How Often Do People Trade In Their Cars For a Newer Model?

[FinanceDude]

reliability rating for my 3-series:

http://autos.msn.com/research/vip/Reliability.aspx?year=2004&make=BMW&model=3-Series&trimid=-1

Now if you are talking 7-series, well that is a different beast.

- John

The 3 series are fine. I good friend of mine bought the 745i when it came out. It had the pushbutton start and all sorts of gizmos. The 1st year, it was in the shop for FOUR MONTHS. BMW ended up giving him a year newer one with the same lease terms, so he made out ok............

I think Mercedes is lesser quality than BMW. I would take a Lexus or Acura ANY DAY over any other import. I am NOT a fan of Infiniti............

 

[Texas Proud]

I don't know? In my family we have had a long line of MBs and BMWs without any major technical issues.

I compare to the consumers reports... after 3 or 4 years they start going bad quickly... I know of a guy who only buys MBs and BMWs (almost forgot Audis).. and he only has them when under warranty...

As for the thrill of driving... I will give you that... I had a Formula 350 for many years... it was a blast to drive even thought it would have one major repair every two years.. and a few minor ones in between...

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

The german cars had great reliability records until about 4-5 years ago. Then they all cut their QA programs feeling that the quality was "baked in" to the people and processes they had developed.

Since their collective reliability records now sit in a lump at the very bottom of the reliability ratings charts, I guess that wasnt the case.

As far as lots of mileage per year...in one job my sales territory was all of new england, upstate new york, and canada. I flew to buffalo and everywhere in canada, but drove everywhere else. 40-50k a year was pretty standard.

 

[FinanceDude]

The german cars had great reliability records until about 4-5 years ago. Then they all cut their QA programs feeling that the quality was "baked in" to the people and processes they had developed.

Kind of like "burn-in" on a 2-3 year old plasma screen tv?

40-50k a year was pretty standard.

How much did you have to pay the limo driver??

 

[panhead]

My regular commuter cars are driven right into the ground. Problem is, in Massachusetts I'm in the middle of the rust belt so it's usually rust that makes me get rid of em'. I had an 87 Toyota xtracab 4x4 that made almost 200k miles in 13 years, but I had to weld the frame on it twice it rusted so bad, never mind the bed....

So for my take on how long I keep a car, it completely depends on when the frame (or unibody) gets so bad that it will likely fall in half....lol...I couldn't care less about age or mileage. If it wasn't for the rust thru that we have here in Mass, I'd probably still have my first car. Fixing them is my hobby anyway....

 

[rw86347]

DH and I are having a discussion about LBYM - he thinks we may scrimp too much....I think we still fritter away more than we should. Just casual discussion. Anyway, somehow we started talking about how often people trade in their cars for a newer model. He thinks the average is three years. What do you think?

I get a new car when the wheels fall off, smoke comes out, the engine pops out and begs for mercy.

The rest of the wold could drive happily on our (America) leftovers.

 

[kaudrey]

My first car was a hand-me-down from my grandmother. Between two of us, we had it for 11 years.

I had my second car (bought new) for 8 years. It was cheap and falling apart by then.

I had my 3rd car (bought new) for 3 years before it was totalled in an accident.

I've had my current car for 3 years (used, so it is 6 years old), and I plan to keep it for quite a while.

I think how long you keep your cars partly depends on your LBYM philosophy. My parents have kept most of their cars for 10 years or more.

Karen

 

[SecondCor521]

Still driving the 1995 Toyota Corolla I bought new on February 14, 1995. 118K miles. Still runs almost like new. Put on miles at a rate of 6k per year now. No plans to replace any time soon. Will drive until the repairs get outrageously expensive or parts are no longer available, which I expect to be another 8-10 years.

When I do replace it I plan on getting a 2 year old Toyota, Honda, or Lexus.

2Cor521

 

[Running_Man]

DH and I are having a discussion about LBYM - he thinks we may scrimp too much....I think we still fritter away more than we should. Just casual discussion. Anyway, somehow we started talking about how often people trade in their cars for a newer model. He thinks the average is three years. What do you think?

I bought a $4KFord Grenada in 1977 new - Died 1981 Car Crash
Purchased $6K Plymouth Turismo 1981 new - Died 1986 100,000 miles very poor car
Purchased $7.5K Ford tempo 1986 new - Died 1994 105,000 miles engine quit
Purchased '$4K 93 Ford Festiva 1994 Used 25K miles Died 2003 210,000 miles
Purchased $18K Honda Accord 2003 new - going strong 65,000 miles

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Ah yes...the Ford Grenade....

 

[SteveR]

My average (excluding ex-wife) years owning a car is about 9.

Current car is 7 and has only 69,000 on it. It is our "toad" and should last several more years. Other than a few door dings it looks brand new.

DW's car is new. We gave her 7 year old car to a family member.

My late wife's car was 8 years old when I gave it to my son when his car finally died (14 years old...car not my son).

The truck is the wildcard. We bought it for the cabin and all the toys. I am going to get some of the rock dents removed and will be selling it in the fall. It is 4X4 and that is when they sell the best around here. It is 4 years old but has less than 10,000 miles on it. Salsa Red Tundra Ltd....nice truck but I don't need it and I want the garage bay back.

The Motorhome was used and we plan on keeping it for a while.

 

[Texas Proud]

Current car is 7 and has only 69,000 on it. It is our "toad" and should last several more years. Other than a few door dings it looks brand new.

Just a curiousity question... when you are towing... does the 'toad' rack up miles I would think that it would....

 

[cho oyu]

Just a curiousity question... when you are towing... does the 'toad' rack up miles I would think that it would....

That depends.

On mechanical odometers mileage would accrue unless a disconnect is installed.

On newer fully electronic odometers, most (all?) do not record mileage unless the ignition is in the 'on' position.

 

[Tom52]

We need two vehicles, in the past we purchased new vehicles when they became about 6 years old. The two we own now are about 2 years and 4 years old. We will likely keep both of these longer than 6 years so long as we don't have problems. We don't want to own unreliable vehicles.

 

[Texas Proud]

That depends.

On mechanical odometers mileage would accrue unless a disconnect is installed.

On newer fully electronic odometers, most (all?) do not record mileage unless the ignition is in the 'on' position.

SOOOO.. you tires and other suspension parts might wear out with 'few' miles on them if you are towing a long way Interesting...

And, you can say "it is a low mileage car"... when you sell and not be lying...

 

[SteveR]

Just a curiousity question... when you are towing... does the 'toad' rack up miles I would think that it would....

No, the toad does not show added miles on the odometer. Some cars do...some don't.

 

[SteveR]

SOOOO.. you tires and other suspension parts might wear out with 'few' miles on them if you are towing a long way Interesting...

And, you can say "it is a low mileage car"... when you sell and not be lying...

You can usually tell if a car has been modified to tow it. There are a number of items required and these can usually be easily seen during an inspection of the car. It would be pretty rare to not have some sign that the car was towed; but not impossible. It all depends on the car and what has to be done to it to be able to tow it.

Tow bracket--usually bolts to the frame and many cars require additonal holes be drilled to attach the bracket.

Transmission pump or disconnect-some cars can't be towed with all four tires on the road without disconnecting the transmisison from the driveshaft or by adding a transmision fluid pump; both are very easy to detect. But, many older cars with automatic transmissions can be easily towed without added hardware. Most any 4X4 can be towed without modification (exceptions apply).

Lights-most cars have the car wiring tied into or have extra bulbs installed so the motorhome lights are translated into the car rear lights for brakes, turns and running lights. There is usually a plug on or near the front grill to connect the car to the motorhome electrical system. However, one can use magnetic mounted rear lights which do not require any modification to the car wiring system.

Auxilary braking systems-these can be pretty extensive to totally invisible when not in use.

The short answer is most towed vehicles will have something that will indicate it was set up for towing but there are a few that won't. Buyer beware. If a car has fewer miles on the odometer than it looks like it should...check further.

 

[YVR-Terri]

My first car was my mom's old 1981 Plymouth K car which was given to me and my sister to commute to university in 1995. Drove it for three months, then it broke down, and my family decided that it was not reliable enough for us.

My second car was a 1995 Chevy Cavalier, bought new by a family member to replace the K car. My sister still drives that car today and is starting to think that she may need to trade it in sometime in the next 3 or 4 years. But for now it still runs fine.

My third car (first one I actually owned myself) was a 1995 Neon, bought used from a boyfriend in 1999. I drove it until 2003, then gave it back to the same boyfriend when he needed a car to get to a new job (it had some mechanical problems and was starting to be a problem for me). He continued to drive it until it was stolen and crashed last fall.

My fourth and current car was a 2000 Honda Civic bought used in 2003 as a rebuild with only 12K km on it. It now has just over 100K km and I am starting to think about replacing it only because it has a problem starting in very cold weather. But other than that one small issue (maybe a problem two weeks out of the year where I live), I still love the car so I'm hoping I can find a way to hold on to it for a few more years.

I'm on the west coast of Canada and cars last a long time (10-15 years) in our climate. Family members back East have cars that last only 6 to 8 years due to cold weather, salt etc.

 

[rmark]

Since we've been married (22 years now)-

1976 Buick, 1978 Ford Granada
1982 Ford F-100
1990 Crown Vic, 1965 Rambler
2000 Ford Focus
2005 Hyundai Elantra, 1985 F-150
currently
2005 Hyundai Elantra, 1997 Ford Escort

Buick sold soon after marriage, Granada was broadsided, should have kept the F-100, daughter later got Crown Vic as first car, wife disliked Rambler, wife kept driving standard shift Focus in wrong gear, F-150 was well worn ex-farm truck, and I recently picked up the Escort at a good price with only 85,000 easy miles. Only Focus and Hyudai were bought new.

Kind of an automobile soap opera.

 

[audreyh1]

Just a curiousity question... when you are towing... does the 'toad' rack up miles I would think that it would....

We tow a 4x4 Jeep Liberty. It's transmission already ready to go for towing (you have to add tow bar hardware and optional supplemental breaking). You put the transfer case in neutral, the transmission in park, and turn the ignition key one click (to free the steering wheel). The odometer does not increase.

We've got 25,000 miles on the odometer, but we calculate that we've towed it an additional 15,000 miles for a total of 40K.

We mainly pay attention to the tire wear.

If you notice what people tow, you'll see a lot of Jeep Liberties.

Audrey

 

[grumpy]

Bought DW a top of the line Honda Accord EX (V-6, leather, nav system, etc.) last week. She had been driving a 1995 Toyota Camry which was beginning to show its age. This is the first new car we've bought since 1993 (I've had good success with certified used cars). We are finding that our spending in retirement, even with travel and furnishing a new house has been less than our plans allowed for so I splurged a bit. I am driving a 1997 Lexus ES300 bought as a certified used car in 2002. I will probably drive it another 2 to 3 years.

Grumpy

 

[chinaco]

Bought DW a top of the line Honda Accord EX (V-6, leather, nav system, etc.) last week. She had been driving a 1995 Toyota Camry which was beginning to show its age. This is the first new car we've bought since 1993 (I've had good success with certified used cars). We are finding that our spending in retirement, even with travel and furnishing a new house has been less than our plans allowed for so I splurged a bit. I am driving a 1997 Lexus ES300 bought as a certified used car in 2002. I will probably drive it another 2 to 3 years.

Grumpy

Good for you! I have wondered if I am overestimating our spending... My estimates are higher than our current level while working.