Comments on: Buy a New Car or Fix the One I’ve Got?

By: karla (threadbndr)

karla (threadbndr) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:12:06 +0000

The tipping point for me is when the cost of the repair is more than the value of the car. It looks like you are there. AND the cost of the new to you car less your trade in looks like it will be less than the cost of the transmission repair.

Your financing % on a used car will probably be less than on your credit card or line of credit. Right now my credit union is between 5.25 and 7.5 % depending on the age of the car and the length of the loan.

But yeah, taking on debt when you just finally got out from under is frustrating. Best of luck

By: Miss Thrifty

Miss Thrifty — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:36:34 +0000

Oh no – transmissions are so expensive!

I’d say get a new car, but I’m sure you could get an ok one for less than 6,000 euros.

Mind you, as you may recall from this post – http://www.miss-thrifty.co.uk/2008/09/01/introducing-the-thriftymobile/ – I’m a notorious tightwad when it comes to cars!

Miss Thrifty´s last blog post..FRIDAY BARGAINS: Tesco hair clippers

By: Zhu

Zhu — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 03:19:16 +0000

Ouch... I guess I'd be a new car but I can see it's a difficult decision. Same goes -- to a lesser extend -- with computer. Last time mine broke, I bought a new one cause it was cheaper. Zhu´s last blog post..How To Survive Your First Year In Canada (8/10)

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:26:01 +0000

@Lisa, yeah, except that my kids need to get to school and my husband needs to get to work. And he can’t arrange his hours to pick them up every afternoon, and we can’t do without his salary, so we need the second car.

Life would be much easier if we could only have one car, but we can’t. Hence the dilemma!

By: Lisa

Lisa — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:18:53 +0000

Hi Kelly, You know that the Tightwad Gazette would say you don't need two cars if you stay home. Or get a sitter near home or on the bus line and take internet courses. It's these tragic monetary things that make us reevaluate. I've had this same car dilemma way too many times. Even though we can afford it we never buy new cars anymore, always late model used (see The Millionaire Next Door). Don't sink another dime into this one. I put an expensive transmission into a Renault once and two days later the engine died. Someone just told me my career would restart when the big yellow bus pulls up, and I'm starting to think that's true. Two cars, au pair, clothes, all add up. Goo0d luck. Lisa´s last blog post..$295,000 Home For Sale in Eastham, MA 02642

By: Samantha Easter

Samantha Easter — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:07:34 +0000

Ouch...not a fun situation. Is there any sort of carpooling options available at your kids school? Samantha Easter´s last blog post..Learning from history

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:16:50 +0000

Thanks everyone for the advice. A little bit more information: the car is 8 years old and has about 105,000 km. The utmost limit we could expect to get to is about 200,000 km. It’s bluebook value is about â‚¬4000, but with all the dings it came with (or I put into it, cough cough) it’s probably worth a bit less than that. So you see that the repair costs would be at least the value of the car.

It’s been fairly reliable so far, but we have had to put some money into it already. It’s also getting to the point where we are going to need to replace some routine things.

I’ve given some thought as to how we could do without this car and it would involve moving or changing our kids’ school, and that isn’t an option.

We could find a good car for us for about â‚¬6000 (I’ve seen quite a few for sale recently) with few kilometers and a bit smaller and more fuel efficient. We would come out ahead of repairing the other and selling it instead, on the other hand I don’t know if I can handle another thing on my plate right now!

By: Lucie @ Unconventional Origins

Lucie @ Unconventional Origins — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:39:31 +0000

Man that is such a crappy situation. We had our car go out earlier this year, and the cost of repair was going to be as much, if not more, than the car was worth. If this is your situation, you might just want a new to you car.

If you have a little while longer to decide, start looking for “new” cars now so when you need to either repair or replace you have options.

I hope everything works out!

Lucie @ Unconventional Origins´s last blog post..Raising Conscious Children: Using the Ugliness of the Campaign Season to Teach Your Children Tolerance

By: Amiyrah

Amiyrah — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 18:19:36 +0000

wow, such a predicament! I just posted a story about our car trouble this week on my blog. I think, for that amount of money, and the fact that you do need 2 cars, you may just want to look around for a new-to-you car. Besides, the transmission, has this car been reliable, or have you had a few issues with it? If it's been pretty reliable, then that may be a harder choice. You take a gamble getting another car that you have never used and are not used to, but sometimes those types of risks are a lot better than getting back into debt. I guess that's what emergency funds are for. My vote, look at a few used cars and see what your options are besides building up more debt. Amiyrah´s last blog post..Do unto others.....(part III)

By: Frugal Trenches

Frugal Trenches — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:52:20 +0000

Set yourself a repair limit & look at the other parts of the car to figure out if it is going to become even more costly...I bought a good used car (honda) and make it last until it becomes a money pit, having said that it hasn't happened yet. But when it does I'd try to move on. Frugal Trenches´s last blog post..Signs you've simplified and mentally downshifted