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Okay, back here to clear couple of points. The car in question is a Honda Accord, that is why it has good resale value. The repairs needed are shocks and struts, strut mounts/boot, alignment, tires, brake. Early wear on the suspension is probably due to the previous owner abusing the car, but obviously these show up after 3 years of me owning it. I have not been back to the dealer, never go there for the repairs unless covered by warranty. The repairs are actually going to be done mostly by myself. I will have to take the struts to a local shop to be reassembled because I am not going to put my life at risk and don't have access to a spring compressor. I will also have to use a shop to do the alignment. So overall I am paying ~ $120 for labor. The tires would also be mounted by whoever sells it to me. I am saving ~ $400 by doing the labor myself, but then I tend to by high quality parts for the car.
For the person who is driving their Astrovan to the ground, great, but nobody would pay you $10K for it. Such is the case with our other car, an 11 yr old minivan with 130,000 miles on it, not burning a drop of oil and being maintained and repaired on a weekly basis but myself. We will keep it until the wheels fall of and then some (probably my teens would practice on it).
The dilemma here is the cost of getting a 7 yr newer car comes to ~ $111 per month. I would be taking advantage of the good resale value of my car. I am not sure how much the dealership would sell my car for or what their profit would be. They inspect the car and buy it, the rest as far as I am concerned is not my problem.
What does the 2011 offer that your car doesn't have? If it offers a raft of upgrades and safety features your car doesn't have -- I'd do it, if I drove a lot.
My hubs old truck was in that boat -- the engine was fine but it needed a lot of work and wasn't worth the dollar amount of work it needed. But we could have fixed it. What settled the deal is the fact that it didn't have airbags and hubs was driving on the big freeway daily..... and I wanted him to have some safety features. He got a new truck.
The newer car would have side airbags and some more bells and whistles, nothing that I particularly care for-I practice defensive driving and that is more important; but we have been there with cars that had no airbags. These added features though, make the insurance on the newer car cheaper-go figure. The registration fee would be higher, but we are talking $150 per year.
I do all the maintenance and most of the repairs myself and am able to over maintain my cars without paying too much money. My oil change costs me less than $10, I drain and refill my ATF every 15K, flush my coolant and brake fluid, etc. This car was actually the newest car I had bought in my life, hoping that I would not have major repairs and here I am needing a lot of suspension work.
IMO the used car market has gone a bit over board. People are paying more to buy a used car whereas the new cars are deeply discounted. I am trying to take advantage of this I guess. One added concern is that the Toyota and Honda dealers around here are getting low on their inventory. That might change the pricing, or force me to buy a Fusion or a Mazda, both of which are fin cars, but probably not as reliable-generally speaking.
I have a 2005 Sedan, decent car with 70K miles on it. Would soon need ~ $1500 in repairs/maintenance. Due to good resale value I have been offered more than $10K for the car with its current condition. I could buy the same car, brand new (2011) for $18K, with tax and everything would be close to $20K. If I went with the smaller model which would still meet our needs it would be $16K, also more gas efficient. I have always driven my cars until the wheels fell off. This time it seems that getting a new one with 6 yrs of life and 70K miles less on it might make more sense financially. I am in a position to be able to pay cash for the difference. So bring on your counter argument if you think I shouldn't do this.
That depends... are you still paying on the old one? If not, the $1500 dollar repair makes more sense. If so, I would go with the new one.
The newer car would have side airbags and some more bells and whistles, nothing that I particularly care for-I practice defensive driving and that is more important; but we have been there with cars that had no airbags. These added features though, make the insurance on the newer car cheaper-go figure. The registration fee would be higher, but we are talking $150 per year.
I do all the maintenance and most of the repairs myself and am able to over maintain my cars without paying too much money. My oil change costs me less than $10, I drain and refill my ATF every 15K, flush my coolant and brake fluid, etc. This car was actually the newest car I had bought in my life, hoping that I would not have major repairs and here I am needing a lot of suspension work.
IMO the used car market has gone a bit over board. People are paying more to buy a used car whereas the new cars are deeply discounted. I am trying to take advantage of this I guess. One added concern is that the Toyota and Honda dealers around here are getting low on their inventory. That might change the pricing, or force me to buy a Fusion or a Mazda, both of which are fin cars, but probably not as reliable-generally speaking.
Fusions are getting good scores for reliability and satisfaction.
i've seen the same thing with used cars. amazing how well they are doing price wise. depending on the model, the new car price sometimes isn't all that much worse than some gently used models. it's unreal.
I have a 2005 Sedan, decent car with 70K miles on it. Would soon need ~ $1500 in repairs/maintenance. Due to good resale value I have been offered more than $10K for the car with its current condition. I could buy the same car, brand new (2011) for $18K, with tax and everything would be close to $20K. If I went with the smaller model which would still meet our needs it would be $16K, also more gas efficient. I have always driven my cars until the wheels fell off. This time it seems that getting a new one with 6 yrs of life and 70K miles less on it might make more sense financially. I am in a position to be able to pay cash for the difference. So bring on your counter argument if you think I shouldn't do this.
Some people just can't do math very well. They would rather go deeper in debt than pay less overall for a repair on the car the have mostly paid for.
I buy cars to keep till they die and don't worry one damn bit about repairs unless the body or frame is rusted badly. When my cars are rust buckets I recycle them and move on.
Some people just can't do math very well. They would rather go deeper in debt than pay less overall for a repair on the car the have mostly paid for.
I buy cars to keep till they die and don't worry one damn bit about repairs unless the body or frame is rusted badly. When my cars are rust buckets I recycle them and move on.
Nice, you just assume that I can not do the math. Have you done the math to see how much per month it would cost for the upgrade? Why does everybody assume that I have a loan on the car?
You say you don't worry about repairs, does that mean you don't care how much they cost or you just don't do them until you are stranded on the side of the road at 2 AM in the boonies. Now how does that feel, I am making assumptions about you...
I think there's more than one person on this board with car fever. I just spent this same amount on the same type of repairs on my 2001 Honda CRV with 160K miles. Like I said, it is still a baby. Keep your car and save your cash.
Nice, you just assume that I can not do the math. Have you done the math to see how much per month it would cost for the upgrade? Why does everybody assume that I have a loan on the car?
You say you don't worry about repairs, does that mean you don't care how much they cost or you just don't do them until you are stranded on the side of the road at 2 AM in the boonies. Now how does that feel, I am making assumptions about you...
New car fever makes people say non-productive things.
It's going to depend how it's looked at. I don't see you getting much better mpg in a newer honda, so any per month cost reductions will be minimal. We sprung for a new subaru recently, because of the insurance savings coupled with the gas savings at $3 a gallon covered all but $120 of the monthly payment..now nearing $4 a gallon it's paying for itself..monthly...and my 1-ton now sits unless I need it's hauling and towing capacity.
But on the bottom line, we'll be paying ~$21,000 in payments that could have gone elseware.
In the OP's situation, I'd say keep the old car. New honda's have gotten more porky and more safe, but I haven't seen the mpg increases I'd like to see, to make me dump an 05 Accord for a new one.
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They would rather go deeper in debt than pay less overall for a repair on the car the have mostly paid for. 
