightmare of repairs after it hit 100K miles.
I will admit, when we bought the Fit, and I saw all the bells and whistles, I could see why people upgrade more often. And we are tossing around the idea of leasing an electric car. We figure it's a good short-ish term plan for trying out a car like that.
And some people just don't know, or are spoiled. My CW told me she had a Camry with 100K miles on it "so it's ready to be done soon." I just :-| And she had 2 minor, correctible issues with her car at the time, which I was able to diagnose in 10 minutes. But 3 months later she traded it in for a Lexus "because I've always wanted one." She has a lot of non-MM behaviors though.
I drove my first ('94 Acura Integra) for 10 years. It had slightly over 100k miles I think.
I only gave it up because my parents offered me their car ('96 Lexus LS). It had super low mileage because they barely used it. I've been driving it for 9 years now and it has around 175k miles. I'll probably keep it another year or two, because we've really reached the point where various repairs are getting more frequent & larger scale.
MH gave up his '96 Toyota 4Runner last year after it hit over 400k miles. It literally sputtered home the last day he drove it.
Post by Norticprincess on Oct 31, 2012 22:15:59 GMT -5
Usually until they die, meaning the repairs are more than it is worth or it is going to need more repairs than it worth over the next six months.
My 96 explorer went to my sister at 252k, it was technically my parents and I had a real job so I bought a 2002.
I traded my low for us mileage (120,000, it was mainly weekend and snow for the last four years i had it, i bought it with 18k on it in 2005) 2002 Explorer ( I'd stopped driving it to work when I got married) in on my Subaru last year. The repairs were closing in on $1000 away from trade in, before adding the possibility of needing tires before winter. The transmission was going AGAIN. There was a design flaw in the way they made them and this would have been its 3rd replacement. It ate a transmission every 40k miles. The first two Ford paid to replace. I wasn't going to spend 3-5k on a new transmission that would die again in 40k miles. The money was better spent on a new car, where I $5500 for the trade in, instead of spending nearly that much on the truck. The differential was leaking again (had been fixed once under recall).
DH had a$600 pos in college, his mom fixed the transmission the first time it broke. But gave him her minivan and bought herself a new car when the head gasket blew. The minivan got traded in on his civic (currently at 250 or 260k in grad school in 05 and barely drove for the first two years he had it, as he lived right off campus) the van'sundercarriage was rusting out. The civic, thus far has only had routine things one (minus the deer)
Until the lease or warranty runs out usually. H likes new shiny cars.
We still have my 2005 Accord with 110k miles on it. It was my first brand new car so I'm attached to it. We'll keep it for 3 more years and pass it onto my sister when she turns 15. We plan on keeping my 2010 bmw but we'll see what happens next year when the lease is up.
We're a one-car family and junked our (gifted to us) Chevy Malibu when the latest repair cost more than it was worth, after spending quite a bit on other repairs in the same year. It was about 9 y.o. with 120K miles. And I was completely pissed off and thought it was a shitty car for not lasting longer. We are Honda people now, and I fully expect to drive our Fit 10+ years. Cars are definitely not our splurge.
I had almost exactly the same reply as yours typed out and sitting for a little while (buy a Tomtom for $100 and don't finance leather seats) but decided not to post since she had already rejected all the good advice she received.
Dh's last car we sold because we didn't fit in it anymore. It had 100k miles on it and only 7yr old, but it was a corolla, so it's probably still going strong.
My last car that we sold was a maxima with 250k on it. Still ran well, but I admit I just got antsy for a newer car... It was my mom's old car and about 14 years old.
I am on my third car. I drove my 1995 Mustang until 2003. It would have lasted longer, but I really hated that car. Then I drove a 2003 Jeep Liberty until about a month ago. So I am averaging 8-9 years. DH is also on his third car. He drove a 1989 Blazer until 2000, then drove a 1999 Audi A4 until 2008, so he is averaging about 10 years. We have staggered when we have replaced our cars pretty well, so our plan moving forward is to replace one of our two cars every 5 years so that our cars always get replaced after around 10 years.
We could drive our cars longer than we do, but we tend to unload them when they start needing lots of repairs. Still, I feel like we keep cars a reasonably long time.
Post by sweetredheadx on Oct 31, 2012 22:30:30 GMT -5
I just sold my 97 Honda a few weeks ago. It was given to me when I graduated high school in 01 and I'm actually a little sad it's gone but the transmission was going and the cost to worth ratio just wasn't there for me.
Now we have an 02 Camry and an 05 Nissan Altima. We will drive them into the ground.
DH drives a 1997 Accord that he bought used from his grandma, it only has 100k miles on it.
I drive a 2000 Civic with close to 200k. We will get rid of my car when it dies or we have a kiddo, as I'm not putting a baby in a two door car on a regular basis.
Post by UnderProtest on Oct 31, 2012 22:40:02 GMT -5
We intend to keep cars for 8-10 years, but somehow that doesn't always happen. We kept my husband's car from 2000-2007 (although it was a 1999 model he bought used). But we upgraded my 3 year old MINI for a convertible MINI. And then traded that in after only 6 years for a crossover/small SUV. . The ONLY reason we did that was because we were having twins. I would have kept that car forever. I still miss it after over a year. We always buy new and get a decent amount selling or trading in because of low miles.
Post by belovedbride07 on Oct 31, 2012 22:50:05 GMT -5
I don't know...we haven't gotten there yet!
Car #1 (Lola) has 160k miles and is 11 years old (mine for 7 of those years). We give her pep talks to remind her of how important it is that she keep working for a few more years. (Yeah, we are weird.)
Car #2 has...hmm...90k? miles and is 6 years old (ours for 2 years)
Our rule of thumb is that when repairs per year get to be more than we would be paying as a reasonable (to us) car payment, it will be time to replace.
Trying for #3; FET 8/18 -- BFN. Leaving things up to chance for now... After three years, three IVFs, and two FETs, we finally have our miracle babIES!
I've had my car for 4 years but it's a 2005. No plans to get a new one any time soon. H's car is a 2002. It's starting to bite the big one, so a replacement is probably due in the next couple years.
Until they are dead. My Acura has almost 200,00 miles on it and it is perfect for driving around the dog to our morning walks/hikes. We just spent more than the car is worth getting repairs so it is good to go for awhile. And I can't beat $40.00 for a tank of gas that lasts 2 weeks. My main car is a SUV that is newer and it is not going anywhere. The other two cars are also paid off and are about 4-5 years old. We drive them all.