chinaco
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Feb 14, 2007
- Messages
- 5,072
Our car is getting older. I drive a car for as long as practical. I say practical because eventually maintenance costs begin to increase. (I no longer do maintenance myself.)
How do you make a decision about when to purchase a new (or new used) vehicle? (assuming the car was not a lemon).
One very important factor for us is reliability. If a car is down and out very often... we would dump it.
Do you have an actually yearly maint cost threshold or just gut feel?
I was thinking that maybe if I used the Total Cost of Ownership from something like consumer reports (including fuel based on a projection since a new car may be more fuel efficient) that I could compare that yearly amort against my currently yearly maint cost.
It seems there should be some common sense rules for making that decision when one's goal is to optimize the overall expense.
How do you make a decision about when to purchase a new (or new used) vehicle? (assuming the car was not a lemon).
One very important factor for us is reliability. If a car is down and out very often... we would dump it.
Do you have an actually yearly maint cost threshold or just gut feel?
I was thinking that maybe if I used the Total Cost of Ownership from something like consumer reports (including fuel based on a projection since a new car may be more fuel efficient) that I could compare that yearly amort against my currently yearly maint cost.
It seems there should be some common sense rules for making that decision when one's goal is to optimize the overall expense.