If you think there are more older cars on the highway these days, you're right. In fact, the average age of those cars is over 10 years, much higher than just a few years ago. And that creates a problem when you need car repairs. Do you fix the car or get rid of it? It's a decision facing a lot of car owners these days.
You can usually find Tim Kotter underneath a broken down car trying to get it back on the road. But for Tim, fixing the car is the easy part. "I get people all the time, bring a car in that has a specific problem and they say, is it worth it?" Kotter said.
Is it worth the time and money to fix it? These days it's a common question for mechanics. "With people keeping their cars longer, it's a hard decision to make," said David Ely, of Convoy Auto Repair. "When do you put money into it? And when do you walk away from it?"
In tough times, car owners want to get as many miles as they can from their aging cars and that usually means more trips to the mechanic. "The financial decision to keep versus the financial decision to make a monthly commitment means a lot of difference in today's world," Ely said. A difference that often includes making car payments, paying more for insurance and registration versus simply paying for repairs.
The rule of thumb: don't pay more to fix the car than the car is worth. But not everyone goes along with that. "I don't want the car payment. So I am willing to put in money equal to, maybe even up to the value of the car, if it makes sense to me," Ely said. "And a lot of people are making those decisions."
But if you decide to take it to a a mechanic and keep the car longer, you need to see more than just that one repair. You need to look at the big picture, bumper to bumper. "You brought it in because the transmission doesn't work, it's gonna be two thousand dollars," Kotter said. "Well while I was looking at it I noticed the front end has problems, it's got brakes, you know it's going to be 3, 4, 5 thousand and the car isn't worth that. It might be time to pass and move on to something else." And that often means spending more money than you planned on, not an easy decision to make in these tough times.
How long do you keep your car around for? At what point does it make more sense to go buy another car? Leave your thoughts below.
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Information courtesy of NBC News.
