DWs old 2013 Camry LE 2.5l is starting to age. Just crossed the 200,000 mile mark.
I recently had an inspection done and they came back with a few items of concern: new filters, wipers, plugs, front rotors and brakes, leaking axle seal, corroded battery cables, front struts, rear shocks, brake and coolant flush, fuel injector treatment are all things they recommended we service.
Rather than deal with these service items all at once it seemed like a good time to sell.
I did buy new plugs, filters and wipers...figure take care of the easy things, and I can easily clean off the battery cable corrosion with some sand paper and battery post cleaning tools. I'm sure I could drop some STP in the fuel and maybe that would treat the fuel. I'm not completely sold on the flushes, but the brake fluid is dirty and the axle seal failure is probably the top of the list item to get fixed that I wouldn't want to do so I would pay.
DW and I put about 20,000 miles on the car each year. She gets paid for mileage reimbursement from MegaC and always trying to stack extra miles on her trips so she earns more. Really driving the car pays for itself in terms of her mileage checks.
I figure at this age of vehicle and the high miles it's just going to become a headache with even larger ticket items starting to break. The car drives fine and looks fine, no major issues to speak of. It doesn't get as good of mileage as when we bought it used with 45k miles on it back in 2013.
I figure just save myself the future maintenance costs, sell the car right now for fair market value, and purchase a new Camry LE for around 26 to 28k including tax.
If we buy a new car here, in 10 years it will have another 200,000 on the odometer, just in time for Jr to start driving and right before I plan to FIRE. Likely we would replace it again or just give Jr the car and buy what DW would consider a "NICE" car...vs this Camry commuter.
Interest rate on a car loan is 1.89% from the credit union, and I would put down enough so it's a meager 15k loan. I could pay all cash but then our 3 to 6month emergency fund would be fully depleted.
I am super frustrated with the dealers. Every car I find online and I inquire about they state has not yet arrived, is already purchased by a customer, or is no longer available.
I'm thinking of going in there with my pre-approval letter from the Credit Union and ordering a vehicle outright...provided it doesn't take long to take delivery. Would be nice to just drive away with a Camry today if I could find a dealer that has the specs we are looking for. I might canvas the metro area and see if I can't find one on a lot but I've tried yesterday and the 3 closest dealer's don't have the 2.5l FWD, only AWD.
Also anyone have experience with the new AWD Camry? I am hesitant since I feel like it would just decrease our mileage and add complexities to the mechanics, possibly increasing future cost of ownership if something goes wrong with the additional driveline. We do live in snow ridden MN, but honestly we have gotten around just fine in the past 8 yrs with the FWD version, always making sure we have decent tire tread and replacing tires when we don't.
Any tips or input on this? Figure I always like getting multiple opinions.
Seems like the sensible thing to do right now. With our luck if I paid cash for the car with all of our reserves something major would breakdown on our home and we would be kicking ourselves. I'm wise enough to realize short of a major catastrophe, nothing that breaks would cost that much to fix. Most of the appliances have been replaced or fixed in the past few years including Fridge, Washer/Dryer, and repairing Furnace, Water Heater, and Air Conditioner.
Enough rambling what say you?
I recently had an inspection done and they came back with a few items of concern: new filters, wipers, plugs, front rotors and brakes, leaking axle seal, corroded battery cables, front struts, rear shocks, brake and coolant flush, fuel injector treatment are all things they recommended we service.
Rather than deal with these service items all at once it seemed like a good time to sell.
I did buy new plugs, filters and wipers...figure take care of the easy things, and I can easily clean off the battery cable corrosion with some sand paper and battery post cleaning tools. I'm sure I could drop some STP in the fuel and maybe that would treat the fuel. I'm not completely sold on the flushes, but the brake fluid is dirty and the axle seal failure is probably the top of the list item to get fixed that I wouldn't want to do so I would pay.
DW and I put about 20,000 miles on the car each year. She gets paid for mileage reimbursement from MegaC and always trying to stack extra miles on her trips so she earns more. Really driving the car pays for itself in terms of her mileage checks.
I figure at this age of vehicle and the high miles it's just going to become a headache with even larger ticket items starting to break. The car drives fine and looks fine, no major issues to speak of. It doesn't get as good of mileage as when we bought it used with 45k miles on it back in 2013.
I figure just save myself the future maintenance costs, sell the car right now for fair market value, and purchase a new Camry LE for around 26 to 28k including tax.
If we buy a new car here, in 10 years it will have another 200,000 on the odometer, just in time for Jr to start driving and right before I plan to FIRE. Likely we would replace it again or just give Jr the car and buy what DW would consider a "NICE" car...vs this Camry commuter.
Interest rate on a car loan is 1.89% from the credit union, and I would put down enough so it's a meager 15k loan. I could pay all cash but then our 3 to 6month emergency fund would be fully depleted.
I am super frustrated with the dealers. Every car I find online and I inquire about they state has not yet arrived, is already purchased by a customer, or is no longer available.
I'm thinking of going in there with my pre-approval letter from the Credit Union and ordering a vehicle outright...provided it doesn't take long to take delivery. Would be nice to just drive away with a Camry today if I could find a dealer that has the specs we are looking for. I might canvas the metro area and see if I can't find one on a lot but I've tried yesterday and the 3 closest dealer's don't have the 2.5l FWD, only AWD.
Also anyone have experience with the new AWD Camry? I am hesitant since I feel like it would just decrease our mileage and add complexities to the mechanics, possibly increasing future cost of ownership if something goes wrong with the additional driveline. We do live in snow ridden MN, but honestly we have gotten around just fine in the past 8 yrs with the FWD version, always making sure we have decent tire tread and replacing tires when we don't.
Any tips or input on this? Figure I always like getting multiple opinions.
Seems like the sensible thing to do right now. With our luck if I paid cash for the car with all of our reserves something major would breakdown on our home and we would be kicking ourselves. I'm wise enough to realize short of a major catastrophe, nothing that breaks would cost that much to fix. Most of the appliances have been replaced or fixed in the past few years including Fridge, Washer/Dryer, and repairing Furnace, Water Heater, and Air Conditioner.
Enough rambling what say you?