[sahm629]

Hi everyone -

Currently driving a minivan with 140k miles on it, and its 10 years old.

We recently had 1500$ worth of repairs done! And then a few days later, had a flat tire, ended up getting four new tires - 400 bucks.

Plan to drive it as LONG as possible.

I was just curious how many miles have your cars lasted? And years? When do you decide the repairs outweigh the cost of a new car?

The van is paid for.......

 

[Contrary Housewife]

Our Saturn wagon has 180k+ miles on it. We were thinking it was nearing its end last year and bought an 07 Honda. THEN I put over $1500 in engine repairs and other work into it thinking "this is the LAST time" and it runs beautifully now. So it may not be the last time, as I hear these cars can get up to 300k miles on them, which means mine is just getting broken in.

I consider tires as regular maintenance, not a repair cost.

 

[Missourimom]

Well, I don't want to jinx myself, but we bought my Ford truck in 2001 and it just hit 152,000. I plan on driving it another year or two and then I'll look for another car, but a used one next time. I don't miss $500.00 a month payments!

 

[Syn D]

Our car is a "93" we got it in "99" it has like 200k and has been a great car.. No big repairs, just oil changes, breaks, tires = up keep...

It is now just a get around town car, cos' we don't wanna push it, but it still does it's job..

 

[l8eebugg]

mistake? Not!

I bought an 12 year old honda civic with 119,000 miles in it for $300.00. My ex had a fit said I just threw the money out the window. (Wanted my own car) THat little car drove me to college and around with four kids for 5 years..not one repair except tires. I should have kept it longer...sold it for the same amount I paid for it. I now have a car payment...wouldn't do that again. Wanted a higher safety rating. This is very important to me as I drive a dangerous road. As long as it is safe and reliable I plan on driving this one for quite some time.

 

[onencgirl]

I drove my 1997 Monte Carlo for 14 years. Mileage was app. 140,000. It got to where the service light stayed on and I couldn't get it inspected. Traded it in Jan for a 2003 Toyota Avalon. No problems so far. (fingers crossed).

 

[SandNOceanGirl]

We have a 1994 Ford Mustang (bought brand new in 94)and it has 155,000 miles and still runs like a dream. We have spent $1000 in the last year with engine rebuild and other repairs. Wouldn't trade it for anything!

We also have a 1994 Buick Century that we bought a year and half ago with 253,000 miles (showing on odometer~doesn't work so have no idea how many actual miles). Somebody had replaced the engine in it so it could last a lifetime since we don't drive it very often.

All the vehicles we own are paid for so we will continue to repair as long as those costs don't equal the price of a new vehicle.

 

[savvy_sniper]

I have a 92 Chevy Stepside Extended Cab pickup with 205,000+ miles. Hubby has a 93 Chevy Stepside pickup with 235,000+. Mine had a new tranny installed a year or so ago. Both have the original engines. It costs WAY LESS to maintain/repair them than to buy new ones.

 

[nuisance26]

~1990 Geo Storm, new, ran until 100,000+ miles(DH's before we were married, not sure how many). As far as I know it never had any mechanical work. It was on its last legs when he traded it in(for $1K) in 1999. So he had it 8/9 years.
The next car was a 1999 Kia Sportage, new. Worst. Car. Ever. What a lemon. It had about $5 worth of warranty covered work done on it the first 5 years and another $3K or so that we put into it. We got $3k on the trade-in in 2006(7 years). I think it had 120K miles on it then. It literally sputtered and shook as we rolled into the dealership. It was a modern jalopy.
In the meantime, DH's parent gave us their 2000 Dodge Caravan. They bought it new, used it gently and handed it over at 60,000 miles. It is still going strong at just over 100K miles and has never needed any mechanical work(11+ years).
DH traded the Kia in for a 2006 Hyundai Tiberon, new. It also has needed no mechanical work and is still functioning like new 5 years later. It has 60K miles on it and we expect to get at least another 5 years out of it(10 years total).
Really do your research on what cars are reliable before you buy. The Dodge Caravan was purchased by people who did that. The Tiberon was researched by me. DH bought the other two cars just because he liked the way they drove. Don't do that!~

 

[ilovechocolate]

My 98 Caravan has 135,000 miles on it and I intend to drive it until it can't be driven! I don't take trips in it but I do drive 40 miles roundtrip each day to work. DD's boyfriend's dad knows a lot about cars and he has done some repairs on it---new water pump, fixed a window that got stuck in the down position, oil changes, etc.

My van has a slight oil leak but it has for a few years now. The oil light comes on sometimes but DD's boyfriend's dad says its just a bad sensor and isn't anything to worry about. Electrically it goes a little crazy sometimes----the gas gauge doesn't always work right, for example, but I just keep track of how many miles I've gone and fill up accordingly.

 

[OOwl]

I drove a 1990 Mitsubishi SUV for 12 years (bought new, when I was REALLY stupid) and it had over 230,000 miles on it when it finally gave up the ghost (engine overheated, warped heads). I currently drive a 2010 Toyota SUV that I plan to drive at least as long as the other SUV, especially since I now have a short, five-mile commute to work and the kids no longer have to be driven around. I think my cars last so long because I NEVER miss an oil change.

 

[freebs]

my 86 ford ranger had almost 400,000 hard miles on it before we had a new motor put in it. We spent $3500 on the motor and have plans on it lasting a long time. our 86 astro van bit the dust last year with 300,000 miles on it. Now i am driving a 91 astro van that we bought for $50 put $3000 in a motor and now i have over 130,000 on the new motor with no signs of stopping. My dh truck i dont know how many miles it has on it, it is an 87 and he bought it used 2 years ago. we havent done any work on it at all.

 

[imagine]

We have a 2001 four door 4X4 Ford truck. We bought it used in 2001.

So it is a bit over 10 years old and we have had it a 3 months short of 10 years.

Not sure what the mileage is

We have had to replace the front axel.

 

[krbshappy71]

At the risk of jinxing as well, my car is 1993 Honda Accord and over 200k. In the past school year I had to replace all things overheating-related costing about 1k. I couldn't buy a decent car for 1k so for me its worth it.

The car has duct tape. It has dents, scratches, but is road-safe and functional. It is not loud, smokey, and does not backfire. Its a little rattly but I was told that's just due to its age. It doesn't have AC, the speakers do not work despite troubleshooting from friends (I am not going to pay to have that fixed) and one of the back windows wont go back up if you roll it too far down without fighting and fighting with it for a long time with 2 people. None of these are critical to me. AC would be nice.

At this time I do not have enough money saved for a newer car so its fix this or go without. I'm not willing to go without.

I'll put money into this car until the mechanics advise strongly against it. Hopefully by then my credit card debt is gone and my EF is padded up higher. If not, its a car payment again, I'm sorry to say.

 

[Nishu]

I have a 2002 Chrysler Town and Country with about 90K miles on it. When we got down here I busted out the sideview mirror backing out of a parking garage. :loser: We were planning on not using it anway so we just put it under our car port and took the insurance off of it so it's not getting driven. I do this a lot, especially when the man deploys. It saves a lot. Our payments on my van our 144.90. I bought it used in 2008.

We also have a 2005 Toyota Corolla with about the same amount of miles on it. It's paid for, but we bought it new in 2004 and had a 383 car payment with it. I was glad to see that sucker go. It was a total lemon when we first got it but after the first year it started to behave better.

 

[Neeley]

I am kind of funny about driving a car once it has reached 100K miles or so. I have no problems with routine maintenance, new tires, etc...But once the major repairs kick in, I lose confidence in the vehicle and prefer to just get another.

We have a 2001 Durango with 101K miles, bought brand new, has seen better days and time for it to hit the bricks. We are replacing it next month. DS turns 16 and we are getting him either a Camero, Mustang or Charger. We are all leaning towards the Charger.

DD has a 99 Civic with 111K miles. Her grandparents gave to her two years ago for her 16th birthday. They had owned it since it was brand new. She leaves next month, moving 100 miles away to college. She won't need her car there and will just leave it here at home. It won't really be driven while she is gone. As long as it is still going, we won't replace it until she graduates college, at which point we will get her a new one for her graduation gift.

We also have a 99 Malibu with 99K miles on it. Bought it 2001 with 65K miles on it. We never drive it. In the past six months we have only put $10 worth of gas in it and driven it less than 20 miles. But, once DH trades in the Durango for DS's new car, DH will start driving the Malibu for a while.

Over the past few years we have bought a couple of "just for fun" cars. In 2003 DH bought me a BMW 535i for Christmas. Loved that car, it was my toy. DH totaled it 6 months after I got it (not DH's fault). In 2004 we bought a Jeep Wrangler, hard top. It was DH's toy. Kept it about a year, had a wreck (again, not our fault), got it fixed and sold it.

BTW - haven't had a car payment in years and even when we buy DS's car next month we won't have one then either.

 

[Frugal Sooner]

We recently sold our 93' Honda Accord with 290K miles. My son had been driving it, but needed a pickup for his job. I was sad to see it go.

Normally 10 years is our standard before replacing cars, but sometimes longer.

Our current vehicles are 05' Ford Taurus w/ 98K & 07' Toyota Sequoia w/ 30K, so we've still got several good years left with them.

However, I've got a 15 yr old son that will be getting his license soon, so will be looking for another used car soon. Yikes!!

 

[Luckybustert]

We have a '99, an '03 and an '08. The '99 has required a LOT of repairs lately. We were hoping to keep it for another 4 or 5 years, but may have to reconsider that idea.

 

[MaryCarney]

Had a 78 (seventy-eight, no typo) Cadillac Deville that we drove until it was old enough to vote! Our mechanic then bought it from us for twice what we paid for it ($200 ) and turned it into a demolition derby car. That thing was a TANK! BUT it had six seatbelts (bench seat in the front) and the insurance was $19 a month. I LOVED that car and hated to see it go.

 

[cashcow]

I would love to thank all of those auto workers who assembled my 1992 Saturn. I absolutely love my car! It has 183,000 miles and still looks brand new. All three of my kids learned to drive with this car, so it's really part of the family. Plus it's a great snow car, leaving all of those over sized pickups and SUVs spinning their wheels in the slush and ice here in the freezing Pacific Northwest. I will keep driving my Sylvia Saturn until she decides to retire.:lol3: