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The reason why cars get thrown away in Europe is not because some mechanical problems, but because problems related to old age of whole device such as * Rust.

The reason why cars get thrown away in Europe is not because some mechanical problems, but because problems related to old age of whole device such as * Rust. It will eat your car. Especially if you are salting roads. At some point you won't pass mandatory technical inspection and it is over for the car. Sell it scrap yard. * PVC degradation. Insulation on cables is slowly degrading (if on source of UV light, then the process is very fast) and eventually naked cores of cables will show up, which will cause intermittent short circuits which can manifest in weird behavior of the car in specific conditions to outright fire. So no, it can't last forever unless you want to invest in it huge amount of money every now and then.

avmich 2y ago
Can't both of this problems be solved by repairing? The body is a complex thing, but it still can be replaced - piece by piece or as a whole. Same for wiring - a lot of it is rather short and local and doesn't need complex operations for replacement. I guess that's what you mean by huge amount of money. Can we quantify "huge"? And can we also have this expense designed to be minimal?
- TheLoafOfBread 2y ago
  Not really. When your car will start rusting inside, because water got in through rusted through holes, then without extensive repair it can't be saved. Such repair will be more expensive than remaining value of the car. Wiring is even more problematic. When PVC will degrade, you need to change whole wiring not just the broken part, because changing only the broken part will make more problems in different parts thanks to the fact that you will need to manipulate with rest of the harness and degraded PVC has tendency to get hard and break off. Wiring for the car can cost several thousand EUR because it is basically manual labor without much prospect for automation. If it is car older than 10 years, it makes no sense to do that.

avmich 2y ago

Can't both of this problems be solved by repairing? The body is a complex thing, but it still can be replaced - piece by piece or as a whole. Same for wiring - a lot of it is rather short and local and doesn't need complex operations for replacement. I guess that's what you mean by huge amount of money. Can we quantify "huge"? And can we also have this expense designed to be minimal?

TheLoafOfBread 2y ago
Not really. When your car will start rusting inside, because water got in through rusted through holes, then without extensive repair it can't be saved. Such repair will be more expensive than remaining value of the car. Wiring is even more problematic. When PVC will degrade, you need to change whole wiring not just the broken part, because changing only the broken part will make more problems in different parts thanks to the fact that you will need to manipulate with rest of the harness and degraded PVC has tendency to get hard and break off. Wiring for the car can cost several thousand EUR because it is basically manual labor without much prospect for automation. If it is car older than 10 years, it makes no sense to do that.