sclancy27
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When to keep or replace a vehichle
- Thread starter Nick87
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sclancy27
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2022
- Messages
- 863
You gotta have a piece of junk for it to hit 3500$ annually.
Gravelyctry
Well-known member
Agreed. On a given year, you might hit it depending on what's needed (tires can be north of $1500 by themselves), but to hit $3500 every year for several years in a row is unlikely.
This is from someone who has several pieces of junk that I keep running and driving.
Also, $3500 a year is a whole lot cheaper than a car payment.
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Gellar
Well-known member
Nick has a 2016 Chevy with 125K miles on it, currently debt free. $25,000 for a used one is going to get him a 2018 with 75,000 miles on it. Is that a big enough upgrade to justify going into $25,000 worth of debt?
If he goes up to $35,000 he is still looking at a 5 year old truck with 60,000-75,000 miles on it. I just got a brand new Toyota Tundra TRD OFFROAD SR5 at .99% for 60 months. The payment difference makes going with the brand new at $52,000 verse a 5 year old truck at $35,000 a no brainer to me.
Re salt: unfortunately, the best solution I have found to that is to buy a vehicle with as much plastic as possible (especially around the wheel wells and quarter panels) . That and frequent trips to the car wash.
I wish they used something else on the roads up here too, but seems unlikely to change. And that damned brine spray they use lately seems even worse.
I wish they used something else on the roads up here too, but seems unlikely to change. And that damned brine spray they use lately seems even worse.
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Gravelyctry
Well-known member
I think I agree with you if that was the decision that had to be made, but he doesn't HAVE to buy a new car and take on the additional debt and expense, whether it's $25k, $35k, or $52k. I hate spending money on cars - buying new gives you increased depreciation, higher insurance, and higher registration fees (at least here in IA.)
I look at cars in $/mile. As an example, I bought a 2007 Camry 7 years ago for $2k. I will stop driving it in about 2 months and will probably sell it for $500-$1k. I drove it for 140k miles with no big issues. That car cost me $1500 for 140,000 miles, or about a penny per mile.
If you buy a new truck for $50k (and ignore the interest, higher insurance, and registration fees), keep it for 15 years at 12k miles per year, and assume you can get rid of that truck for $10k at the end, the cost for that truck is .22 cents per mile. Even if you figure you can sell it for $20k after 15 years, the cost is still .17 cents per mile.
Gellar
Well-known member
I agree with you. Trust me, I get my monies worth and then some out of my vehicles.
npaden
Well-known member
My very simplistic way to look at it has always been when the maintenance and repair costs start to exceed the amount a car payment would be then it is time to get a new one.
I can't imagine dealing with rust. My last 2 trucks have both gone over 200,000 miles and I'm expecting my current one to get to 250,000+. Current truck is a 2021 that I got in December of 2020 and it has 113,000 miles on it and seems to be still like new to me.
Here's my spreadsheet from when I was looking at buying some new and used trucks.
I can't imagine dealing with rust. My last 2 trucks have both gone over 200,000 miles and I'm expecting my current one to get to 250,000+. Current truck is a 2021 that I got in December of 2020 and it has 113,000 miles on it and seems to be still like new to me.
Here's my spreadsheet from when I was looking at buying some new and used trucks.
| Location | Fuel | Price | Year | Ext Color | Int Color | Mileage | Age | Miles Rem | Age Rem | Mile/yr | Exp Resale | Net Cost | Cost per mile | Per Year | |
| 2014 Chevy 2500 LTZ | Lubbock | Gas | 28,500 | 2014 | Silver | Gray | 109,000 | 6 | 116,000 | 4 | 29,000 | 7,500 | 21,000 | 0.181 | 5,250.00 |
| 2020 Chevy 2500 LT | Mitch Hall - Lamesa | Gas | 51,824 | 2020 | White | Gray | - | 0 | 225,000 | 9 | 25,000 | 7,500 | 44,324 | 0.197 | 4,924.89 |
| 2020 Chevy 2500 LT | Mitch Hall - Lamesa | Diesel | 57,937 | 2020 | White | Gray | - | 0 | 250,000 | 10 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 47,937 | 0.192 | 4,793.70 |
| 2020 Chevy 2500 LTZ | Tegeler | Gas | 57,505 | 2020 | White | Gray | - | 0 | 225,000 | 9 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 47,505 | 0.211 | 5,278.33 |
| 2020 Chevy 2500 LTZ | Stevens - | Diesel | 69,865 | 2020 | White | Gray | - | 0 | 250,000 | 10 | 25,000 | 12,500 | 57,365 | 0.229 | 5,736.50 |
| 2015 LTZ Diesel | Lamar CO | Diesel | 37,500 | 2015 | Silver | Gray | 137,572 | 5 | 112,428 | 5 | 22,486 | 10,000 | 27,500 | 0.245 | 5,500.00 |
| 2020 LTZ Diesel | New Mexico | Diesel | 65,035 | 2020 | Pearl Tricoat | Gray | - | 0 | 250,000 | 10 | 25,000 | 12,500 | 52,535 | 0.210 | 5,253.50 |
| 2021 LTZ Diesel | Mitch Hall - Lamesa | Diesel | 66,548 | 2021 | Pearl Tricoat | Gray | - | 0 | 250,000 | 10 | 25,000 | 12,500 | 54,048 | 0.216 | 5,404.80 |
| 2021 LT Diesel | Country - Borger | Diesel | 58,495 | 2021 | White | Gray | - | 0 | 250,000 | 10 | 25,000 | 10,000 | 48,495 | 0.194 | 4,849.50 |
| 2021 LTZ Diesel | Chuck Fairbanks - Dallas | Diesel | 66,107 | 2021 | Silver | Gray | - | 0 | 250,000 | 10 | 25,000 | 12,500 | 53,607 | 0.214 | 5,360.70 |
| 2021 LTZ Diesel | Mellory | Diesel | 65,035 | 2021 | Pearl Tricoat | Gray | - | 0 | 250,000 | 10 | 25,000 | 12,500 | 52,535 | 0.210 | 5,253.50 |
Nick87
Well-known member
I wonder how many would trade up more frequently if they had to deal with it. Ive always been jealous when I travel to rust free areas. In all honesty I'd keep buying rebuilding 90's chevys if I was in an arid climate.
The rust we get in Illinois is horrible. Salt is spread when there is a grey LOOKING sky in winter. Crystal or brine, it's laid on thick. Can't have the Karens spinning out on any ice with their soccer wagons. Any and all snow on the road is packed into ice within one day and won't melt until spring without several warm sunny days in a row. When you get to the slushy stage it gets worse. That salty mess gets flung up into every crack and crevice of your vehicle. A blue car will now be dirty grey everywhere. What people don't think about is that besides the body rusting, every single component underneath is rusting as well. Even if you somehow manage to keep the body looking good the suspension, steering, brakes, frame, etc. are all still going. I've had cars back in my younger days that were built like tanks with good thick steel. The body didn't look bad but I don't know HOW many brake lines I've had rust through and blow out.
Point is, this part of the country seems like vehicles lead a hard life unless babied and kept in a nice heated garage all the time. Frequent underbody washings help but it also helps spread a little of that salt into little pockets that it wasn't in to begin with. And doing that very much is a real pain in the ass getting yourself soaked from the backsplash! New vehicles are made as cheap as they can get away with and NOTHING lasts as long as they used to. I have my car that I drove to work every day and my newish truck I bought for my "good" vehicle. Between the two I hope to be good for quite a while now that I don't commute to work. Like Nick, I was driving 50 miles one way to work every day. Throw in some weekends and suddenly those 12-13 hour or more away from home days don't leave you much time to do much of anything let alone work on a vehicle. Having at least one good dependable vehicle is a must. It's fine having a beater to get around in, but when the time comes to depend on it for something then it gets sketchy.
If Nick's truck is rusted enough that he's embarrassed by it, the stuff underneath is pretty bad also. Around here, that means it's time to pass it on and get something better before it's too late. Too bad the prices have gone nuts. It's hard to find many deals now.
Point is, this part of the country seems like vehicles lead a hard life unless babied and kept in a nice heated garage all the time. Frequent underbody washings help but it also helps spread a little of that salt into little pockets that it wasn't in to begin with. And doing that very much is a real pain in the ass getting yourself soaked from the backsplash! New vehicles are made as cheap as they can get away with and NOTHING lasts as long as they used to. I have my car that I drove to work every day and my newish truck I bought for my "good" vehicle. Between the two I hope to be good for quite a while now that I don't commute to work. Like Nick, I was driving 50 miles one way to work every day. Throw in some weekends and suddenly those 12-13 hour or more away from home days don't leave you much time to do much of anything let alone work on a vehicle. Having at least one good dependable vehicle is a must. It's fine having a beater to get around in, but when the time comes to depend on it for something then it gets sketchy.
If Nick's truck is rusted enough that he's embarrassed by it, the stuff underneath is pretty bad also. Around here, that means it's time to pass it on and get something better before it's too late. Too bad the prices have gone nuts. It's hard to find many deals now.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
If you can wait a couple of years you get a damn near entirely plastic truck (I'm actually on the wait list).
Nick87
Well-known member
I've thought about splitting the difference and going compact pickup and getting rid of my car. Doesn't pencil out for what im giving up in a truck.
Gellar
Well-known member
If you can wait a couple of years you get a damn near entirely plastic truck (I'm actually on the wait list).
Though it's not really a truck, much more of a commuter, which is why I'm interested it.
Our infrastructure and my use for a truck is drastically going to need to change before I see myself buying one of those.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
I'm buying it as a commuter. It just so happens to come with a small bed. I will probably always have a real truck.
My point in posting it was in reference to rust. The body is plastic.
WildWill
Well-known member
What are they gonna charge? It's the only EV that actually interest me. I do wonder using your logic from earlier if getting a cheap used car that gets good mpg wouldn't be more practical. But I guess depending on how much it gets driven the savings in gas would offset the initial larger up front price.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
my math says the break-even is much faster because you have almost zero maintenance and almost zero "fuel" costs. However, I would still defer to keeping my 2007 Honda Fit with 210k, if I didn't have kids that I'm going to off load that Fit onto.
Nick87
Well-known member
How is the resale on electric once they get up there in miles? I know absolutely nothing about electric vehichles.
Irrelevant
Well-known member
Not good. 50% new price after just a few years and less than 100k. I know we have 105k on our hybrid and we've only seen about 8% reduction on battery metrics.
WildWill
Well-known member
Gotta jump that hurdle in about 5 years myself with the boy and my daughter is only 18 months younger. Not looking forward to the insurance bill.
Nick87
Well-known member
Not that any vehichle holds much value after purchase anyhow.
