Do I spend the money?

[sski]

I'm driving a 2000 Nissan Altima with 302,000 kms (199,000 mi) on it. All hwy, its my daily commuter.

Heres the dilemma:
It needs about $2000 worth of work (brakes, exhaust, suspension). I've done alternator, water pump and tune up. The motor is in great shape. Its worthless as trade-in. Even if the dealer offers some "minumum trade-in value" I'll pay elsewhere. When I was speaking with the sales rep we always use and he even said "I can pretend to give you $1000 on trade" He's a straight up guy which is why I deal with him. I bought the Pilot, over the phone, in 20mins from him.

Do I put the money into the Altima and get another yr or two out of it or get into another 4 yrs of car payments?

[augie]

Can't you get $2500 tax credit for donating it to a charity group or non-profit organization that needs a vehicle for daily business?

I heard something about that this weekend from a friend, but haven't looked into it yet. I have a 1997 buick skylark with 50k miles I need to get rid of and thinking of donating.

[sski]

That's not a bad deal. Unfortunately, I'm in Canada so I'm almost certain a program would not exist.

I've done some more surfing and fixing an old car is generally always cheaper than buying new. A new Civic will run me 500/month. If $2000 gets me another four months of life I break even, beyond that its gravy. The only major item I can think of to let go is the tranny. Maybe when the transmission falls out of it I'll make a different decision.

[whizmo]

Assuming it's not terminally ill, it's always cheaper to keep repairing and driving your existing car because routine repairs and maintenance are always so much cheaper than a new car's depreciation.

But at some point, most people find that an old car doesn't provide a level of reliability and safety that they need. Or their needs change and they want a different car. Or they simply want that "new car smell". When that happens is an individual preference. I've got one friend who is pushing 600K miles on his 1990 Ford Explorer that he drives everyday and is happy as a clam. Another friend gets the itch for a new car every year. So hard to answer for you in this regard.

- Mark

[rockman19762001]

I just went thorough the same problem with my 1995 Mitsubishi pickup. So I put the 2000.00 into repair and I am still driving it. It is a reliable vehicle and so far has never let me down.

If you can get 2-3 more years out of the Nissan that figures out to well under 100.00 dollars a month to drive. Remember too your insurance will go up for a long time on a new car versus the old cars insurance cost per year.

[sski]

Thanks. I think I'm going to repair and drive it. Actually, now it will be a mission to see how many miles I can get out of it.

The guy at Jiffy Lube said he see's Honda's and Acura's coming in with 600,000km on them. This is a Nissan but I gotta hope to see at least 400,000kms. Like I said, the motor's in great shape, I just have to keep fixing things around it.

[scuba steve]

nissan builds terrific motors. drive it till the wheels fall off.

[Big_D]

I went through this on my 94 Toyota Camry and I spent the money. It has gone 218k miles now and is still going. I does turn into a contest of how far you can go before you give up on it. Just try to do repairs over time and not all at once. Start with the brakes, then exhaust, then later the suspension.