Author Topic: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?  (Read 5231 times)

SOS

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How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« on: February 18, 2018, 06:34:49 PM »
Hello!

I have an 2001 F-150 with 240,000 miles.
Do Mustachians drive their cars until the doors fall off or trade up every 4, 6, 8 years? Whenever I'm pulling into the parking lot at work and see all the newer cars/trucks/suv's it makes me wonder if its time.

How long have you owned your car....what do you think?

SOS

M2 pilot

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #1 on: February 18, 2018, 07:04:42 PM »
I drove a '75 BMW for 14 years, 240K.  It was still a good car when I sold it.
I have a '96 Dodge truck with 119K on it. It's been OK except for abysmal gas mileage. I don't drive it much except for trucky duties.
I have a '98 BMW M3 with 108K. It's almost good as new & I doubt that I'll ever sell it.

These aren't very mustachian  vehicles but if you own a car long enough, it becomes mustachian.

Mongoose

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #2 on: February 18, 2018, 07:20:58 PM »
Yep. Or until the frame/body rusts out so it is unsafe...or I can find after market parts anymore.

Exflyboy

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #3 on: February 18, 2018, 08:23:27 PM »
Drive it forever, yes..

Caveats:

1) You can't fix it yourself, then eventually maintenance costs will be so high/frequent then it becomes a very expensive proposition.

2) You absolutely can't afford unreliability.. Like you need the car for work, you'll get fired if it breaks down again and its going to real soon.. This is also tied in with 1) above.

3) You are completely FI and you're fed up with the POS held together with ductape, and its less safe now due to lack of ABS and less airbags etc. This comes in the form of, 'you have so much money what the heck are you going to spend it on.. But your STILL driving the POS..:)

Rosy

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #4 on: February 18, 2018, 08:46:00 PM »
^^^This^^^

I replaced my '98 Ford Escort last year, when the repair/maintenance bill was higher than I was willing to pay. Brakes and a whole mess of other stuff, over $1K. I was lucky to have a good repair shop with reasonable prices who would source used parts too.
But it started feeling unsafe and I certainly wasn't willing to drive a vehicle with brakes about to go.

Found a sweet buy, 2014 Buick Verano with 16K miles and all the bells and whistles. I think by next month I may hit 20,000 miles.

Cranky

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2018, 05:39:46 AM »
After many years of driving beaters until they literally fell apart, we are now at the point where we hand down cars to our kids, who get to drive them until they fall apart. LOL

A few years ago we finally retired the Caravan that youngest dd was driving - it was held together with duct tape and salvage parts. (Upside - it was instantly recognizable, so I always knew where the teenagers were.) So one set of kids inherited the Yaris, which now has 250,000 miles on it, and dd got the Kia which was a few years old, and we bought a Subaru, which is now 4 years old. I'm hoping that this will be our *last* car until we're too old to drive anymore.

I'm a red panda

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2018, 06:36:44 AM »
My first car was a hand me down, and I replaced it when a woman fell asleep and ran off the road into it and totaled it.  (Thankfully, it was parked and so I wasn't in it!)

The one after that, I started looking for a new car when it was 10 years old and replaced it when it was 14 years old.
My current car is now 5, and I plan to start looking for a replacement at 10.

chasesfish

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2018, 06:50:04 AM »
I work in a professional job and have to go visit clients...that being said I have only owned two cars in a 15 year career.

I sold car #1 when I had to add a quart of oil at every fill up.  Having to wear a white dress shirt + suit and pop the car hood / fill it up became too annoying for me.  143,000 miles with some other problems plus it was a bit small relative to how much I drove

Car #2 - 2007, still own, 196,000 miles.  Giving it a good waxing twice a year keeps up the appearance. 

marielle

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2018, 07:19:18 AM »
I'll keep mine until the engine or transmission gives out--likely the transmission though. I'm tempted to just keep repairing it no matter what (other than rust or frame issues), but I'm really itching to get a manual car. I have 163k miles and I'll be pretty satisfied if it goes to 200k. The transmissions aren't known to be reliable so I'm not holding my breath. The plan for my next car is to get something I really like and just keep repairing it, including engine swap.

TartanTallulah

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #9 on: February 19, 2018, 08:06:44 AM »
Pretty much that! I had a couple of beaters to begin with, but since 1994 I've bought my cars new and driven them until they were either written off or fell apart. My husband is the same. At the moment we do both need to have a car for work; we're sharing at the moment because I've just bought my third new car since 1994 and am waiting for it to be ready to collect, and it's a total pain in the butt. I expect this car to last well into my retirement; having given the matter a great deal of consideration, I've decided that I want the luxury of a car of my own even after I stop work.

wenchsenior

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #10 on: February 19, 2018, 08:08:10 AM »
Our history when we were broke and buying beaters was that we would replace when the engine or transmission gave out, or when repeated small repairs ran us equivalent to collision insurance.  Historically, that meant replacing every 5-7 years, and we ended up having 5 cars over about 15 years between the two of us.  Only 1 of those was really reliable for a long stretch, and 2 were non stop POS sources of anxiety and misery.

So once we got money, we said screw it and began buying new cars.  Hardcore mustachians will object, but this turned out to be a far better decision for us psychologically...much greater reliability and almost no repair bills.  No more stress! And our turnover rate is dramatically lower: we have had to purchase only 2 cars in past 17 years.

We plan to ditch the 17 year old car in a few more years, cycle our current 'new' car (8 years old) to that slot, and buy 1 new car.

ketchup

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #11 on: February 19, 2018, 08:51:32 AM »
Another vote for engine/transmission failure (feels odd to phrase it that way).  Last three cars all had engines fail, and at 182k, 200k, and 262k (at 17, 24, and 7 years old respectively).

Bird In Hand

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #12 on: February 19, 2018, 09:59:07 AM »
Many folks would have ditched the car at that point because the KBB private party value was only about $2,500.  But when you consider the significantly less expensive insurance over the next 3 years, and the opportunity cost of, say, not having an extra 10K invested over the next 3 years, the decision doesn't seem quite as ridiculous.

We have a high-mileage '04 econobox compact sedan.  It costs about 30% more to insure than our '12 minivan, despite being worth about 1/10 what the minivan is worth.  Presumably it's more expensive to insure because it has fewer safety features, and the expected medical bills would be higher for occupants injured in an econobox crash vs a minivan crash.

Lanthiriel

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #13 on: February 19, 2018, 10:10:18 AM »
I just spent $500 replacing basically every fluid in my 2005 Ford Escape and it was painful paying 1/8 of what the car was worth on maintenance. I'm pretty over this car after driving around my husband's 2013 Prius for a while and enjoying epic gas mileage and a lack of rattling at even the lowest speeds. But this car has been paid off forever, I only have a 3 mile commute, and I don't feel bad further trashing it by throwing dirty dogs in the back of it. It only has 110k miles on it, so my plan is to drive it until either the engine or transmission gives up the ghost.

Slow&Steady

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #14 on: February 19, 2018, 01:06:43 PM »
We have 3 vehicles (4 if you count the farm truck but I don't).

DH drives an 06 Toyota Prius for work (backseat is always down and there are lots of tools/equipment/ladder in there) that I bought brand new and now has 300k miles on it.  We chose to replace the hybrid battery ($1600) in it last year vs loosing the car that is in otherwise awesome condition.  We recently took it in to have an overall look at it so that we could keep it running, the only thing they recommended that we repair/replace were tire pressure sensors.  We have religiously changed the oil and completed other recommended maintenance on this car and I would be comfortable driving it on a cross-country road trip if I needed to.  My goal was always to hit 300k miles with this car, I now wonder if we can keep her around until 500k.

I drive a 17 Nissan Leaf that we bought in Dec 16 when our local energy company was doing a promo with Nissan ($10k of MSRP) on top of the Federal Tax Credit ($7500).  I hope to hit at least the 10 year/300k miles (I average 30k miles/year) mark with this car, similar to the Prius, but I am not sure if a full electric vehicle can be expected to make it that long, we will see.  I think it would make a great car for my now 4 year old to drive when she turns 16.

DH drives a 15 Dodge Caravan as a kid hauler (we are expecting our 2nd biological, 4th total in the next month).  This was not purchased new but it will probably also be drive for 10+ years.

The farm truck is 20ish years old and only used to haul hay and fencing/building materials.

I have actually started to wonder what we will do with the vehicles when they are no longer functioning.  How does one actually "dispose" of a non-functioning vehicle?  I am guessing I can tow it/them to the salvage yard or donate it, will they take cars that are 15-20 years old? 

AMandM

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #15 on: February 19, 2018, 01:32:07 PM »
I have actually started to wonder what we will do with the vehicles when they are no longer functioning.  How does one actually "dispose" of a non-functioning vehicle?  I am guessing I can tow it/them to the salvage yard or donate it, will they take cars that are 15-20 years old?

Around here, a junk yard will usually pay a couple hundred buck and tow the vehicle for you. Some charities also pick up nonfunctioning cars if you donate the vehicle to them; then they sell it for salvage.

boarder42

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #16 on: February 19, 2018, 01:38:27 PM »
dunno why you own a truck - that vehicle isnt worth driving til the doors fall off - i owned the same truck when i started reading here

now i own a hybrid that i got for a song from a company fleet sale that i will drive til the doors fall off - b/c it makes financial sense. 

SunnyDays

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #17 on: February 19, 2018, 02:04:39 PM »
I'm 57 years old and have only owned 2 cars in my life.  I bought my first at age 25, a new 1986 Toyota Corolla, that must have been built on a Friday afternoon, because it had stalling issues whenever the weather was damp (thankfully not that often where I live).  I kept it for 16 years and only sold it, well traded it in, because it was getting rusty and with the amount of highway driving I did, I didn't feel safe anymore.  It only had about 135K kilometers on it, but the body was going.  The next one, and the one I still have, is a new at the time 2003 Toyota Matrix, which also currently has about 135K kilometers on it, but the body is still pretty good, so will keep it until it falls apart.  Since I'm now retired, that will likely be a long time.  The trick to longevity of vehicles is to do regular maintenance and keep it washed, especially the undercarriage if your roads get salted.  When I traded in my first car, the dealership person was very impressed by how "clean" it was.  It sold in a matter of days, though I was pretty cranky about the fact that they could sell it without doing all the rust repairs that I would have had to do in order to get it safetied so I could sell it privately.  But that's another issue.  I never cared how fancy (or not) other people's vehicles were, because I knew what was right for me.

couponvan

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #18 on: February 19, 2018, 02:28:45 PM »
We keep them until they cannot drive any longer. I just had this conversation with my chiropractor this morning because he replaced his older Toyota Camry with a Honda Pilot because he didn't want to spend $600 to fix his "check engine" light on an older car that probably wasn't worth fixing any more and wouldn't pass the emissions test. So he bought a brand new Pilot. Which he will be paying $600/month for the next 6 YEARS on payments - because he didn't want to spend $600 one time.  We fix things on our cars that help it drive. We don't fix things that don't help it drive.

2005 Honda Minivan purchased new upon 3rd child. The sliding power doors now won't fall off because they literally will not open in the back. Now it is DS 17 car to drive back and forth to school, but it keeps him from having passengers greater than 1. (Or they climb through the front or back lift hatch.)  Yeah it kind of sucks not to be able to open all the doors, but hey....at least one of the doors opens. Until it's none of the doors opens I guess he'll still be driving it.

2008 Audi - bought used for $20K in 2012 (when he totaled his 2005 BMW that was someone else's fault and he got a $10K settlement for pain and suffering and $10K for the BMW).  This is DH's "fancy" car.  He drives 100 miles round trip to work - facepunch worthy commute. I know. He will be getting a new car someday....He's on the list for a Tesla Model 3....I'm not holding my breath for them to actually deliver said car, but until then DH keeps driving the Audi and hasn't asked for another car.

2012 Honda Pilot - Purchased  used in 2014 mere months before we found MMM by DH and he tried to trade in my minivan baby - which I wouldn't let him have. When we discovered MMM, I probably should have sold it. It has 73K miles.  It has a couple dents. I will likely stop using it (for my 50 mile RT commute 1-2 days per week) if we can convince DH's aunt to sell us her 2013 Toyota Camry that has about 2,500 miles on it....her husband died last March and she has not driven it since then.  We were going to give it a good year before we approached her about the car being unnecessary in her life. She takes Uber/cabs the few places she needs to go and doesn't know how to drive. She lives in an urban area.

Our 3 kids will take the other cars off our hands over time and we'll keep the Camry and Tesla for as long as they last.


SOS

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #19 on: February 19, 2018, 02:42:15 PM »
Thanks for all the advice from all of you! I'm really glad I found this site!
I plan on keeping it for a while, just wish it got better gas mileage. 

boarder42

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #20 on: February 19, 2018, 02:47:17 PM »
Thanks for all the advice from all of you! I'm really glad I found this site!
I plan on keeping it for a while, just wish it got better gas mileage.

this car is costing more than selling and getting something with better gas mileage. keeping for a while just decreases your savings rate.

Stachetastic

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #21 on: February 19, 2018, 04:58:36 PM »
I drive a 2004 Corolla I bought new. It now has 262k miles, and is still going. DH is ready to throw in the towel, but I’m not sure whatn8 would replace it with. He just replaced a 2007 civic and a 2001 Chevy 2500HD with a 2006 Silverado 1500. We like to drive things until they no longer feel reliable. I drive all over my state for my job, so reliability is important. My Corolla has never left me stranded.

However, I do worry about safety, especially now that we have kids. I posted about this a couple of years ago, and there were pages of debate about the subject, so clearly I am not the only one who struggles with this issue.

JLee

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #22 on: February 19, 2018, 05:27:47 PM »
I usually drive something until I'm bored with it.

I've had my MR2 for nearly 10 years, though my normal time is 2-3 years (then I'll sell, often for more than I paid, and buy something else interesting).

chasesfish

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #23 on: February 20, 2018, 05:33:35 AM »
Interesting thought on "reliability" and "being left stranded".   10 and 15 years ago, this used to be a real concern for me.  I drove all over the state, ect.  I've since moved to a bigger city and my Honda has once had an issue that was bad enough for me to say "yeah, I need to pull over".  I just pulled the car into a parking lot, locked it, called an Uber, and made my appointment.  Made arrangements, towed it in and had it fixed, used Uber/Lyft for two days and was fine.

No hassle with rental car, not the same level of stress anymore.  Technology is awesome

libertarian4321

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #24 on: February 20, 2018, 05:56:54 AM »
I drive mine as long until they become a maintenance/repair nightmare.  That varies a lot from vehicle to vehicle.

My wife doesn't keep her cars as long.

NoraLenderbee

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Re: How long do you keep your car/truck....until the doors fall off?
« Reply #25 on: February 20, 2018, 02:20:00 PM »
Bought my last car new in 1996. Kept it 20.5 years, 186,000 miles or so. It still ran and was my daily driver, but it was showing early symptoms of transmission trouble--a known issue with this model as it aged--so I figured I'd gotten my money's worth. I replaced it with a brand new hybrid, which I hope to keep for at least 10 years. By then, i hope, all-electric vehicles will be more practical and widespread.

 

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