When to selll your car

[KYG]

I have a friend who sells his new car every 2 or 3 years as he get bored of them or he leases the car and returns and leases a new one. I usually buy and get rid of my car when the mileage gets around 180,000 kms. and I get good use out of it and get a bit of money back. And I know others who drive it till it dies and the kms. could be 300,000 or 400,000 kms. or have it for 12 years!!! But I'm sure there must be some fair size repair bills in between.

What is the best value?

 

[agentwhite]

Trade it into the dealership when they have deals and when you ready to lay down some bucks for a new ride. When you factor in the time and hassles that it takes to sell it privately it usually isn't worth it JMHO. Or you can always donate the car to a local high school that has an automotive shop program so local teenagers can work on it to gain experience. It can benefit you by one day having one of those teens fixing your car when you bring it into a shop. There's value everywhere, it just depends on how you look at it

 

[poorboyv6]

If you own a business and can write off expenses, leasing may be the best option for financing a car, but for the average person, buying is the best.

Almost all cars are very dependable compared to the old days, and you should be able to get ten years out of any car these days, especially in the Vancouver area where it just rains in the winter and they rarely dump any salt on the roads.

The car I drive now is 10 years old and has 170,000 kms on it. I intend to drive it until it hits 15 years or 250,000 kms unless a major repair such as a collision, transmission rebuild or major motor work is needed.

The car doesn't need them, but say if it needed tires or brake work, I would get it done because those are normal routine replacement items.

 

[JimDandy]

I think it depends on how expensive parts are for your vehicle and how lucky you feel. I kept my 91 Integra far too long. I should have sold at 180K like the initial poster suggested. After the 200K mark I started to have to put money into the vehicle. With each repair I felt compelled to keep the vheicle a bit longer to justify the money spent making the last repair. It ended up being a never ending sink hole for my money and I finally came to that realization and sold the vehicle with 300K on it, and got very little money for it. I could have sold it for at least twice as much at 180K and saved a lot of money on repairs!

JD