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  • Fix up or replace?

    I'm at the point where I need to either fix up or replace my car ('96 Elantra wagon). The book value is around $1500, but that only counts when selling (if I fix it up, I plan on keeping it for as long as it keeps running). I realize that the fix-up would cost more than the book value, but there are some things I like about it that are not available on ANYTHING in current production ("Driver's wallet clean" testing is 2-gas tailpipe sniff, which is easy to pass, good sightlines, no "detonate on impact" bombs in the passenger compartment).

    If I were to replace it, something with the features I'm looking for would start around $10,000, and I'd probably need to budget around $1000 for maintenance items the previous owner deferred. Also, I'd probably need to spend around $2000 to get the glass behind the "B" pillar replaced (I *HATE* deep-tint glass).

    The fixing up it needs includes body work (2 quotes - $3500 from an independent body shop, and $600 from a friend of my regular mechanic who moonlights after his regular job at a body shop), timing belt/water pump ($400), brakes ($440), rear springs (originals have sagged) and struts ($575/$675 depending on whether I get OEM springs or heavy-duty aftermarket springs), and tires and alignment ($500/$600 depending on whether the tire place still has stock of an older-model tire or whether I need to get the current model). There are a couple minor items each in the $100/$150 range. Also, my car doesn't have air conditioning - mechanic said it would be around $600 to transfer a system from a "donor" car, and I'm allowing the book value ($1500) for an "air conditioning kit in a self-propelled packing crate". Depending on the options I go for, it would be somewhere between $2775 and $5775 to fix up my car, plus around $2000 for the air conditioning.

    I'm leaning toward the fix-up, and the cheaper bodywork quote. Going by a $1000/year rule of thumb, I don't see any problems getting another 5 years out of my car if I fix it up, and 8 years (based on the higher body quote) is still highly probable. Getting 13 years out of a replacement would be around the same probability as getting 8 years out of mine.

    Anyone have an opinion on what route I should take?
    Last edited by wolfie; 07-20-2014, 02:40 AM. Reason: forgot something
    Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

  • #2
    It is a gamble either way you go. But then again, getting out of bed in the morning is a gamble. In 8 years you will be able to say "I was right". Otherwise, you will find out sooner that you were wrong.

    I tend to hang onto cars. I put a lot of value in know how the car was cared for. The devil you know.

    The biggest risk with repairing your car is the other drivers on the road. A couple of months after the repairs are done, insurance companies will not take the repairs into consideration for the value. The AC and body work will raise the book value slightly. For that reason, I would be hesitant to drop that much money into the car at one time. If the repairs could be spread out (brakes/tires/suspension - I am guessing not), then I might consider it.
    Life is too short to not eat popcorn.
    Save the Ales!
    Toys for Tots at Rooster's Cafe

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    • #3
      If spending the lower amount of money now is worth having five years less car life, consider the fix up.

      As csquared said, the insurance company is going to value the car at book value: if you're hit badly enough for the insurance company to consider it a writeoff, say to the money you put into fixing it up.

      Cautionary tale:
      We had a car once which was a beautiful piece of work, but it was a relatively rare model (the 'upmarket' version of a middle class sedan). Sadly, this model and only this model had a very specific rear axle, which turned out to have a fault that appeared about year 10....
      .... and noone made replacements for it, so all the replacements available were also about ten years old (from wreckers' yards).
      Sadly, when ours went, we had to sell the car for parts.

      That is, thankfully, a fairly rare sort of issue: but it can happen. Make sure your car isn't in that position if you decide to keep it.
      Seshat's self-help guide:
      1. Would you rather be right, or get the result you want?
      2. If you're consistently getting results you don't want, change what you do.
      3. Deal with the situation you have now, however it occurred.
      4. Accept the consequences of your decisions.

      "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools." - Anders, Dragon Age.

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      • #4
        Quoth Seshat View Post
        As csquared said, the insurance company is going to value the car at book value: if you're hit badly enough for the insurance company to consider it a writeoff, say to the money you put into fixing it up.
        Yep, the insurance company won't care about the "added value" if you get hit. It's an 18-year-old, still very common, economy car. I'm not trying to sound rude here, OK? Depending on how bad the impact is, they'll simply write it off. They're not going to bother with the work you did--they're going to cut you a check for whatever they decide it's worth. It might be $1,500, it might be less than $1,500.

        But, the money issue has me puzzled. That is, if you're *really* going to sink between $5,000 and $8,000 into a $1,500 car, I have a bridge to sell you. Again, I'm not being rude, just realistic. If it was me, I'd take that money, and put it towards something newer and in better shape.
        Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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        • #5
          Eh, I'd probably dump it for another Elantra. But not the '01 remodel, but the one where they started doing the fluidic design bit (maybe '07?).
          But the paint on me is beginning to dry
          And it's not what I wanted to be
          The weight on me
          Is Hanging on to a weary angel - Sister Hazel

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          • #6
            It doesn't make financial sense to sink money into a car that is more than the car is worth just to get the benefit of a few features. You'd be pissing money away, basically.

            I can think of a lot of things I could do with that kind of money, including putting down a sizable down payment on a new car. You could probably afford a 3 year loan with that kind of down payment, which would save you considerably on interest (I'm paying my Honda Ridgeline off in a couple of months: two years early, which is saving me a ton of money in the long run).

            As much as you love your car, it won't last forever. When the repairs and work exceed blue book value, it's time to sell and get a new car (or used car that's new to you).
            They say that God only gives us what we can handle. Apparently, God thinks I'm a bad ass.

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            • #7
              One of the things I ran into with my car is that the manufacturer quit making it the model year after mine so it was obsolete. I had a repair Mar/Apr 2013 that cost $800 and the guy had to run around to all the pick-n-pull places to find the one little piece. It took him 5 days. Four months later the transmission went out. That could've been repaired with after market parts for the low price of $2,000. (The car was worth maybe $1500)

              The reason I didn't go through with it and instead junked the car, was that I was concerned that I would spend all that money and then a month later have some small, cheap, easy-to-replace yet necessary piece that couldn't be found and left the car undriveable. $2,000 for an extra month or two wasn't a reasonable exchange to my mind.
              My formula for living is quite simple. I get up in the morning and I go to bed at night. In between, I occupy myself as best I can.---Cary Grant

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              • #8
                Quoth flybye023 View Post
                The reason I didn't go through with it and instead junked the car, was that I was concerned that I would spend all that money and then a month later have some small, cheap, easy-to-replace yet necessary piece that couldn't be found and left the car undriveable. $2,000 for an extra month or two wasn't a reasonable exchange to my mind.
                That was the reason I got rid of my Mazda instead of fixing it. 2006-07 was an expensive period. The exhaust fell off, the timing belt adjuster failed and threw the belt off the pulleys, and then there were some issues with the oxygen sensors. I had all that stuff replaced, which ran about $2,000. All of it was simply to get the car ready for state inspection. I had the work done, the car failed inspection. I had some other stuff done, it failed again. Not wanting to drop another grand on getting the "check engine" light to go out, I decided that the car had to go.

                By the time I sold that car, it had 129,000 miles on it. It still drove like new, but with the electrical issues mounting, multiple state inspection failures, and some expensive repairs looming, it had to go. Some other sucker could fix it, but I wasn't sinking more money into that heap.

                To keep that car would have been foolish. Even though it ran OK and was great fun on twisty roads (Mazda wasn't kidding when they said the Protege ES had "BMW verve for half the price!), working on it and getting parts was a pain. Even though it was a pretty common car, some things would take weeks to arrive.
                Aerodynamics are for people who can't build engines. --Enzo Ferrari

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