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Put new engines, water pumps, etc. in that old car. It saves 1000s a year without that new car payment.
By Anne from Fernley, NV
Well if the repairs are not budget busting it better to make the repairs but for larger repairs more it is cost effective to trade for another car. It does not have to be a new car. I bought my last new car in 1997. I drove it 250,000 miles. I always kept it in top shape but at that mileage everything seemed to go at once. It just wore out and would be very expensive to repair so with the money I would have spent on repairs to the old car I bought a program car a couple of years old with 20,000 miles for a lot less than a new car.
I am a female, through and through, old fashioned, not old, old enough to know better, so I know very little about cars. I have a "new" transmission in my 2000 Chevy Malibu when it was the motor mount that was doing something--and didn't need replacing!! After that, I'm scared to DEATH of any mechanic. I finally said, Hey, I'm going to buy a better car.
Well, I drive a 2004 Toyota Camry with 194,000 miles on it. I thought it would be unsafe. However, when I looked on Carmax, I found cars in my price range, 10-11K, but not Toyotas with mileage lower than 100M. One car had 35M on it! I bought my car at 131M on it for 6000. I'm not going to argue with Carmax that Toyotas are a great deal. I've been told they can go 300M. Well, I'd rather deal with it when it actually dies and not worry that it's making a horrible noise for an awful reason. By the way, the AC is broken. It makes a noise. 680$ or I can live with the noise. Crank the radio, guys. Gotta have LL Cool J loud anyway.
