By Ashley
I purchased my new (used) car in October 2021. I was so proud of myself when I paid off my car loan (originally $20,000) within 2 years! It was paid by October 2023, almost one year ago. And here we are now… Only 3 short years with this car and I’m considering replacing it. Let’s make a backup.
My car history
I’m not one of those people who buys a new car every couple of years. I’m 40 years old and have only owned 5 cars in my entire life! I had my last car almost a decade ago! I like to buy a car, treat it well, and hold on to it for a long time. I’d rather pay it off and get an old car than trade it in for a new car and get a down payment on the car.
The story of this car
With my last car, I drove it until the wheels metaphorically “fell off.” No, the wheels never fell off. But that’s what I consider it to be when it gets to the point of ownership where the car keeps breaking down and frequent repairs cost more than the cost of paying the car. I owned the car this way (with constant breakdowns) for over a year before I finally bit the bullet and purchased my current car.
The problem is that this was in the middle of the pandemic. Remember when everything was on hold back then? Used cars were selling for more than new cars (and that’s not an exaggeration! I’ve test driven a used car for more than a new car because the new car was waiting months and months on back order).
I say all this to say that this car has never been my favorite. It was the best car available at the time that fit my basic requirements. I insisted on a small SUV, something with a 3Third Sitting in class so I can taxi around my kids + their friends. But it was older than I liked (2017) with higher mileage than I would have liked. And now it’s starting to cost a lot of money.
Routine maintenance
For the last two oil changes now, I have been required to perform expensive maintenance. This is something I’ve always done in the past because I want my cars to last a long time. But this is a “luxury” vehicle (Acura MDX) and the parts, labor and everything about it is expensive!
I agreed to a 100,000 mile fluid flush (not cheap) before changing the oil twice. But at the last oil change, they also recommended replacing the shocks, front struts, and upper/lower control arms. To set $1800/each. $3600 for routine maintenance!
That was a tough pill to swallow. I declined the job, went home, and started calling other stores to do some price comparisons. It turns out that this is related to the current rate. I found I could save a few hundred money by going to another mechanic, but even the best price quoted was $3,300.
Decision point
When I bought this car, my thinking was that I wanted it to last long enough to be my girls’ first car. I’ll drive it until then. When the girls reached driving age, I would buy myself a new car and give it to them. But now with the cost of routine maintenance, I’m not sure this is the best idea.
Girls are only 12 years old. My car now has over 105,000 miles on it. Will it take another 4 years until the girls turn 16? Then two years or so later, so the girls can get through high school? This seems like a stretch.
So, if this car isn’t going to last, should I consider switching sooner rather than later?
Current plans
I don’t like shopping for cars. I don’t want to pay for a new car. None of this is due to trivial reasons of wanting a new car or anything like that. And my car runs perfectly now, even without routine maintenance (I’ve been told that maintenance will make driving smoother, but it’s not a safety issue). So this is not an emergency. There is no need to make decisions right now.
But just predicting the future….I don’t think my original plan of having the girls take this car in 4 years will be realistic. I plan on getting a car for the girls to share when the time comes. And I don’t want to end up needing to buy us two new vehicles at the same time (one for me and one for them).
I’m almost tempted to buy myself a new car in the next year or so, use this car as a trade-in, and then plan to get something smaller and cheaper for the girls when they get to driving age? Another option is to buy myself a new car in the next year or so, keep that car but stop driving it, and keep it so the girls can inherit it in a few years? But this does not solve the problem that maintaining this car is very expensive. Even an oil change is almost twice the cost of my old Explorer.
I outsource ideas, opinions, etc. If you were me, would you do the expensive maintenance and keep this car, and hopefully keep it running for another 6+ years? Are you going to start making plans to buy a new car, use it as a trade-in or keep it for the kids in the future?
Hi, I’m Ashley! Arizona on paper, Texas in heart. Lover of running, blogging and all things cheesy. Newly 40 years old, married and mother of two children, working in the academic field. Trying to finally (finally!) pay off that ridiculous 6-figure student loan debt!
