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If you're buying a brand new vehicle, why are you worrying about replacing parts? They come with a warranty!
This Van I'm buying is used with 17000 miles on it. Nissan dealer told me today on their used vehicles I can buy for 700.00 a warranty that is good for 10 years or 100,000 miles which ever comes first. This van does now have a 5 year or 100,000 miles warranty and also I've owned one used 1981 Datsun 4X4 pick-up in the past which I had to replace the starter which cost 85.00 and this was over 25 years ago.
If you buy brake rotors for a Chevy truck the chances of finding American made offerings are non existent. Most come from China or another Asian country. Alternators, water pumps and starters are the same. I don't even know what OEM means as far as auto parts are concerned these days.
I'm thinking about buying a Nissan vehicle but I have a friend that only buys Dodge mini-vans telling me I will regret buying any foreign vehicle because of the cost for replacement parts like a alternator or starter.
Thanks
Don't you think it would depend on the foreign make? BMW parts are very expensive. Toyota and Honda are very affordable. Nissan is probably pretty affordable.
I have a feeling this Nissan van will out last a Dodge mini-van twice over any day. This friend owns a Dodge van which had only 123,000 miles on it and the engine required 4000.00 in repairs. He said everything electrical went bad and engine parts.
I've owned American, Japanese and Korean vehicles. I wouldn't say the parts cost are that much different. Now if you're talking European, that's a different story.
I wouldn't just say foreign and domestic. Even though the Asian cars and European cars are both foreign, the cost difference is huge. I personally would not buy a European car, love the way they look and ride but spending that much on a car isn't for me.
Some of the domestic parts are expensive enough. If you've owned a Corvette before, there's something called the "Corvette tax" where the cost of everything is more. I guess the attitude is that if you can afford a Corvette, you can afford to spend extra on parts just because.
I have a good friend who runs a very large independent shop. He told me that if I buy a European car, be prepared to pay through the nose for repairs. He bought a classic Jag sedan and put a Chev engine and transmission in it. It ended up the best of both worlds, great looks and ride, but inexpensive to maintain.
I have a feeling this Nissan van will out last a Dodge mini-van twice over any day. This friend owns a Dodge van which had only 123,000 miles on it and the engine required 4000.00 in repairs. He said everything electrical went bad and engine parts.
Thanks all of you for the information.
Maybe. I do not know a ton about that Nissan Van. I do know a lot of people that put tons of miles on those Chrysler vans. They keep going, but get kind of rough.
Either way, I am not sure I would make my overall decision on parts costs unless you are shocked at the prices when you look them up.
The car with the most expensive parts costs I ever owned was a Ford Probe. It had a Mazda drivetrain. Just a distributor cap and rotor was well over $100 bucks and this was back in the 90's. Things went up from there. It drove me nuts if I needed something but it's not like I was buying alternators weekly either. It is just one of those expenses you pay if you need to. If parts costs became prohibitive because it needed that many of them, I would be selling it and trying to buy something else.
Good luck with your purchase! The Nissan should serve you well!
Depends on the car, depends on the part. Though I agree with the others that the European makes will make your wallet bleed.
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