4 ms·

Anytime I put more than $1,000 into repairs on a used car, I regretted it.

segmondy 9y ago
Why? I have a used car. if I put $1,000 into repairs for it and get 12 months out of it. I win. Can I lease or buy an equivalent car for $1000/yr, $83 a month? Usually not. If I could, how much would the value deprecate in a year? More than $1,000? Most likely $1,000 into a used car can be the wisest thing. I pretty much drive my cars till I hit 250,000 miles. It takes another $4k to usually go from 200k-250k usually because timing belt, valve cover and expensive routine maintenance comes up. But $4k to drive 50k miles? Totally worth it.
- IpV8 9y ago
  Agreed. I bought an old volvo for $2000 about 7 years ago. I'd say I average about $1000 in repairs every year. I'd call that a great investment.
  - tboyd47 9y ago
    Volvos are solid cars.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- tboyd47 9y ago
  I dunno, I'm no car expert, but both times I've put $1,000 into a used car in my life, it ended up being worth about that much or less, even after the repair. Now it just feels like too much to me.
  - marcofiset 9y ago
    It's a known fact that a car's value always depreciates. You can't expect a car to be worth the repair you put on it.
- AnimalMuppet 9y ago
  Why? Because when a used car needs $1000 in repairs, it may need another $1000 very soon. You don't necessarily get a year after the first $1000. So you have to try to figure out, is this car still solid except for the thing that needs $1000 to fix, or is it starting to fall off a metaphorical cliff? And you never know. But sometimes the car feels less and less solid, and you can tell that it's time to get out. Is that time the first $1000 repair? Not necessarily. (I've spent $1000 on the 100,000 mile maintenance on a Honda Odyssey twice, and not regretted it. I've also spent closer to $3000 on an unexpected transmission rebuild, and I haven't regretted it... so far.) But it's not a completely stupid rule of thumb that, if most repairs are $200 or $500, the first $1000 repair is a time to at least seriously re-evaluate the vehicle.
snow_mac 9y ago
Thats why I learned how to work on my own cars

Why? I have a used car. if I put $1,000 into repairs for it and get 12 months out of it. I win. Can I lease or buy an equivalent car for $1000/yr, $83 a month? Usually not. If I could, how much would the value deprecate in a year? More than $1,000? Most likely $1,000 into a used car can be the wisest thing. I pretty much drive my cars till I hit 250,000 miles. It takes another $4k to usually go from 200k-250k usually because timing belt, valve cover and expensive routine maintenance comes up. But $4k to drive 50k miles? Totally worth it.

IpV8 9y ago
Agreed. I bought an old volvo for $2000 about 7 years ago. I'd say I average about $1000 in repairs every year. I'd call that a great investment.
- tboyd47 9y ago
  Volvos are solid cars.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
tboyd47 9y ago
I dunno, I'm no car expert, but both times I've put $1,000 into a used car in my life, it ended up being worth about that much or less, even after the repair. Now it just feels like too much to me.
- marcofiset 9y ago
  It's a known fact that a car's value always depreciates. You can't expect a car to be worth the repair you put on it.
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
Why? Because when a used car needs $1000 in repairs, it may need another $1000 very soon. You don't necessarily get a year after the first $1000. So you have to try to figure out, is this car still solid except for the thing that needs $1000 to fix, or is it starting to fall off a metaphorical cliff? And you never know. But sometimes the car feels less and less solid, and you can tell that it's time to get out. Is that time the first $1000 repair? Not necessarily. (I've spent $1000 on the 100,000 mile maintenance on a Honda Odyssey twice, and not regretted it. I've also spent closer to $3000 on an unexpected transmission rebuild, and I haven't regretted it... so far.) But it's not a completely stupid rule of thumb that, if most repairs are $200 or $500, the first $1000 repair is a time to at least seriously re-evaluate the vehicle.

snow_mac 9y ago

Thats why I learned how to work on my own cars