When do you decide to change your car?

freshpopcorn

I've a 16 year old car now 267KM on it. I have considered change but I'll probably drive it into the ground/wait for something major to go.

When do you decide to change your car?

Edit, Not really looking for advice more so of when do you guys change.

Patrick2010

24 year old car with 132k miles on it, will keep it until it fails NCT with major faults. No issues every year but know it can't go for ever

Atlantic Dawn

I'd be inclined to drive it in to the ground, especially since you know the history of it and might have good tyres etc on it.

What I did with the older cars I had was tried to book them in near the 90 day NCT due date so if something big was wrong I had 3 months to find a replacement or look for a cheap repair solution. I try to align my 1 years motor tax around the NCT date too so if I have to offload the car it's just the price of the car to consider.

beertons

What would you like? How much have you got to spend?

freshpopcorn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853291#Comment_121853291

My NCT was due in May 24 and I did the NCT in February. I was hovering over the booking system to do this.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853296#Comment_121853296

I was sort of asking the general Boards.ie user here.

If I was to change I'd be unsure of budget. If I'd use savings or get finance.

Cars thar would interest would be another Golf, maybe a Megane or Leon, V40 or A3.

Or very slight maybe would be a Cleo or Polo.

witnessmenow

Unless you have a fairly interesting car, there probably is not a huge demand for a 16 year old car so you probably won't get much for it, doesn't sound like its causing you any problems at the moment either. 275km isn't too bad considering it's age. I'd be inclined to keep it and run it into the ground.

As someone who recently scrapped a 16 year old car (with 300k miles on the clock) and moved to a 221, its certainly a much nicer car to drive, and the bits and pieces of features are all nice (and it's much cheaper to run cause its electric) but at the end of the day, its still a car that gets me from A to B.

I didn't have any problems driving the old astra when I still had it (when it was still running), I wasn't sitting in it going "I wish I could change to something newer", I was more thinking of the money I was going to have to spend on a new car whenever it did break! In the end it seemed like it needed at least €1000 spent on it, but it had a couple of other issues too like rusty door hinges on the passenger door, I just decided it was time part ways with it.

But you're hear asking the question, so there must be part of you that fancies a change!

billyhead

A lot of people feel the need to keep up with the Jonesis (not sure of the spelling) and a new or newish car is a status symbol. It's all materialistic. I personally like to hold onto a car for as long as possible.

hoodie6029

With my gen 2 Prius, it was the rust, oh, so much rust….

In fairness to Toyota, it’d spent most of its life close to the sea in Greystones.

blackbox

I have a 17 year old "luxury" SUV. It does everything I want. The only downside is high motor tax. I do low mileage and most of my own maintenance.

I sometimes think of replacing it but I don't think a replacement would be significantly better.

It's comfortable, reliable, has a great stereo and is very quick for what it is.

Eventually something will happen but I think I'll wait for that day.

PsychoPete

I change whenever I see something I like so I could have a car for 6 months or 4 years

pajosjunkbox

I drive a 16 year old Honda. Just passed the NCT after getting a few little things done. I'm thinking of changing in the next couple of weeks. I will miss it and I'm still not sure I should change.....I'm nearly changing just so I stop looking at Done Deal !!!

The Honda never missed a beat in 7 years and still has plenty of life in it. The high tax is a killer though. We should be rewarded for maintaining and keeping older cars going, not punished.

teediddlyeye

I had/have a bad habit of buying older cars and fixing every single stupid little thing till it's perfect. Then thinking "right this ones a keeper". Only to get bored after about a year.

Sold some really good stuff for peanuts.

Bought my only brand new car 2 years ago. Will likely keep that long term though.

witchgirl26

For me, I change car when it starts costing me more than the car is worth to maintain it. Had a lovely little Ka when I was learning to drive but wasn't worth much as was old enough. Brother noticed a possible issue with it which I got checked by the garage & would have cost a fair amount to fix it. Also needed new tyres soon enough, brake pads & some other bits. Just didn't make sense to plug that much money into the car so traded it in for another one. Same happened then with my next car - started to cost a bit more to just maintain it & also needed a bigger boot for impending family so change again. I think you just go with what works for you. I know someone else who is still driving their 1998 Citreon & it goes well & they love it. To them the upkeep money is worth it.

SchrodingersCat

Same. We have a couple of cars in the family. Normally, with the older ones, its when the maintenance starts to creep up on it. You want to try and change cars before something catastrophic goes, so timing that can be tricky. You also want to try and change at this time while its still going so that you aren't left without a car.

As a ballpark, id start considering it when the car is over 15yrs old and the yearly maintenance with service goes around 1k. It depends on the brands too. Some older Toyotas and VAG'S will keep running longer than that.

josip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058339073/when-do-you-decide-to-change-your-car

We change 10 years after we first bought it.

Rubberchikken

I changed in January when the 13 you Ibiza I'd had from 10,000k was up to 230,000 and starting to cost.

NCT yearly. Have had 2 belt changes that I remember costing a lot. Always fully serviced and a great car on petrol use but there was a shudder in it for past few months that was starting to worry me.

Got finance for a new Hyundai i10 nline and she's small but good.

So happy out.

_Kaiser_

I change when it needs changing or I have the cash - or it becomes uneconomical as insurers start to price it out or don't want "old/big/high mileage cars".

Previously I changed fairly often - for me - (every 3-5 years) because I was doing big miles every year but since Covid that's changed dramatically with WFH and my mileage is a fraction of what it was.

My current car is a 2012 with 180k km on the clock. My last one was a 2010 with 410k km on it when I changed, so this one SHOULD last a while you'd think. My problem is that I like big Audis and those are starting to become harder to find (at least in A8 form with the right spec which is the next one I want) unless big money is put up.

I also need to trade-in every time too as I wouldn't be spending 20/30k privately and haven't the patience for tyre-kicking would-be buyers - plus I need to be able to get out of one car and straight into another with no overlap.

Not easy! :D

brokenbad

Every 3-5 years i usually upgrade to something around 5 years old with low to average mileage....currently driving a 161 Diesel Rav4 and have that almost 3 years now with only 92500 Kms on the clock and plan on keeping it for another 2 years at the very least.

kanuseeme

Started when tax hit 700 euro for a 2 litre and if I kept the 7000 euro ssangyong pick up any longer the disc was going to be worth more sold for 4000 4 years later, bought a honda insight 9000, someone ran into the back of it after a year, got a cheque for 3k sold for 6k, wanted a proper hybrid, bought a lexus ct from the UK 15000 sold for 14500 after 2.5 years brexit devalued the pound, made imports more expensive in the UK, priced it as a uk car would cost to import, got a outlander phev 18000, sold after 2,5 years for 15000.

I now aim to buy and drive for a year without loosing money.

Akrasia

I change the car when it's dead. Like to buy nice older petrol executive cars, drove 04 a saab 93 that I bought for 700 euros for 2 years till the ECU died, moved to a 07 Saab 95 that cost 1500, drove that for 3 years until the bearings went in the engine and no mechanic wanted to repair it.

Bought a Leaf last year to use as the main daily driver but it has no range for weekends and summer trips away so just bought a 15 year old 09 Volvo S80 for 2500 which seems in great condition so will keep this for a few years until longer range BEVs become more affordable and we expect this to be our last ICE car

shane b

I generally have older cars (bought in the 3-5K price range) and its when they become unreliable. For me its simply "will in start when i turn the key" and as long as things dont start failing in quick succession.

Last car the fly wheel went on it, so flywheel, clutch, service, tax, other bits, would have cost nearly 2k and didnt feel like spending that much on it. Before that someone rearended me and car was an economic write off. The only issue i had is that cars have tended to let me down with a bang and then i need to buy something in a hurry.

My wife has the "good Car" and she changes it when she has it paid off or the mileage gets too high. If she has the same outgoings for a car every month she never misses the money. Between work and family trips we put 30K km a year on the car so it mounts up quickly.

GPoint

Changed last two cars when they were 13 years old. One was from new , anotheer from 5 years old second hand. Best value for money was 8 years of ownership from 5 to 13 years. Cost less than 1k per year. Replaced it before covid and it was 800 euro scrappage at the dealer. If it was now, it would have sold privately for 3-4k easily! Maybe I would hhave kept it longer if prices were where theey are now.

StudentDad

My car is 16 and still going. As long as it keeps going, I don't think I'll change it. Changing it would be in my mind a waste of money. The price of 2nd hand cars here is hillarious and price of new cars make me think, 'nah, I'll walk.' When I look around the place and see some of the marques with this years plate, I don't think, fair play, nice car. I think, yep that's an awful waste of money.

blue5000

Usually change when NCT fails it and no longer worth repairing it. Tends to happen around the 300,000 km mark, but I find newer cars are tending to be in trouble around the 200,000km mark.

harmless

I change when the cost of repairs start to become prohibitively expensive. So about once every 8 - 10 years I buy a 10 - 12 year old car, unless I make a mistake and buy a car that's full of issues then I get rid ASAP.

If I were younger with more disposable income and no hope of getting a mortgage plus longer commute(many are in this situate currently) then I could be tempted it finance something that would be considered fancy by most. Although I enjoy driving other hobbies and commitments take priority and I have never and will probably never take out finance on a depreciating asset like a car.

goochy

Great if you were able to crew cab it

Irish_wolf

I change my car when it becomes unreliable, whenever that happens and not a moment sooner. When I get into my car I expect it to start and get me to work, that's the bare minimum. I service it regularly and try to get repairs done before they become big repairs. I use the NCT as a "cheap" diagnostic every year. Retests are usually cheap enough anyway. I can do plenty of the small jobs myself so I get to know my cars pretty well. I don't mind repairing a car, even big repairs, provided I can rely on it.

The day I sit into my car and have to hope nothing goes wrong on my journey is the day I open up DoneDeal and start looking.

BlakeS94

No interest in changing my 3 years owned car anytime soon. I've gained a fair bit of mechanical aptitude the past few years and can do pretty much everything except the heavy jobs so it's fairly cheap to fix. It needs new struts at the moment and it's 350 for both front strut springs top mount and the rubber seats so everything renewed, not breaking the bank just breaking my back

Maybe If the engine goes bang but I change the oil every 6000 miles and treat it well while its cold, she's running sweet as a nut at 145k miles.

Before I was changing cars every 1 or 2 years but now I know a bit, it's just not worth it. And not having a car loan is wonderful