Comments on: Keep your car longer

By: Glenn

Glenn — Tue, 05 May 2009 18:21:41 +0000

Sold an 86 Camry with 330K on it. Have a 97 Camry now with 230K on it still going strong. Keep it serviced and they keep on going. We usually drive our cars until they die. Oil is usually changed every 3K miles.

By: Link Love - Home, Money and Family « Saving Money Ideas

Link Love - Home, Money and Family « Saving Money Ideas — Sun, 03 May 2009 02:37:39 +0000

[...] Keep Your Car Longer at [...]

By: What’s Sizzling? - May 1st Edition (and The Best of April) > Fiscal Fizzle

Fri, 01 May 2009 20:49:35 +0000

[...] Gather Little by Little, you can educate yourself about how to keep your car longer. The post gives some very practical tips. You can also read my set of car tips from [...]

By: micki

micki — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 12:12:31 +0000

my 2001 suzuki Grand Vitara has about 240,000 miles on it right now, and I did have a Plymouth minivan with almost 200,000 miles on it when I had to junk it due to a distorted frame. I do newspapers for a living, which can rack up a lot of miles in no time. When I was delivering dailies, I would have to change the oil every 3 weeks and I went thru brakes and tires a LOT! Now that I am down to 3 days a week it is better but I am hoping to get another 100,000 miles out of my little workhorse. There are a lot of people, my mechanic included who ask, wouldn’t it be better (read: cheaper) to get a new one, that way you wouldn’t have the repair bills? I have no payment on it, so the only costs that are out of the ordinary are the repairs for engine parts. Brakes, oil, tires etc are the same no matter what year or mileage the car is! So, I will keep my little suv and keep moving! (God willing, that is

And I agree with Collin about getting the car looked at as soon as I feel or hear a problem. Unfortunately the mechanic can’t always feel or hear the problem that I do (because he isn’t in it for 20 hours a week – used to be more). Doing this does save me from higher expenses.

Keep driving until the thing falls apart!

By: -> 10 Practical Ways To Save Money When Your Budget Is Already Tight | Bible Money Matters

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:39:10 +0000

[...] things: Keep up on the regular scheduled maintenance for your car (oil changes, tire inflation, check fluid levels), as well as regular maintenance on your home. [...]

By: Kay

Kay — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 10:47:52 +0000

We drive a 1987 Jeep Cherokee with 210,000 and a 2000 Dodge Ram with 140,000. Neither one is anywhere close to giving up. The Jeep is sitting right now, getting it’s spring clean up – brakes, some minor hoses, things like that. Yes, we might spend more in maintenance than most people… but that Jeep is paid for, and insurance cost is minimal. We had the top half of the engine bored out at about 190,000, and fully expect that $200 job to get us at least another 50k miles.
Once you sit down and do the math, making the necessary repairs to a high mileage car is usually MUCH cheaper than a monthly payment. We know that eventually, it will get to the point where it’s just not worth it anymore. Then? We’ll buy another car with over 100k at low cost, and repeat the whole process all over again.
It does help that my husband does almost all of the work himself.

By: collin

collin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:47:29 +0000

I drive my cars untill my wife can’t stand to look at them anymore or the paint is so faded that a repaint would be worth more than the car.
Currently I have a 96 GMC pick up w/ 212,000, 1990 honda w/ 254,000,
2006 Grand Prix w/ 80,000 and expect to get about 250,000. Within last 4 years gave a 93 ford aerostar to some one after it turned over 244,000, and a 91 Pontiac 6000 w/251,000 given to a relative and they’re still driving it.
Oil changes along with filters belts and hoses, drive conservatively,
although I don’t always. Do repairs as soon as a system is starting to act up instead of waiting for complete failure. Go over the car inside and out with a philips screwdriver and torx drivers etc and tighten all fasteners to take care of rattles and keep from losing screws that have worked loose. and parts becoming damaged. Keep it clean and enjoy it also take care of rock chip repairs promptly and keep tires inflated at or slightly above recommended pressures, I add about 2# to my car tires and run truck tires about 5# under maximum loaded pressures. As your car gets higher mileage on it, it is a good idea to sign up with AAA or something similar.
My Father Who is 79 Yrs old just traded in his 6year old Camry because it had over 80,000 miles on it and he was afraid it would start giving him trouble. He has been used to the older generations of cars that often needed rebuilding at abt 100,000 miles, not understanding that the car he had would have likely given him 300,000 miles or more.

By: Susie G

Susie G — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:24:05 +0000

Well, my 1992 Camry has over 260,000 miles on it. When we got it it had 120K. My brother is our mechanic and we get regular oil changes and maintenance. We have painted it once but the paint is awful again (but no rust!). The passenger door lock has fallen into the door, my brother bolted the driver’s one in place
The upholstery is shockingly good. There is a lot of smoke on starting – I think we have some slow (oil?) leaks… Otherwise the shocks are obviously tired but it’s not a bad ride. I’m proud to be highest in the mileage contest thus far!

By: MITBeta @ Don't Feed the Alligators

MITBeta @ Don't Feed the Alligators — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:17:20 +0000

I have a car with 155,000 miles on it, still going strong. I bought it new in 2001. It’s on its 3rd timing belt, 4th set of brakes, 3rd set of tires, etc. I did oil analysis on the first few oil changes and now change the oil every 20,000 miles. Buy a high quality synthetic and don’t worry. There’s no need to change the oil any sooner than the manufacturer’s recommendation.

My car’s starting to develop a few rust spots on the front of the hood that I need to address. But I plan to keep this car for at least several more years and hope to get at least another 100,000 miles on it.

By: Gypsie

Gypsie — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 00:33:50 +0000

I bought my little VW new in 1999. It now has over 110,000 miles on it. It has traveled all over Europe and now the US. and while DH would love to buy me a new car, I am waiting until the wheels fall off or I truly fall in love with another car. It’s been almost 10 years since I fell in love with this one, so it might take a while (plus, I refuse to go test drive other vehicles right now).

Thankfully I have a mechanic that I fully trust. when I wanted to change a part on my car myself but couldnt locate the factory part, my mechanic not only sold it to me for cost but also made sure that I understood what i was doing. Total cost: $1.60