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

[saluki9]

Probably too often, but I don't care

I've had my license for 14 years and in that time I've owned lets see, 8 cars. My current daily driver BMW 3 series is a lease I negotiated from my employer as a bene. I will have it for a little more than 2 years. My last car (infiniti G35) I sold at 2 years old with about 30k on the odo. My toy car I bought used but I will keep it forever.

Thankfully my wife drives a 7 year old Honda and says she NEVER wants to get rid of it.

 

[Darryl]

Wifes got the 2002 SUV about 65,000 miles, we will keep it atleast 5 more years.

Mine is a 1994 Nissan 170,000 miles also makes a nice discussion point at work and with some neighbors, but hey it's always entertaining. I don't know maybe another year or whenever I feel like I have "extra money" to write a check for the next one. Car payments are are not going to happen.

 

[chinaco]

When the wheels fall off!

 

[Spanky]

My last two cars were Toyota with about 180K miles, driven over 10 years before buying another pre-owned Toyota with about 30K miles.

 

[SamHouston]

We generally keep our vehicles upward of 10 years unless they start to become a financial drain because of nagging and repetitive visits to the shop for what I consider to be major repairs. I'm a stickler when it comes to maintaining the cars and I get very impatient with one when all of that maintenance fails to extend its useful life. I figure that the money I've spent on scheduled maintenance should buy me lots of years without major repairs, and if that doesn't happen we get rid of the car.

Right now my wife is driving a 6-year-old Acura with 55,000 miles on it and I drive a Honda Accord with 36,000 miles on it, so we should be good for at least a few more years. The Acura has been such a great car that we may actually keep it on the next go round and trade in the newer Honda instead. We buy our cars new and I don't mind doing that because of how long we end up keeping them.

 

[OKLibrarian]

We buy our cars new and I don't mind doing that because of how long we end up keeping them.

First time around I followed my parent's "buy 'em brand new and drive 'em into the dust" school of thought. When it comes time to replace my car, i think I may go for the "buy slightly used and drive 'em into the dust" strategy my in-laws use. let some other schmuck take the depreciation hit.

 

[SamHouston]

First time around I followed my parent's "buy 'em brand new and drive 'em into the dust" school of thought. When it comes time to replace my car, i think I may go for the "buy slightly used and drive 'em into the dust" strategy my in-laws use. let some other schmuck take the depreciation hit.

I hear you OKLibrarian, and my mind agrees with you...but it boils down to the fact that I don't mind paying a bit extra for the fun and extra peace of mind that comes (for me, at least) with knowing that I'm the first owner of the car. I know, though, that from a purely economic standpoint the numbers don't agree with me.

 

[Texas Proud]

Probably too often, but I don't care

I've had my license for 14 years and in that time I've owned lets see, 8 cars. My current daily driver BMW 3 series is a lease I negotiated from my employer as a bene. I will have it for a little more than 2 years. My last car (infiniti G35) I sold at 2 years old with about 30k on the odo. My toy car I bought used but I will keep it forever.

Thankfully my wife drives a 7 year old Honda and says she NEVER wants to get rid of it.

Let's see... I have been driving for 32 years and have owned 7 cars... and two of them are sitting in my garage right now..

Of the 7, 3 were bought used.. my first car only lasted one year.. so you could say 6 in 31 years..

 

[Khan]

Age 21 to 56 (now)

5 vehicles (one a two-year lease, one a 2 year inherited 15 year old)

 

[VoyT]

First couple of cars lasted about 4 years each because of constant repairs. Bought a Corolla, which I gave to my DM four years later ... she drove it another 10 years. After she died, I sold it, no clue if it's still going. My current car is going on 10 years, the one previous to that was traded in at eight.

 

[d]

my previous car was an 89 volvo wagon ... 13 yrs, 267,000 (or thereabouts) ... got my money's worth!

 

[Telly]

Over >35 years, I never got rid of a daily-driver car because of age or mileage. Let's see, why did I get rid of them, these reasons come to mind:

Rust-through - At least 3
Outgrew them - 2
Accident related - 2
Gifted - 2

Can't divide anything out due to number of drivers increasing over the years, and still have a bunch.

 

[redduck]

My last three cars were kept from between 8-10 years. Bought them new and bought them for cash (that gets harder to do each time). Probably will sell my Acura TL (1999) next year and will have about 65,000-68,000 miles on it by then.

 

[bssc]

On the other hand, DW gets a company car which is usually traded in every 70K or so. However, the last minivan got exchanged at a mere $4K. Fleet services had put cheap seats in to save a few bucks and they were starting to get hit with Worker's Comp cases.

 

[Tiger]

I have a '97 Taurus wagon that I bought 4 years ago to use as a station car. I am buying my BIL's '97 Windstar company car for $1300 which is in primo condition and giving the wagon to my son.

Our other car is a 2000 Camry which we will drive into the round before buying another one

 

[kcowan]

I guess I am getting the impression that the common element from most participants here is that we are "buy and hold" types when it comes to cars. That should come as no surprise.

 

[Gumby]

..

 

[Spanky]

The BMW will cost a lot more to maintain than the Honda, but it is a fun car to drive. Good luck.

 

[mathjak107]

for the 1st 4 years bmw cost nothing to maintain if its a new one . even the windshield wipers are free. when i was deciding between getting another nissan xterra or the bmw x3 the x3 won hands down being the far better value.

 

[Texas Proud]

Gumby....

You drove over 200K miles in 8 years!!! WOW...

As for your BMWs, good luck... they are notorious for being in the shop after a few years... not well built at all....

 

[saluki9]

As for your BMWs, good luck... they are notorious for being in the shop after a few years... not well built at all....

It just depends on what your definition of "well built" is. If by that you mean a boring transportation appliance that will require little repair (like a Toyota) then no they are not. However they are just terrific to drive and to me that's worth a couple extra visits to the shop every once in a while.

 

[Andre1969]

It just depends on what your definition of "well built" is. If by that you mean a boring transportation appliance that will require little repair (like a Toyota) then no they are not. However they are just terrific to drive and to me that's worth a couple extra visits to the shop every once in a while.

Well built means just that...it's well-built. If it's terrific to drive it may be a great handler or a strong performer or whatever, but if it's constantly going into the shop for repairs, then "well built" is not an adjective to describe it!

Maybe "eccentric"? Isn't that what you call a Jag, Benz, BMW, etc, when it starts breaking down? Versus simply "unreliable" when it happens to a more everyday car?

 

[Gumby]

..

 

[saluki9]

It just depends on what your definition of "well built" is. If by that you mean a boring transportation appliance that will require little repair (like a Toyota) then no they are not. However they are just terrific to drive and to me that's worth a couple extra visits to the shop every once in a while.

Well built means just that...it's well-built. If it's terrific to drive it may be a great handler or a strong performer or whatever, but if it's constantly going into the shop for repairs, then "well built" is not an adjective to describe it!

Maybe "eccentric"? Isn't that what you call a Jag, Benz, BMW, etc, when it starts breaking down? Versus simply "unreliable" when it happens to a more everyday car?

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

 

[runchman]

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