How to Tell When Your Car is Costing More Than It’s Worth
Monday, November 23, 2020, 6:00 AM | Leave Comment
Even though owning a car can help you get more done, the privilege of owning a car can be quite expensive.
If you have an older car, you may find that the cost of repairs eventually outweighs the benefits you gain from keeping the car.
Before putting your car out to pasture, though, it’s important to analyze whether your car is truly costing as much as it seems.
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Check Insurance Premiums
One major expense associated with owning a vehicle is car insurance. Although newer vehicles tend to cost more than older vehicles to insure, that’s not always the case. If your vehicle gets to the point where parts become hard to find, or it’s determined that it’s dangerous to drive due to a lack of safety features, your insurance premiums may increase. If this happens to you, it’s probably a good idea to find a new car.
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Consider Fuel Economy
New cars are built with the latest fuel-saving features. As vehicles age, though, these features tend to decrease in effectiveness, meaning that your fuel consumption will increase. To help overcome this problem, you can replace certain parts on your vehicle.
However, this process will eventually become cost-prohibitive to the point that it makes sense to say to someone, “buy my junk car.”
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Telling Tires
Tires are another consumable component of your vehicle that can be expensive to replace. While tire wear is normal for any vehicle, it can increase as your vehicle ages. This is because the parts that are designed to hold the tires in alignment can begin to wear out to the point that your car becomes misaligned even after it’s adjusted. If this occurs, you will likely find that your vehicle has other problems that are expensive to fix, meaning that it’s time to start searching for a new car.
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Frequent Repairs
If you take your car in for a simple oil change and leave with a long list of necessary repairs, it’s probably time to begin the hunt for a new car. Surprise repairs can add up quickly, ultimately costing more than your vehicle is worth.
Although you may encounter a few surprise repairs at any point in your vehicle ownership experience, increasing surprises is a hallmark of a vehicle that’s on its way out.
If you have owned your car for a long time, it can be easy to have an attachment to the vehicle based on the memories you made while driving the vehicle. It’s important, then, that you objectively consider the prospect of getting a new car so that you make the decision before your current car becomes too costly. This will ensure that you have plenty of money left to buy the car you truly want that will last you for years.
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