4 ms·

I once bought a crappy car and ended up spending way more on repairs than expected that it would of made more sense to have bought a relatively new car instead.

I once bought a crappy car and ended up spending way more on repairs than expected that it would of made more sense to have bought a relatively new car instead. Crappy cars break down and you have to pay tow trucks, miss work, and spend more on repairs. I'd argue that it's worth spending more for a car that will be reliable.

ghaff 7y ago
I’ve mostly bought new but also belonged to the drive it into the ground (while maintaining it well) school. But I’ve definitely gone an expensive repair or two too many once or twice.
- clarry 7y ago
  What kind of repairs were these? How much were they?
  - ghaff 7y ago
    The worst case was power steering line leaked and had that fixed. Then brake lines went out and had that fixed. It was basically all rust related. Should have just ditched the vehicle at the first rust-related problem. We’re talking at least a couple $K total. As I recall I had a prior vehicle that I also spent too much on near the end of its life. Recently donated an old car that started to have some sort of ABS brake weirdness. I had pretty much made the decision to not put any more money into it—and I didn’t drive it a lot anyway.
lostmsu 7y ago
What make/model was that?
- miguelmota 7y ago
  Ironically it was a 1995 Toyota 4Runner. They're known to be really reliable and I love them but I just got screwed with that one because the previous owner seemed to have neglected maintenance on it but I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to have noticed potential problems at time of purchase.
beamatronic 7y ago
The optimal car purchase is a 2 year old Toyota Corolla. Pay cash if you can, maintain it well, and drive it into the ground.
- clarry 7y ago
  If driving it to the ground is cost effective, then doing the same to one that is 5, 10 or 15 years at time of purchase should be just as cost effective, if not more so, thanks to price depreciation.
  - beamatronic 7y ago
    Cost isn’t the only thing to be optimized. Your time is valuable also.
clarry 7y ago
There's always a bit of luck factor involved, including with "relatively new cars." I know people who got pissed off with their expensive repairs on their relatively new car and switched to an old beater. The good part about buying older cars is that there's information out there about which parts are likely to fail and when (and you can probably assess the cost of repairs too, which you can then factor in to the price). And if you can take it for a test drive, take a peek under the hood, and check for stamps in the service book, you have a decent chance of weeding out the worst pieces. I can't think of many things that would cost several thousand dollars to repair, except for some of the biggest jobs like gearbox or engine replacement. Good thing that modern engines and gearboxes are quite reliable and it's not common for them to just fail without any signs. Bad clutch can be expensive but I think you should be able to tell when it's about to go. So when you buy an old car for, say, $7k, you're taking some chances and might end up needing to spend a few extra thousand on repairs, but chances are it'll be just fine with routine repairs. That's almost always going to be more cost effective than dropping $15k - $20k on a relatively new Toyota, let alone some more expensive car.

ghaff 7y ago

I’ve mostly bought new but also belonged to the drive it into the ground (while maintaining it well) school. But I’ve definitely gone an expensive repair or two too many once or twice.

clarry 7y ago
What kind of repairs were these? How much were they?
- ghaff 7y ago
  The worst case was power steering line leaked and had that fixed. Then brake lines went out and had that fixed. It was basically all rust related. Should have just ditched the vehicle at the first rust-related problem. We’re talking at least a couple $K total. As I recall I had a prior vehicle that I also spent too much on near the end of its life. Recently donated an old car that started to have some sort of ABS brake weirdness. I had pretty much made the decision to not put any more money into it—and I didn’t drive it a lot anyway.

lostmsu 7y ago

What make/model was that?

miguelmota 7y ago
Ironically it was a 1995 Toyota 4Runner. They're known to be really reliable and I love them but I just got screwed with that one because the previous owner seemed to have neglected maintenance on it but I wasn’t knowledgeable enough to have noticed potential problems at time of purchase.

beamatronic 7y ago

The optimal car purchase is a 2 year old Toyota Corolla. Pay cash if you can, maintain it well, and drive it into the ground.

clarry 7y ago
If driving it to the ground is cost effective, then doing the same to one that is 5, 10 or 15 years at time of purchase should be just as cost effective, if not more so, thanks to price depreciation.
- beamatronic 7y ago
  Cost isn’t the only thing to be optimized. Your time is valuable also.

clarry 7y ago

There's always a bit of luck factor involved, including with "relatively new cars." I know people who got pissed off with their expensive repairs on their relatively new car and switched to an old beater. The good part about buying older cars is that there's information out there about which parts are likely to fail and when (and you can probably assess the cost of repairs too, which you can then factor in to the price). And if you can take it for a test drive, take a peek under the hood, and check for stamps in the service book, you have a decent chance of weeding out the worst pieces. I can't think of many things that would cost several thousand dollars to repair, except for some of the biggest jobs like gearbox or engine replacement. Good thing that modern engines and gearboxes are quite reliable and it's not common for them to just fail without any signs. Bad clutch can be expensive but I think you should be able to tell when it's about to go. So when you buy an old car for, say, $7k, you're taking some chances and might end up needing to spend a few extra thousand on repairs, but chances are it'll be just fine with routine repairs. That's almost always going to be more cost effective than dropping $15k - $20k on a relatively new Toyota, let alone some more expensive car.