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I have a couple of points: - If you want the absolute cheapest car, the optimum strategy would be to learn to do as many repairs as possible on your own. Then,

by hluska 9y ago

I have a couple of points: - If you want the absolute cheapest car, the optimum strategy would be to learn to do as many repairs as possible on your own. Then, while selecting a vehicle, you would want to pick one that you can actually repair yourself. This introduces the first major snag. If you're looking to buy a car that you can repair yourself, you likely want to stick to American cars built before the mid-1980s or early-1990s. So then, let's say that you pick a car from that era and your country suddenly makes a technology like ABS (anti-lock brakes) mandatory for all vehicles that are licensed? That could force you to buy another car, simply to stay on the road. Or, more likely, what if you buy a vehicle then suddenly have to move to a place with stronger emissions regulations? - With fixing your own car, there is a huge gap between "I know how to do it" and "I'm confident enough to do it, knowing that my daughter will get in the car tomorrow." I'm an excellent example of this. When we bought our van, I resolved myself to do as many repairs as possible. I had great plans of being able to do all the consumables (oil changes, brakes, etc) by myself. Great idea, right? Then, my fucking brakes actuallu went. In the end, while I'm sure that I could have done the fix and it would have worked out, I was simply too nervous to do it with Lauren being my most regular passenger!

IpV8 9y ago
Old cars are always grandfathered in. It would be completely unrealistic for the government to bench hundreds of thousands of cars.
tudelo 9y ago
To be fair, fixing your brakes on an old car is an absolute nightmare IME. I did it on my early 2000's Mustang and even though there are very few steps every bolt was rusted together and I spent the better part of the day in the rain. And I only got the front done :). Oil changes are often the same price or more expensive to do on your own given the cost of oil. I guess if you want a specific brand of filter/oil it might make sense to do it yourself, but other than that, it always seemed like a waste of time to me.

by hluska 9y ago

IpV8 9y ago

Old cars are always grandfathered in. It would be completely unrealistic for the government to bench hundreds of thousands of cars.

tudelo 9y ago

To be fair, fixing your brakes on an old car is an absolute nightmare IME. I did it on my early 2000's Mustang and even though there are very few steps every bolt was rusted together and I spent the better part of the day in the rain. And I only got the front done :). Oil changes are often the same price or more expensive to do on your own given the cost of oil. I guess if you want a specific brand of filter/oil it might make sense to do it yourself, but other than that, it always seemed like a waste of time to me.