Decision time!

[llcoolvad]

Mostly thinking aloud here. I think it's getting to be that time; the time when I have to decide if throwing more money at my car is a good idea, or if getting a new(er) car is the better idea. My car (1996 Honda Civic hatchback) is 12 years old, and I've had it for 11 of those years. It's been pretty reliable. Has 131,000 miles. Is comfy, has a lot of pickup and zip, no body problems or rust, and I like the manual transmission especially in the snow.

Current problems: Exhaust has small hole. Water leak in back hatch area somewhere, causing spare tire well to slosh around with water, which also makes it very hard to get interior humidity under control leading to constantly fogging windows. Irritating electrical problem somewhere, causing battery drain if car not driven Every Single Day. Another damned heat shield about to fall off (this one in front wheel well, held up with duct tape currently). Estimates to repair: $600 for exhaust, $150 for shield, god only knows for the rest (since first they'll have to FIND the problems).

These are not new issues. I've been driving the car like this for years (ok, the most recent shield is fairly new, but meh). The exhaust hole doesn't make any noise and I still pass inspection, so I've been ignoring it. The electrical problem is mainly an issue on freezing wet days like yesterday — today I almost didn't get the car started at all and it was only sitting there for a little more than 36 hours. But overall, not that many problems. Nothing major and engine-y.

My thinking is that I could probably get it all fixed for under $2k. If I try to buy a used car, judging from the listings I've checked out on cars.com and vehix.com, a 3 year old car is going to cost me between $8k-$10k. And it will potentially have problems I don't know about. I don't want to buy older than 3 years.

It's not the expense. I live with Mom; I could afford a brand new Lexus or BMW or whatever if I wanted to make payments. But I am a firm believer that 1. brand new cars are a huge waste of money, 2. luxury cars are even more of a huge waste of money, and 3. car payments suck. So I have finally decided that I want to buy used when I buy, and I'd like to pay for it outright. I have $5k sitting in savings, and I haven't done my taxes yet, so I can probably come up with another thousand or so after I do. Then there's Bush's $%#^@& "rebate," another $600. I have another few hundred in my other savings, so altogether I could easily have $7k available. That's almost a good used car right there, especially if they give me something for my trade-in.

Hmm — that's ALL of my savings. Doesn't leave me any wiggle room in case of some kind of emergency. I have credit cards for emergencies, but since they all newly have zero balances I'm pretty keen on leaving them that way. If I spend the $2k now, and leave the rest in savings to make some interest, and combine what's left with what I get next year for taxes and bonus, maybe then I could get a car and still have some left over?

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Ha! Just discussing this with exceptionally thrifty coworker. Suggestions from same: 1. pull out plug in bottom of spare tire well. Water comes in, water goes out. (Will explore right now!) 2. more duct tape on the heat shield. 3. Go out and start car every day. 4. Ignore exhaust until either woozy from carbon monoxide or fail inspection, whichever comes first. He's funny.

But maybe there's a happy medium? Sigh.

Comments

[p-j-cleary.livejournal.com]

I'd say keep the car until it dies totally dead, and hopefully by that time, used hybrids will be on the market in the price range you can afford to buy outright (plus, you'll have more money to buy something outright).

Though if you're planning on buying a house in the next couple of years, then that savings should go towards a down payment, rather than a new car. However, a car is essential to your livelihood, so I'd say keep what you have, and then you can get something you've wanted for a really long time, at a price that won't break you.

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

But do I fix some of the problems in the meantime? There's the rub. The spare tire well is totally full of water, the tire rim is all rusty, and there's some mildew all around. And the electrical problem is making me crazy!! I don't care about the exhaust. I might get the inspection done early so I can see if it will pass. Then if it does, I could spend the $ on the electrical. And the leak.

Sigh!

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

It sounds like some of these have been irritating you for a while. If they were all fixed, how well would you like your car?

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

I would like it fine! If I commit to staying with it a little longer and fix some stuff I might put in a new stereo, then I'd be ideally happy. I should probably just fix it, right?

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm biased. I have a 1991 Honda Civic Hatchback, so yours seems new to me; I think you've got at least eight more good years in it. And I bet they don't have those stupid automatic shoulder belts anymore by 1996, although you might still need both hands to lock the driver's door. So if you could make a few somewhat but not exhorbitantly expensive repairs to it, it might not be irritating at all anymore. All of that plus a new stereo to make you ideally happy? Sounds like a good deal to me!

(And keep the old stereo so you can switch it back when you sell or if the new stereo doesn't work out for some reason.)

Also, it's good for the environment to keep re-using your old car. Also, I bet it's cheaper to repair than the newfangled hybrids will be. And the mileage probably isn't even that much worse.

Also, I'm generally opposed to using all your savings if you don't have to. And I like to have my savings split up in my head (by which I mean in a spreadsheet) as to how much is for emergencies, how much is for the next car, etc. Which doesn't mean I never borrow from one category to pay for another category, but it makes it easier to tell myself that I can afford certain things once I have enough in the appropriate category.

[llcoolvad.livejournal.com]

Ok, you win!

I think I've been leaning this way anyway. I hate shopping. Shopping for something as big as a car is practically paralyzing. I like my car fine. And you're right, no auto seat belt thingie.

And I *hate* the idea of spending all my savings. Now that I HAVE savings. But shiny newish car...

Oh foo. I still haven't made up my mind!

[livingdeb.livejournal.com]

No, but you said I win!

Hmm, shiny. Can you wax your car? Or pay someone to? Like maybe that special unemployed friend? Especially if there's a (warm) garage around somewhere he can use during the day?

[rolandgsl.livejournal.com]

Ditch shiny. Every car is used as soon as it's off the lot. Some of them are just a little more "well-loved" than others.

The biggest reason that people get rid of their cars is they let too many little things go and they become irritating. The things is, even though these little repairs can add up, they're still less than the cost of a new vehicle. Remember the three R's of recycling: Reduce, Re-use, recycle. Recycling is a last resort for when you can't reduce the consumption (of new cars) or re-use the car you have.

Even if you drill a drain in the spare tirewell, it could still plug when it freezes, but that's better than nothing, and it will hopefully keep the water level down a little. It might be worth looking around inside while some else plays a hose over it on a warm day to see where the water is coming in, and look for rust holes or loose or torn weatherstripping around that area (or any area higher up than that). I'd look particularly at the hatch seal near the top, as a first guess.

The exhaust hole should be an easy fix. Look for "muffler bandage" at an auto parts store if you know where the leak is. A shop (any shop) will replace parts rather than patch what you have, just their nature. Look in any exhaust shop's bin and you will see a startlingly large number of perfectly good parts. Sometimes all you need is a piece of tin can and a hose clamp.

Electrical issues are much more irritating, and they can be hard to track down and fix, to boot. In the mean time, do you have somewhere you could plug in the car where it is normally parked? Something like this might help:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=42292
If you can't get a cord to it, then maybe this:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44768

As for the heat shield, if the tape isn't holding it, consider using either wire coathanger or zip ties, depending on what you have to attach to, and how hot things get. You might even have to drill a couple of holes in it or in a piece next to it to make it work, but if it keeps things from rattling and rubbing...

Of course, doing all these little bits yourself takes time, something we don't always have. My best suggestion would be to tackle the most annoying things first (not necessarily the biggest), and see how much that reduces your stress level and go from there.