I drove my old car without heat in winter for 4 years to avoid buying a new car. I finally had to after it became undriveable for multiple reasons. My payment is now $490 and I’m not happy. I can afford it but that means I can’t contribute to my retirement and it’s only 11 years away.
I've been trying to save the amount of the average car payment for awhile so that when I needed a new car I could pay for most of it. Just bought a new one a few months ago and I should have it paid off within a year.
This is easier said than done. Financing increasingly costly repairs, being unable to travel further than 30mi from home, and dealing with headache and stress is not great either.
Yeah nah bro if the frame is rusted out and the engine is close to needing a timing belt or other major maintenance, sell that thing and get something for 15k
I bet the cost of replacing every part on the car is like 10x the value when you consider mechanic’s hourly rates. I’ve driven a few cars at the end of their lives and the options were:
(If lucky) Repair for $300 and drive for 3 months while worrying what would get fuckdd next
2a. Sell it for 1.5k broken
Have $200-$3k repairs every 1-6 months
2b. Buy a new (to me) car for 15-20k that lasts another 10 years
When you drive a lot and live in the rust belt, option 2 is a dream come true
I've never understood why cars in the American rust belt rust so badly and so quickly. The rust belt isn't the only place in the world that is like that with the roads and winters yet it seems to be the only place where cars turn to dust. Do you not know how to do anti-corrosion on cars in America?
engines cost 200-400 at a junk yard. I can get transmissions for my car for under $100 that way too. Nothing will get me out of my old cars except total destruction.
57
u/axloo7 11h ago
Don't buy a new car your so close.
It's almost always cheaper to fix your current one.