How would you keep your losses at a minimum with vehicle replacement?

[firefly7777]

@goodoldan Understandable.

Depending on your mechanical aptitude, you may be able to get newer seats out of a totaled car and retrofit them.

 

[goodoldan]

@firefly7777 The seats aren't the problem. It's the atom bomb that goes off when I ride over bumps. It's seismic as much as it is auditory. I feel incredibly insulted and shamed when it happens.

 

[carolus]

@goodoldan That’s because your own 200k old struts that are 100k overdue for replacement.

If you want to maintain ride quality change the struts every 100k. Your due for a suspension rebuild including control arms and ball joints at this point.

Additionally you could downsize your wheels and get bigger tires. This is the easiest way to increase ride quality and can be done on any vehicle.

 

[goodoldan]

@carolus Yes, a complete suspension swap is on the books. That will only do so much. It's not a smooth car, even ten years ago with only 27,000 miles.

 

[wolmart]

@goodoldan Don't get a stock replacement then. Tell them you want them to put something premium on it major changes have come since 2009 and the kids are using cars like yours for racing so it could be smooth as butter completely silent

 

[goodoldan]

@wolmart Yeah... That's not really a thing for my car. It's well known in the comunity that you can't polish the turd that is the rough ride in a Fit.

 

[wolmart]

@goodoldan oh you just want to complain because that's exactly the kind of thing you can do to a honda fit

 

[goodoldan]

@wolmart So what are these smooth as butter components I need? Hook me up and I'll buy them.

I have come across zero people who have replaced suspension on a Fit that has softened the ride, so you must know about parts that are super highly classified.

 

[theparadox116]

@goodoldan When you pay off a car, you put what you were paying every month into a car replacement fund. Then you use that fund to pay cash for your next car.

 

[goodoldan]

@theparadox116 Normally, but once I paid that car off in 2 years, we focused on getting the house paid off. Paid it off in 12 years, 4 years after the car was paid off.

 

[theparadox116]

@goodoldan Then put those former car and mortgage amounts toward the car fund to build it up quick?

 

[goodoldan]

@theparadox116 Again, ideally yes, but we're older now and need to be slamming retirement.

 

[theparadox116]

@goodoldan You asked how to make it affordable without killing your take home pay.

 

[spiritualseeker]

@goodoldan Pretty much what you said, drive it until the wheels fall off. You’ve already eaten most of the depreciation that car is likely to see and car prices are insane right now. Car prices on hybrids are likely to start coming down over the next five years, so, as long as maintenance on your current car is reasonable you should wait.

 

[leaps]

@goodoldan Now is not the time to be buying a car, used or new. Prices are still elevated. Just wait it out.

 

[goodoldan]

@leaps Obviously. I should have said that. I'm doing the work now anticipating a buy in the coming year.

 

[debberie]

@leaps Have they come down at all? Last two years were wild. I bought a new Rav-4 in 2021 the car salesman was hitting me with the old “well you’ll have to wait till we get a new shipment in could be 3 4 months. Are you sure you don’t want to buy used? Here is a 2018 Rav-4 for 28,000”

A brand new 2021 Rav-4 was 32,000.

I was stunned and said nah I’ll wait

 

[lillymarz]

@leaps Fed paused rates, people gonna rush buying cars again, car prices about to go through roof again.

 

[conguero1]

@goodoldan I think OP has a good plan. I know from my work that keeping the older car going takes tolerating some noise and ride issues. But not having that payment is great!

One more factor is when necessary repairs start making the car unavailable as it’s in the shop. You can keep a car going for $7K a year but lack of dependability becomes a factor.

I haven’t been able to save up for the next car, but that’s ideal.

We do like our Camry hybrid. Better mpg’s, ride, quiet, and acceleration than I had anticipated. You’ll enjoy your newer car but it’s still good to get as much as you can out of the current one

 

[goodoldan]

@conguero1 I've been wanting a second car as a backup for a while, but I just realized before reading your comment that if my car goes down and takes a week or two to fix, that's about 1500 to 3 grand I could miss from not working.